Photo source: Réseau
Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM) has launched a new series of child testimonies, showing the hardship suffered by young undocumented migrants trying to make a life for themselves in Europe.
Two of the testimonies have already been published. One of them is from Hadif, who arrived in France from Algeria at the age of 16, and was 21 when he wrote his testimony. Hadif writes about the fear he faces in everyday life as a result of his harsh experiences as an undocumented migrant; nonetheless he expresses his determination to live a fulfilling life in France, saying: “I will keep fighting, hoping that one day I will be regularised and able to live like all the others, fearless.”
The other testimony comes from Kamel, who moved from Morocco to France when he was 14. He also writes about the fear that comes with being an undocumented migrant, as well as the agony of constantly waiting for his legal status to be clarified. He writes: “Constantly, we live with this fear at every instant, we ask ourselves questions but we have no answer: why I am being rejected? Why does no one want me, when I have never done anything wrong? I came, I integrated in the society. It is difficult, but I did it. I set my goals here. My projects, I want to fulfil them in France, but even with all of this, I am not wanted here. France has taken my grandfather to fight war beside her, the country took my father to rebuild it, so why it doesn’t want me?”
PICUM will regularly be publishing new tesimonies in the next six months in the run-up to Universal Children’s Day on 20 November. The stories will be published in English, French and Spanish and shared via social media. PICUM invites its supporters to share and react to the testimonies using the hashtag #ShareYourStory.
