Sajid has to flee from the Taliban to Europe. But he doesn’t find any protection there either. ‘The Mind Game’ reveals the violence being exerted against refugee children. What counts more: Europe's humanity or more isolation?
Sajid Khan Nasiri, a fourteen-year-old boy from Afghanistan, is woken up one morning by his mother, who says, full of worry, ‘You have to escape, otherwise the Taliban will find you and they will kill you like they killed your father.’ He has to leave immediately, although at this point it is completely unclear where he will go. Sajid makes the decision to try to make his way to Europe, in the misguided hope that it will be easy for him to find refuge and protection there. It is not long before the boy must realise that this choice has plunged him into the most dangerous game of his life.
Sajid’s story, which is vividly illustrated in the film ‘The Mind Game’, demonstrates the challenges faced by refugee children, who are only looking for one thing: safety. Their journey to Europe is usually accompanied by extreme violence, powerlessness and dependence on third parties. There is a lack of basic structures enabling regular, safe entry into the EU and, in particular, protecting children on the run from extreme violence and exploitation.
Sajid's experiences are realistic examples of the experiences that hundreds of thousands of children have on their journeys to Europe. ‘The game’ – this is how children like Sajid refer to their attempts to get past the EU’s border police. Fear and systematic violence are an integral part of this cruel ‘game’. In Save the Children’s report ‘Wherever We Go Someone Does Us Harm’, these children report physical, sexual and psychological violence, often perpetrated by state actors like border police officers. The EU tolerates such violations to promote deterrence.
What Sajid experiences in Belgium is similar to German conditions: collective accommodation offers little space for education, play or protection. Bureaucratic asylum procedures have a psychological impact on children; there is a lack of psychosocial help.
Die Geschichte von Sajid, die im Film „The Mind Game“ anschaulich illustriert wird, zeigt, mit welchen Herausforderungen geflüchtete Kinder konfrontiert sind, die nur eines suchen: Sicherheit. Ihre Flucht nach Europa ist meist mit extremer Gewalt, Ohnmacht und Abhängigkeit von Dritten verbunden. Es mangelt an grundlegenden Strukturen, die eine sichere und reguläre Einreise in die EU ermöglichen und insbesondere Kinder auf der Flucht vor extremer Gewalt und Ausbeutung schützen. Auch ein auf Kinder ausgerichtetes Asylsystem und Erwachsene, die sie in dieser Extremerfahrung kindgerecht begleiten, sind nicht vorhanden.
Die Erlebnisse von Sajid sind realistische Abbilder der Erfahrungen, die hunderttausende Kinder auf ihrer Flucht nach Europa machen.„The Game, das Spiel“ – so bezeichnen Kinder wie Sajid den Versuch, an Grenzpolizist:innen vorbei in die EU zu gelangen. Angst und systematische Gewalt sind fester Teil dieses grausamen „Spiels“. In „Wherever we go, Someone does us Harm“, einem Bericht von Save the Children, berichten diese Kinder von körperlicher, sexueller und psychischer Gewalt. Staatliche Akteure wie Grenzpolizisten sind oft Täter. Die EU toleriert solche Verstöße, um Abschreckung zu fördern.
Auch Sajids Erfahrungen in Belgien ähneln deutschen Zuständen: Sammelunterkünfte bieten wenig Raum für Bildung, Spiel und Schutz. Die langwierigen und bürokratischen Prozesse haben insbesondere auf die psychische Gesundheit der Kinder einen fatalen Einfluss, psychosoziale Unterstützungsangebote sind für geflüchtete Kinder wiederum kaum vorhanden.
These systemic shortcomings have been known to us in Germany for a long time. And yet this film is particularly topical right now: the EU and its member states are currently negotiating the reform of the new Common European Asylum System. The course is clear: the walls are to be raised even higher. Access to individual asylum will be made even more difficult, border protection will be further expanded, and the reforms will make it possible for children to be accommodated in border camps within the scope of the so-called ‘border procedure’. In other words, they will have to live in conditions similar to detention.
We are at a crossroads in Europe. Because the higher the walls of Fortress Europe are raised, the more violent the game of overcoming them becomes – and the harder it gets for children like Sajid. In the end, the film asks: What value do we place on humanity?
Author: Marvin McNeil, Advocacy Manager Flucht & Migration, Save the Children Deutschland
