Nazouma was 16 when she escaped from her life as an unwilling prostitute in Congo. She told her story to the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) in the Netherlands, but they didn’t think her account of her experiences was credible and withdrew her residence permit. However, after she had a medical examination, she was allowed to stay.

The suspicions of the people who helped Nazouma after her application was rejected turned out to be correct: she had been raped and abused by soldiers after her parents died and she ended up living on the street. At the age of 14 she was forced to sell her body to stay alive. The problem was Nazouma didn’t know how to tell the Dutch authorities.

“I told the IND a lot of things, but not everything. I was a bit scared. I felt as though the gentleman was my father and mother, I couldn't tell him everything. That’s why I had a problem with my residence. They said they didn’t believe me.”

Scars
Years later, Nazouma was finally able to tell the whole story to the doctors working for Amnesty International’s Medical Examination Group (MOG). The group specialises in examining victims of abuse and torture. She told them that the soldiers forced themselves on her. 

“You don’t want to, but they have sex with you. I have scars from all the men and soldiers who raped me.”

She re-applied for asylum and now included the medical report. This time she was granted a permanent residence permit.

Janus Oomen worked for the MOG until recently. He recognises Nazouma’s reluctance: 

“Somebody has been raped and doesn’t want to talk about it. Or someone is psychologically so confused he is unable to present a coherent story.”

Cigarettes
Only asylum seekers who have been turned down by the IND are eligible for a medical examination. Step by step the doctors look for evidence of brutal treatment. Oomen cites the case of an Iraqi with burns caused by cigarettes being stubbed out on his back. This is quite easy to determine from the shape and nature of the scars, but the victim’s statement is just as important.

“He can’t see everything on his own back, so we take photographs. Then we sit down and ask him what could have caused each one of the scars. In Arabic-speaking countries falaka [beating the soles of the feet with rods or whips, ed.] is often used by torturers as a kind of warm-up exercise. Then there are cigarette burns. Once you’ve seen a scar from a stubbed-out cigarette, you know when you see another one.”

According to Janus Oomen’s own calculations, nearly 75 percent of the 200 asylum seekers the team sees each year are entitled to a residence permit. Under the terms of the UN Istanbul Protocol, torture victims may not be expelled.

Smell
He finds it incomprehensible that medical findings play no role in judging asylum applications. The IND is apparently not prepared to consider the causes of medical conditions and scarring. He cites the Iraqi man again:

“He had fresh wounds on his back when he was interviewed. I often imagine that the official must have been able to smell them. He couldn’t have failed to do so.”

(imm/tf)