“I didn’t know why we were moving so much, and my mom, my parents never explained to me but she was like ‘There are people that are after us in our country and we were moving so we can like have a good and stable life outside of our country.’ So yeah. But over time, she’s told me why. So yeah.”
This clip shows Ozzy’s parents protecting her from the truth (their reasons to flee Liberia) but at the same time it also relates to how many refugee children often as minors do not need to understand the situation as a means of protection by their parents. It is a difficult conversation to have with a child and Ozzy’s parents were just trying to survive by fleeing Liberia which did not give them much time to explain the situation either.
Ozzy is a child refugee. A child refugee is someone who is under the age of 18 fleeing from persecution by themselves while a child of a refugee or asylum seeker has a parent(s) who is the one in need of fleeing. Ozzy in this case is a child of an asylum seeker and is not necessarily personally the one experiencing the persecution. Ozzy’s life and many others are often affected by their parents’ refugee story and being a child following their parents to the fleeing country. In this article, children refugees and children of refugees will be categorized together as former, children refugees.
According to UNHCR, as of 2020, the number of forcibly displaced children (under the age of 18 including children refugees and children of refugees) reached 30 to 34 million out of the 79.5 million forcibly displaced persons, which is about 40 percent. UNHCR also adopted a Policy on Refugee Children in 1993 which emphasises how children need special care. Specifically, the policy states three reasonings behind this: “Children are vulnerable. Children are dependent. Children are developing.” (UNHCR, 1994)
As a child, not only do they have the rights of an asylum seeker and refugee but also the rights of a child. The rights of a child are almost universal with only a few countries that have not yet signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). This convention ensures that “the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.”
“My parents like gave us like the best life that they could. And even when they left Liberia, they still did no matter what situation they were in. And even now my mom still tries to do that and she is always trying her hardest.”
Liberia: Africa’s Oldest Republic
Refugees Situation: Why Ozzy Fled Liberia with Her Family
“It’s hard to hear but also interesting like she’s [Ozzy’s mom] been shot in places that you think would kill a person but nah she is still alive. Yeah a lot of her friends died, a lot of people she loved got shot. It was kind of weird imagining it but I get it.”
“My parents were like don’t go [out] without us it’s [Liberia] like really dangerous and I would always listened. I did feel scared to go outside alone but I mostly just focused on my “bubble” so I didn’t really feel scared but I knew my parents were scared for me and they were worried for me if I ever did go out. Me and my siblings.”
Her mother having experienced the civil war and all of its destruction made her more protective of Ozzy especially as a child when they were in Liberia. As a result, Ozzy was not allowed to go out alone in Liberia because her parents knew how dangerous it could be especially for a young girl.
Liberia experienced two civil wars from 1989 to 1996 and 1999 to 2003, which took the lives of approximately 200,000 Liberians and for more than 250,000 others to flee for their lives as refugees. The main reason for the civil war was the conflict between the government and two rebel groups: Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL). Much of the danger is located around the Mano River region consisting of the countries Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Eventually after much destruction, the civil wars were resolved with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, a treaty with the three main agents: the government and two of the main rebel groups (LURD and MODEL).
Other reasons to flee from Liberia also do not necessarily relate to the civil wars but to Liberian culture and tradition such as female genital mutilation and witchcraft which often ends with death or death threats to the victims involved. As for Ozzy and her family, they are Christian, so they especially do not agree with female genital mutilation. In 2016, UNICEF estimated there were around 200 million females who have experienced genital mutilation across 30 different countries. In Liberia specifically over 40 percent of women (between 15 and 49 years of age) have endured female genital mutilation.
These historical and cultural circumstances shaped Ozzy’s parents’ decision to flee Liberia. Ozzy’s mother wanted to protect her children to the best of her abilities. She did not want Ozzy to live through the dangerous experiences and environments that she had to endure. However, this caused Ozzy to stay home in Liberia often and eventually flee from her home in Liberia. This clip shows that even though her mother wished more for her daughter, Ozzy was fine with her mother’s decisions and understood her good intentions. Coming to Japan allowed Ozzy to be able to live more freely and safely on a daily basis, which fulfills her mother’s wishes allowing Ozzy to have more fruitful experiences.
“My mom went through because like she went through a whole war so I… she, she like she alway says like she is glad that I never went through that because it was the hardest time for her. And that like uh she use to feel bad for me staying home all the time and she is like, ‘I’m sorry you have to like stay home all the time but it’s for your safety and stuff.’ And I am just like, ‘Mom I am chill.’”
