Vacationing in communist East Germany

TAKE THE STAZI ON THE RIDE

Citizens of the GDR were not allowed to venture far due to strict travel restrictions. This made bordering countries Poland and Czechoslovakia popular destinations.



A trip to the Polish coast

"My parents had a model 500 car, and I remember that I always had a hard time breathing in the back," said Wolfgang Worf, whose family regularly took trips from Weimar, in East Germany, or the German Democratic Republic (GDR), to Liberec, in what was then Czechoslovakia, in the 1970s and 1980s.

Sometimes they traveled as often as three times a year. The car was decidedly small, and had no windows that could be opened in the back. After an upgrade to the popular 601 model of the ubiquitous East German-made Trabant car — lovingly dubbed the Trabbi — the long trips to the neighboring country became a little more bearable, he told DW.

Wolfgang Worf's parents hailed from the Sudetenland region in what is today the Czech Republic. After the Second World War, they were among the roughly three million Germans who were expelled. But they took every opportunity to visit their native region and old friends from school.

Worf recalls that East German citizens weren't allowed to exchange many East German marks into Czech crowns, which made staying with acquaintances and friends imperative back then. "In return, we would bring them something from East Germany, which was always a lovely, friendly gesture."

THE TRABANT: CELEBRATING EAST GERMANY'S ICONIC VEHICLE

Trabant 601

The Trabant was to the East what the VW Beetle was to the West — a vehicle for the masses. It was cheap to produce, with an outer body made of hard plastic. The car's moment in the spotlight came with the fall of the Berlin Wall, as citizens of the GDR spilled over the newly open East-West border in their "Trabis." There are still more than 30,000 Trabants on the streets of Germany today.

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Restricted travel

The right to holidays was enshrined in East Germany's constitution. In 1961, everyone who had a job was entitled to 12 days vacation, with the number of days gradually increased as the years went by.

East Germans could not simply pack up and go wherever they wanted. The destinations were restricted, and constraints were formidable.

An exit permit was required, along with other documents, for trips to Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. People usually traveled to the Soviet Union as part of a tour group, rarely on their own.

Destinations such as Cuba required approval from the party secretary, the trade union official and the employer. Applicants had to be highly upstanding East German citizens, making such trips virtually impossible for ordinary citizens.

Visiting a country that did not belong to the group of so-called brother countries was completely out of the question, especially after the Berlin Wall was built.
Why some borders were more open than others

In 1972, the Berlin Wall had already stood for 11 years. East Germans who were almost universally barred from the West had not met relatives in person for over a decade. Resentment spread, people voiced tentative demands for freedom of travel — an issue that would later lead to the end of the East German state.

East German passports

Sensing people's displeasure, the East German leadership relented. In early 1972, agreements came into force that eased travel restrictions between the GDR, Poland and Czechoslovakia, at least on paper.

"You still stood at the border for a long time, whether before or after 1972. It didn't really matter much," Worf said.

According to East German records dating to 1977, the country's citizens traveled to both neighboring countries almost 50 million times in the first five years.

Popular destinations in Czechoslovakia were Prague and Karlovy Vary. People wanted to get to know the culture and see the countryside, but it is also where they met relatives from West Germany, which East Germany only allowed its citizens to visit under certain circumstances, and after thorough scrutiny. "That was always very nice," said Worf.

'Borders of Friendship'

Poland was popular for weekend trips as overnight stays were possible without a registration procedure.

Many East Germans enjoyed the more informal mood in a country where they could purchase West German publications such as the newsmagazine Der Spiegel, and see the latest Hollywood blockbusters in movie theaters.

Polish citizens traveled to East Germany not so much for a vacation or recreation, but in hopes of finding those scarce goods not available in their own country, or only at considerably higher prices.

Axel Drieschner, curator of the "Borders of Friendship: Tourism between the GDR, the CSSR and Poland" exhibition at the Utopia and Everyday Life Museum in the East German town of Eisenhüttenstadt, told DW a joke to go with that situation.

"Two dogs meet at the border and one of them asks: Why are you going to the GDR? The other says, to eat my fill. Asks the first dog: Why are you going to Poland? To bark louder for a change?"

In Poland at the time, people could voice displeasure and speak more openly about certain problems that people didn't feel as free to address publicly in East Germany, Drieschner said.

The Utopia and Everyday Life Museum has a collection of various postcards, travel catalogs and souvenirs, memories of vacations by East Germans in Poland and Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and 1980s.

Most exhibits are on loan, landing at the museum's doorstep following a public appeal. Many people reacted, Drieschner said, sending e-mails with anecdotes and stories, as well as souvenirs, some of which are on display.

East German leadership soon regretted the move

It didn't take long for the ruling SED party to regret the relaxations at the borders. Officials had not factored in shopping tourism and the consequences for East Germany's planned economy.

"They had calculated years in advance how much, let's say, razor blades or pins would be needed in the next few years," Drieschner said, adding that suddenly people from other countries showed up with very specific needs that had not been taken into account.

Fond memories of a trip to Czechoslovakia

One other aspect could cause chaos, too, and that was the potential to rouse resentment among the East German populace, Drieschner said.

"The leadership did not want to stir up unrest among the population, which could easily happen when Polish citizens drove to Görlitz in East Germany and bought items in department stores that were more or less fresh on the shelves," he said. "The larger cities near the border were very much affected by shopping tourism, and sometimes new resentments cropped up concerning the respective nationalities who bought what were perhaps urgently needed consumer goods."

Worf, in turn, remembers special goods he brought back from Czechoslovakia.

"We brought home vast quantities of dumpling flour, which was not available in the GDR at the time, and my favorite dish has always been sirloin with dumplings," Worf said. "I also liked shopping at the stationery store — the Czechs had certain pens that you rarely got in East Germany."

Shopping tourism displeased the East German leadership, as did the emergence of the anti-Soviet Solidarity movement in Poland in the 1980s.

The subsequent declaration of martial law in Poland again led to stricter controls at the borders, and travel became more difficult again.

That era is long gone, and today the borders are open across most of the European Union. The "Borders of Friendship" exhibition that runs at the Museum of Utopia and Everyday Life through April 30, 2023, shows visitors what travel was like for East Germans in the 1970s and 1980s.

GDR MOVIE POSTERS: CREATIVE FREEDOM PAST THE CENSORS

René Ahrlé: Murderers are Among Us (1946)

Murderers are Among Us is the first German film to be released post-war and at the same time, the first film produced by the Deutsche Filim AG (DEFA), which was founded in May 1946. For his book, More Art than Advertisement: GDR Movie Posters 1945-1990, graphic designer Detlef Helmbold has collected more than 6,000 movie posters. They show that poster art was highly esteemed in East Germany.

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This article was originally written in German.

Dust-free dinosaurs: How museums preserve prehistoric bones

Priceless prehistoric relics, like the Gorgosaurus skeleton selling for $6 million at auction this week, need to be kept clean and in good shape.



This T. rex-like Gorgosaurus skeleton went under the hammer for $6 million

The preservation and conservation of massive skeletons, from prehistoric dinosaurs to 19th century blue whales, is a mammoth task for natural history museums around the world.

These ancient remains have increasingly become hot-ticket items for private collectors — a T. rex related Gorgosaurus was auctioned by Sotheby's New York on Thursday for $6 million (€5.9 million) — which makes the work of cleaning and dusting these old bones all the more vital.

Leaf blowers and feather dusters

FEATHER DUSTERS SPREAD DUST, WE USE LAMBSWOOL (SYNTHETIC) OR MICROFIBRE TO PICK UP 99% OF THE DUST

"Fossilized bone will return to dust given enough exposure to the elements," wrote the Natural History Museum of Utah (NHMU) in a 2017 article titled "Dusting our Dirty Dinosaurs."

William Thomas, the exhibit preparator at the NHMU, which holds a large collection of Jurassic-era specimens, told DW that "the standing dinosaur skeletons get dusted about twice a year."

Comprising a mix of fossils and skeletal reconstructions, the standing dinosaur display includes a towering Barosaurus that rises over 9 meters (30 feet) off the ground, whose long neck helped it feed on plant matter from tall trees around 150 million years ago.

"Our favorite dusting tool is a powerful leaf blower," Thomas explained, which is used in tandem with feather dusters attached to long poles and a compressed air cleaning device.

"We usually do a big dusting in June," he added, "and another big dusting in the winter when we do a test of our smoke evacuation system, which tends to send a big wind through the building and raises a lot of dust."

Thomas and his team scour the galleries daily for the occasional spider web, or damage caused by visitors.

"We have had to repair some broken-off pieces over the years," he said. "This is much easier with cast specimens than with fossilized bones."

Bug and beetle deep clean

At the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington D. C., the public collection has been given a very thorough clean.

In the Department of Vertebrate Zoology, a colony of carnivorous dermestid beetles, which museum specialist John Ososky calls "super sanitation engineers," are used to remove the toughest tissue from bones.

"I have close to a million beetles voraciously cleaning away muscle and connective tissue from any specimens I give them," he said. While a small mammal like a mouse can be cleaned in a couple of hours, large mammals like whales can take many months.

BEASTS THAT COULD COME BACK FROM EXTINCTION

No fear of a T-Rex sequel

Five films on, Jurassic Park still has us captivated by the idea of humans coming face-to-face with our planet's most terrifying former inhabitants. But the fantasy of resurrecting a dinosaur from DNA in the belly of an amber-trapped mosquito is a long way from reality. Leading de-extinction scientists say making use of genetic material more than a million years old won't be possible.

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A whale of a time

Five years ago, London's Natural History Museum unveiled a blue whale skeleton called "Hope" after a painstaking renovation.

A stranded whale found in 1891 in Ireland, the museum in South Kensington first displayed the skeleton in 1934. Taken down in 2015, conservationists worked for over three years preparing the 4.5-ton specimen with 221 bones to be displayed front-and-center in the museum.

In 2020, when the museum reopened after the initial COVID lockdowns, the conservation team again cleaned and dusted the huge blue whale skeleton. Over a two-day period, Hope was gently cleaned using soft brushes and vacuum cleaners, with the team also checking for any stress cracks in the bones.

More recently, the iconic blue whale at the New York Museum of Natural History — the largest model of the largest animal that has has ever lived on earth — received its nine-monthly clean. The entire 29 meter body of the whale has been getting a regular good dusting since it was first installed in 1969.

'Inspire wonder and capture imaginations'

Now, not only large museums but also private collectors will have to learn how to keep their prehistoric investments in pristine shape.

The Gorgosaurus sold at Sotheby's was a massive carnivore related to the Tyrannosaurus rex; it was at the top of the food chain 10 million years before its more famous cousin. The skeleton was discovered in 2018 in the US state of Montana and is nearly 3 meters tall and 7 meters long.

Most Gorgosaurus skeletons are in museum collections, making this the first available for private ownership, the auction house said.

"In my career, I have had the privilege of handling and selling many exceptional and unique objects, but few have the capacity to inspire wonder and capture imaginations quite like this unbelievable Gorgosaurus skeleton," Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby's global head of science and popular culture, said in a statement.

Back in May, a roughly 100 million-year-old Deinonychus antirrhopus dinosaur skeleton was auctioned in New York for about $12 million dollars; while in 2020 a skeleton of a T. rex known as "Stan" fetched over $30 million.

Many experts are critical of the auctioning of scientifically valuable skeletons, knowing that whoever shells out millions of dollars to own these relics will also have to hire a regular army of cleaners to ensure they don't deteriorate before their time.

BYE, BYE TRISTAN OTTO! THE KING OF THE DINOSAURS IS LEAVING BERLIN

A temporary farewell

Before leaving for Copenhagen, Berlin fans can once again celebrate the T. rex during a farewell weekend. But it is only a temporary farewell: Tristan Otto is scheduled to return to the German capital in 2021. Worldwide there are about 50 reconstructed specimens of Tyrannosaurus rex, mainly in the USA. Tristan Otto is the only original skeleton of a T. rex in Europe.

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BLACK LIVES MATTER ITALY

Italian politicians decry street killing of African immigrant

An Italian man has been arrested after a Nigerian street vendor was beaten to death on a busy shopping street. Politicians slammed "indifference" as passersby apparently had not physically intervened.

Alika O. was beaten and killed by an Italian man in broad daylight

The mayor of an Italian town on Saturday condemned the killing of a Nigerian vendor in broad daylight in an apparent dispute over a woman.

Alika O. was beaten and killed in the Adriatic coastal city of Civitanova Marche while onlookers filmed the incident without any apparent attempt to intervene, local media reported.

Mayor Tommaso Claudio Corvatta blasted what he said was a "climate of intolerance" that "has been raging in the city for some time now."

What do we know about the killing?

Alika O. was selling goods at about 2 p.m. local time (1200 UTC/GMT) Friday on the city's main street when his attacker grabbed a crutch the vendor used to walk and struck him down, police said.

Media reports say the victim had asked the attacker's girlfriend to buy his scarves or give him change. 

Video footage of the attack shows the assailant then wrestling the victim to the pavement as the victim fought back.

Eventually, Alika O. was subdued by the weight of his attacker.

Although no passerby tried to physically intervene, the police were called and tried to administer aid to the victim, police chief Matteo Luconi told Italian news channel Sky TG24.

Video footage filmed later shows the victim lying motionless with a white sheet covering his entire body.

Police used street cameras to track the assailant's movements and later detained a man.

He was identified as Filippo F., 32, and was being held on suspicion of murder and theft after being accused of stealing the victim's phone, as well.

Filippo F.'s girlfriend told the police hthat er partner had lost his temper because the seller was insistent that they buy something.

Daniel Amanza, who runs the ACSIM association for immigrants in the Marche region's Macerata province, said the victim had called the attacker's girlfriend "bella," the Italian word for "beautiful."

"This compliment killed him,'' Amanza told The Associated Press news agency. "The tragic fact is that there were many people nearby. They filmed, saying 'stop,' but no one moved to separate them."

Who was Alika O.?

Alika O. sold tissues and small accessories on a main shopping street in Civitanova Marche, a city that lies about 240 kilometers (150 miles) northeast of Rome.

Local media reports said he had lost his job as a laborer because of mobility issues after being hit by a car while riding a bicycle. He needed a crutch to walk.

The 39-year-old was married and had an 8-year-old son. He had been in Italy for about a decade, according to local media.

What has been the reaction to the killing?

The killing comes as Italy is in the midst of campaigning for elections on September 25 in which the right-wing coalition has already made immigration an issue.

Italy's acting health minister, Roberto Speranza, hit out at the lack of aid given to the victim, saying that "indifference is as serious and unjustifiable as violence."

"The murder of Alika O. is dismaying," Enrico Letta, the head of the left-wing Democratic Party, wrote on Twitter. "Unheard of ferocity. Widespread indifference. There can be no justification."

Far-right leaders Matteo Salvini and Giorgia Meloni, who have been outspoken against immigration, also denounced the killing and hoped that "the sentence will be the maximum possible" for the murderer.

Several people, including members of the Nigerian community, gathered Saturday in Civitanova Marche and nearby Ancona to demand justice.

mm/fb (AP, EFE)

Editor's note: Deutsche Welle follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and obliges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases. 

How big agriculture is taking over our diets

Jul 29, 2022

 Just a few companies control half of the world’s commercial seeds. They dictate what farmers grow and how – and what ends up on our plates. How did we get into this food mess? And is there a way out of it?

Reporter: Tatiana Kondratenko Camera: Serdar Vardar Video Editor: Markus Mörtz Supervising Editors: Joanna Gottschalk & Malte Rohwer-Kahlmann We're destroying our environment at an alarming rate. But it doesn't need to be this way. Our new channel Planet A explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world — and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means. We look at the big and the small: What we can do and how the system needs to change. Every Friday we'll take a truly global look at how to get us out of this mess. #PlanetA #Agriculture #FoodSecurity Read More: Svalbard Global Seed Vault’s Seed Portal: https://seedvault.nordgen.org/ Genetically Engineered Crops: Experiences and Prospects: https://nap.nationalacademies.org/cat... The Open-Source Seed Initiative: https://osseeds.org/ Underutilized Wild Crops in Koraput, India: https://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volu... Use of Glyphosate in the US: https://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/pnsp/usa... Trends in Varietal Diversity of Main Staple Crops in Asia and Africa: https://www.researchgate.net/publicat...  

How Myanmar's junta is using Chinese facial recognition technology

Rights groups warn high-tech surveillance systems will be used to track down and eliminate the junta's opponents.

Myanmar's military is expanding surveillance under the guise of public security

Myanmar's junta is expanding its public surveillance capabilities by using facial recognition technology, raising fresh concerns about the safety of democracy activists and resistance groups in Myanmar.

In March, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report on Myanmar's use of the Chinese-made facial recognition systems, warning of a "serious threat" to human rights.

HRW said hundreds of cameras were installed in townships around the capital Naypyidaw in December 2020, before the military took power in a coup, in the first phase of a security initiative called "safe city."  Cameras were also installed in Myanmar's largest city, Yangon.

Experts and activists on the ground fear that the military's increased access to this technology could have consequences for the safety of anyone opposing the junta.

A report by the Reuters news agency in July revealed that Myanmar's military government is now expanding camera surveillance systems for cities in all 14 states and divisions in the country.

The cameras, sourced from Chinese tech conglomerates Huawei, Dahua and Hikvision, are equipped with artificial intelligence technology that automatically scans faces and vehicle license plates in public places and alerts authorities to those on a wanted list.

"This is another threat coming, not just on the ground. We are now resisting a digital authoritarian regime," Thinzar Shunlei Yi, a Yangon-based activist, told DW.

Many activists hide their identity as the military tries to stamp out resistance

Myanmar's struggle for democracy

The people of Myanmar were accustomed to military rule in the past, but after a decade of progress and development, the past 18 months have left many feeling as if they are going back.

A short-lived experiment with democracy ended on February 1, 2021, when the military seized power and overthrew the democratically-elected civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi. Military commander Min Aung Hlaing then imposed a state of emergency and arrested elected leaders, including Suu Kyi.

Although the coup triggered one of the biggest pro-democracy protests in Myanmar's history, the army's response was swift and violent.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), more than 2,100 people have been killed since the military regime took power and over 14,800 have been arrested, charged or sentenced by the junta.

The army has ignored international pressure to reinstate civilian rule and has also been tightening its grip on democracy activists and the opposition through the digital space.

By controlling the biggest telecommunication company in Myanmar, Telenor, the junta has restricted internet access and censored online content. There have also been reports that the junta has installed spyware on telecom services and internet providers to further monitor and combat online "traitors."

"We are not safe. Basically, all our information can be exposed. The junta heavily uses its digital power to spread misinformation and disinformation, as well as to detect where we are and what we are doing," said activist Yi.

HRW Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson told DW the cameras are the "epitome of intrusive surveillance," abd would allow the junta to remotely monitor, track and ultimately raid the operations of opponents.

"We expect the systems will be used to identify persons of interest, follow their movements, identify their motorcycles and cars, and ultimately follow them to resistance safe houses where junta forces can attack, arrest, and kill those opposed to the military regime," he said.

How is Myanmar's junta applying the technology?

The use of surveillance technology for security is used by governments around the world to fight crime. This is by no means confined to authoritarian regimes, and Suu Kyi's government also used Chinese-made technology before the coup.

However, in the domestic political context of Myanmar, HRW argues that the junta is applying this technology to strengthen its hold on power.

Robertson explained a narrative of "safe cities" was used but in reality this was "designed to hide rights abusing, intrusive surveillance behind the excuse of crime fighting."

And the impact of the junta's surveillance can already be seen across Myanmar: "We see an increasing number of arrests every day, especially in our strike committees," said activist Yi.

"Apart from that, it has become more difficult to organize a large strike in different urban areas," she added.

Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing has vowed to eliminate resistance to military rule in Myanmar

Yi has been in hiding from the junta since the military cracked down on pro-democracy protesters in spring 2021. Despite the brutal force and increased use of surveillance tools by the junta, which she said was a prime way of commiting crimes with impunity, she predicted that the struggle would continue.

"They might kill revolutionaries, but not the revolutionary spirit. As long as the junta is attempting to rule the nation, the resistance forces will keep on going," she said.

Calls for international support

Since the junta executed four activists, calls have grown for the international community to cut off the military from oil and gas revenue flows, and other sources of income.

"Democratic countries need to be united. We are all here watching it, reporting it and then what? The people in Myanmar cannot stop it, yet," said Yi.

Edited by: Wesley Rahn 

The ugly truth about Nigeria's child trafficking

The trafficking of children in Nigeria for domestic service, sex work and forced surrogacy is rampant and lucrative. DW talks to two children about the horrors of their experiences.

Human trafficking of children remains a huge problem in Nigeria

Timipriye says her uncle's wife told her that they wanted to take her with them to Lagos, where she'd be taken care of and sent to university. 

"With so many promises, I was very, very excited," she says, shyly, telling her story for the first time. "I immediately said I wanted to go with them."

At the time, Timipriye was 16 and living Nigeria's south, in a rural village about 350 kilometers (210 miles) from the bustling commercial capital, Lagos. 

Her life at home was hard. Her parents struggled to provide enough food for Timipriye and her 10 siblings and were quick to agree to her move. 

Broken promises

Timipriye falls silent — for a long, long time. When she starts talking again, her words tumble over each other in her effort to get them out.

What has happened since was nothing like what she was promised, she says. 

Instead of attending school, she wakes now at 3 a.m., her days passing in a blur of domestic chores and babysitting her uncle's triplets. 

She gobbles down her food to avoid getting in trouble for loafing — she fears the punishment. Once when she didn't get out of the car quickly enough, her aunt slammed the car door on her hand. Despite the excruciating pain in her fingers, that evening she still had to wash the triplets' clothes by hand.

To add to the horror of Timipriye's life in Lagos, she is sexually abused by her uncle. He barges in on her while she is bathing and enters her room late at night. 

"Even when I try to stop it by locking my door inside before I sleep, it was a problem because he then starts treating me badly and then told me I shouldn't ever lock the door when I'm sleeping," Timipriye says. 

"Every night before I sleep, I always cry and wet my pillow," she says, adding that she can't even ring her parents to tell them what is happening because she doesn't have a phone, or the money, to make a call. 

Child trafficking rampant

Timipriye, who has been working for her uncle's family for four years now, is a victim of child trafficking. 

That is when children and young people are tricked, forced or persuaded to leave their homes, and are then moved somewhere and exploited for someone else's gain. 

In Nigeria, children make up the largest group of trafficking victims. They are trafficked for many reasons, from domestic service like Timipriye to sexual exploitation, being used as child soldiers, forced begging, organ harvesting and even forced surrogacy in "baby farms" where they are impregnated and made to give birth.

Trafficking is a long-running problem in Nigeria: Activists held this protest march in 2017

Of the people trafficked in Nigeria, the highest proportion are girls between the ages of 12 and 17.  

The vast majority, like Timipriye, are transported within Nigeria. 

Whether someone moves 10 kilometers from one community to another, or thousands of kilometers to another continent, the "common denominator" for human trafficking is "exploitation," says Daniel Atokolo, Nigeria's National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons. 

Though international organizations largely agree that Nigeria has improved its efforts to tackle trafficking, the scope of the problem is still enormous. 

Almost 1.4 million individuals were living in modern slavery in Nigeria in 2018, according to an estimate by the Walk Free Foundation, an international human rights group that publishes a global slavery index. 

Tricked by a trusted adult

As is the case with Timipriye, it is often relatives, friends or trusted community members who either directly exploit trafficked children, or who procure the child for someone else.

Poverty is seen as the root cause of making children vulnerable to trafficking. 

Recruiters are most likely to approach "the poorest and most vulnerable" and the "illiterate and psychologically weak" finds a study by the Pathfinders Justice Initiative, an organization working with Nigerian trafficking survivors.

Few convictions

These recruiters are seldom caught. The 2021 Trafficking in Persons report for Nigeria, compiled by the US government, reports only 36 convictions of traffickers. 

The failure to hold traffickers to account means that the few survivors who manage to escape often still live in fear of violence, or fear of their families being harmed, if their traffickers find them. 

This is the case with Ivie, who was trafficked to Italy and forced to into sex work when she was 15 after a trusted family friend promised to take her to Europe and find her a job as a babysitter and a place at a school. 

Her traffickers locked Ivie up with no food until she caved into their wishes. The International Organization for Migration estimates that 80% of the young Nigerian women who arrive in Italy are likely forced into prostitution as sex trafficking victims.

Ivie escaped after she told her story to a client who had commented that she was too young to be doing sex work. He connected her with Catholic nuns who helped her escape and eventually return to Nigeria. 

Back at home, Ivie's nightmare isn't over. She lives in constant fear as the trafficking syndicate is hounding her and her parents, saying Ivie owes them large sums of money — in US dollars – that they spent on her travel expenses. 

Ivie now can't live with her family nor sleep at home; she constantly moves from one place to the next to avoid being found by the trafficking ring. 

No happy ending

Ivie does have a small spark of home in her life, though: Some good Samaritans are helping her learn a vocation and trying to find her place where she can stay permanently.

But she is still traumatized by her experience. Medical experts, such as Babatunde Fadipe, a psychiatrist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, say people who have been victims of human trafficking can experience a wide range of psychological problems from anger to anxiety and depression. 

As for Timipriye, she is too scared to leave her uncle's family. He is a lawyer and a powerful person, she says. 

She met with DW in secret at a neighbor's house while her aunt and uncle were away, summoning up the courage to share her story in the hope of helping prevent other children from being trafficked. 

She also has this message for parents: "Don't entrust your child to anybody to take care of them for you." 

Canada: Global AIDS conference kicks off amid fury over visas

Canada is hosting this year's International AIDS Conference. The event has been billed as a chance for "the world to come together." However, visa issues are causing frustration for would-be attendees from Africa.

Progress has been made on the HIV/AIDS pandemic since it began in the early 80s

Philomena Gori had a lot riding on her attendance at the 24th International AIDS Conference, which kicks off in the Canadian city of Montreal on Friday. The biennial event brings together thousands of scientists, politicians, activists and social workers from around the world to find solutions to the epidemic.

The 32-year-old, a social worker for people affected by AIDS in Cameroon, had taken time off from her current job and spent around $2,000 (€1,965) applying to the conference, securing accommodation and collecting the necessary documents for a visa. 

Her hope was to gain vital connections and know-how in order to help her found a new HIV charity in her home country of Kenya.

But on July 22 — 88 days after she submitted her visa application — a rejection letter landed in her inbox. She was being denied entry, with no time to react.

"I am so disappointed, I am so angry right now," she told DW in a video call. "I sacrificed a lot, I gave a lot of effort to attend and be able to give back to my community.

"In Africa, we are the ones being affected mostly by these diseases, and I was expecting them to give us more opportunities. I feel like it's because we are coming from African countries."

Philomena Gori spent around $2,000 applying for the conference

Canadian authorities under pressure

Gori is not the only one in this situation. Organizers fear that hundreds of other delegates from Africa, Asia and South America are still waiting for, or have already been denied, visitor visas.

The situation has been turning into a scandal. The AIDS 2022 conference, organized by the International AIDS Society (IAS), had been billed as a chance to "call the world to come together to reengage and follow the science." 

But a day before the event was set to begin, the International AIDS Society (IAS) released a statement saying it was "deeply concerned by the high number of denied and pending visas by Canadian authorities."

"This is preventing many people from some of the countries most affected by HIV from entering Canada and attending AIDS 2022, including IAS staff and leadership."

African voices most needed

According to the World Health Organization, Africa is home to more than two-thirds of the global population living with HIV, the virus that progresses into AIDS.

Sam W. Pionlay is one of the delegates invited by the conference but denied a visa by Canada

That is why Sam W. Pionlay, 26, shares the concern about a global AIDS conference taking place with many voices from Africa missing.

Originally from Liberia, he is studying computer sciences in Morocco. He continues to advocate for young people, including those with HIV and AIDS, at home.

With an invitation from the IAS and sponsorship from a Delaware church, he was aiming to travel to the conference to present a paper on violence and HIV prevention for young people and sex workers. 

His rejection arrived on July 19, with the Canadian authorities stating in a letter that they were not "satisfied" that he would leave Canada and return to Morocco at the end of his trip. 

"It just doesn't make any sense," Pionlay told DW. "My work helping young people is here in Africa, I will be finishing my degree next year, why would I stay in Canada?

"This year's conference should have been an opportunity for Africans to participate. I'm really disappointed in Canada as a whole. I'm feeling frustrated."

Canada 'a difficult choice'

The visa difficulties have led to criticism of the choice of host country. David Ndikumana, Executive Director of the WEKA Organisation, which provides support to LGBTQ minorities and people with AIDS in the Democratic Republic of Congo, argued that such conferences should take place in countries that are more accessible.

David Ndikumana is critical of the choice of Canada as a host country

His organization received two invites to the conference but had yet to receive a response about visa applications. "I think what Canada is doing is a kind of discrimination," he told DW. He added that his group wrote a letter asking why only Canada is organizing this international conference. "Why not allow other countries?"

Ken Monteith, director general of Quebec AIDS charity COCQ-SIDA, also saw problems: "It certainly seems like Canada is a difficult choice on this issue," he wrote in an email. "We do have to bear in mind that there are populations that have difficulty obtaining visas for many countries in the north and the south."

IAS President Adeeba Kamarulzaman told DW that Canada was chosen after negotiations with a "middle-income" country were ended over attempts to influence the conference program. 

"Delayed and denied visas affect our ability to host a truly inclusive conference that is representative of communities most affected by HIV. The Conference Organizing Committee has escalated its concerns to the highest levels so that as many people who wish to attend AIDS 2022 are able to do so," she wrote.

Canada 'understands disappointment'

In an email to DW, Aidan Strickland, press secretary for Canada's Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, said applications from around the world were "assessed equally and against the same criteria."

"We understand the disappointment that would result from some applicants not receiving their visas in time for the International AIDS Conference. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has taken every measure available to expedite as much as possible the processing of applications and facilitate travel for this event."

She added that IRCC had processed 91% of all applications received. A processed application can mean either an acceptance or rejection.

Strickland also pointed out that visa processing times can vary.

'If it's done in Africa, I will go'

Despite the furor over visas, there are still high hopes that the conference will lead to improved solutions for combating HIV and AIDS, especially given the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those unable to attend the conference in person do have the opportunity to participate in certain events online.

Philomena Gori intends to take part in some virtual events, and plans to launch her charity as soon as possible. She also hopes one day to have the chance to take part in a similar conference much closer to home.

"If it's done in Africa, I will go. It will be much easier for me to attend."