Gerson Eugenio Quintas also known as Man Genas, is an Angolan whistle blower who fled his native Angola after uncovering serious crimes involving high ranking Angolan officials back in 2020, these crimes included: drugs trafficking, human organ trafficking and the smuggling of fuel to neighbouring countries.

Because of these discoveries, he suffered three failed assassination attempts, on the first incident he was shot multiple times in the back, then on another occasion he was shot in the face right in front of his wife and he survived a plunge from the 5th floor of his apartment building, lastly he was made to watch the rape of his wife at the hands of some SIC officers (Serviços de Investigação Criminal de Angola).

After this ordeal, he approached the authorities to seek protection given the seriousness of the allegations he made and the attempts on his life. For his dismay, the officer who was appointed to handle his case happened to be the same person who shot him in the face, with this came the realisation that Angola was no longer safe for him. He left the country along with his pregnant wife Clemência Suzete Vumi and their two children, aged 2 and 4 years old to seek safety in Mozambique, which is a country with historical ties with Angola.

Sadly, shortly after their arrival in Mozambique, and after having made their claim for asylum, they quickly came to realise that both the Mozambique and their Angolan counterpart plotted to kidnap him, in an attempt to take him back to Angola, were he would suffer more ill treatment at the hands of the Angolan authorities. Fortunately this attempt failed, and they took to social media to tell their story to the world, which deterred the Mozambique authorities from sending them back to Angola.

In another twist to the story, Clemência gave birth to a baby girl, who was born alive, but later she was told that the baby was dead, since then they have made many attempts to learn what happened to their baby, because they have never seen the body, raising questions of whether the baby is indeed dead. The Quintas family is currently living in a 'prison cell', without any access to clean water, medical care, electricity nor daylight. This situation is very stressful and traumatising to the family - the children in particular. At first they though that the inhumane treatment was exclusively dished out to them, however there was shortly a realisation that this is the norm for those who go to Mozambique to seek refuge.

There are a huge number of asylum seekers from many African countries such as:  DRC, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Angola and others. In some cases the asylum seekers are kept in prison cells, in many cases over many years without any prospect of normalcy that a resolution of their asylum claims would offer. In some cases, these people are kept in inhumane conditions for numerous years without hope of improvement.

This is why I urgently seek your support to help me and my family petition the UNHCR, UNICEF and The Commonwealth to stop the Mozambican  authorities from criminalising asylum and asylum seekers, so they can be integrated into society and so their children can attend school and play with other children, instead of being imprisoned with their parents as it currently is.