Skala Sikamineas, Lesbos Island, Greece
ヨーロッパを目指して危険な旅をする難民のイメージが、近頃のニュースにはあふれている。
たいてい、こうしたイメージは心の痛むようなものだ。男性、女性、そして子ども達がエーゲ海で死に勇敢に立ち向かい、劣悪なキャンプで生き延び、多くの場合難民の受け入れをしぶるヨーロッパ諸国を何日も歩き続ける、といった。
カナダ出身の写真家フレデリック・セギンさんは、難民達のヨーロッパでの旅の行程を取材し、難民危機の別の一面を見せることを決心した。それは、逆境の中にあるたくましさだ。
26歳のセギンさんは、移民ルートに沿って旅をしながら、子ども達の喜びの瞬間を写真に収めた。レバノンの難民キャンプからギリシャの海岸を越え、マケドニアの難民一時滞在所、そして最終的に多くの難民達の望む目的地であるドイツまでの旅だ。
「私たちがいつも目にするドラマチックで悲劇的な写真は、難民達の『人間性』を奪う傾向があります」。セギンさんはワールドポストへのメールでそう書いた。「同じ悲劇的な状況でも、たくましく、笑顔を見せる人の方がはるかに力強く、心に訴えかけてきます」。
「子ども達はたいてい写真を撮ってくれるようせがむのですが、カメラを向けると笑顔で応えてくれます」とセギンさんは話した。
2015年には100万人以上の移民や難民がヨーロッパへたどり着いたが、そのほとんどは戦火にまみれたシリアから逃げて来た人々だ。同年地中海を渡って逃れて来た人のうち、5人に1人は子どもだった。
冬に海を渡るのは危険であり、またヨーロッパの国境越えが厳しくなりつつあるにも関わらず、記録的な人数の移民や難民が流入し続けている。先月には4万5千人以上がボートに乗ってギリシャへたどり着いたが、その数は昨年の1月の30倍以上となった。
セギンさんの写真集は「Smiles in Exile（亡命者たちの笑顔）」と題され、彼のウェブサイト（英語）でさらに作品について詳しく知ることができる。キャプションはすべて写真家によるもので、わずかに編集を加えた。
マケドニア共和国 ゲブゲリア一時滞在所
「悲劇や事件といった言葉が難民危機のイメージでした。しかし、現状を伝えるため現地へ出向いていったら、それだけでないということがわかりました。がっかりするようなことだけではなかったんです」
レバノン・ベッカー高原のシリア人の少年
「この笑顔を見て胸が張り裂けるような思いでした。これから自分の人生に何があっても、彼が笑顔になれるのだから、自分も笑顔でいるべきだと思っています」
マケドニア共和国 ゲヴゲリヤに設置されているユニセフのテント
「この笑顔を見れば、鉛筆のようなものでさえ貴重になり得るだということを、シリアの子どもは理解しているということがわかります」
ギリシャ レスボス島 スカラシカミニアス
「パリアはとても楽しそうに石けんの泡を作っていて、実は私もカメラを置いて一緒に泡を作りました」
ギリシャ レスボス島 モリア
「彼に残っていたのはこのクッキーと笑顔だけ。そのどちらも私に差し出してくれました」
ギリシャ レスボス島
「このような危険な旅に一番大切な人を連れて行くのがどれほど大変だろうかと、想像してみました。そんな危険な時が去った後に見つめるビーチの日没は、計り知れないほどの安堵であることでしょう」
マケドニア共和国 Tabanovce
「笑顔で遊ぶ子どもをここまで珍しいと思ったことはありません。本来なら、彼らにとっても普通であるべきはずです
マケドニア共和国 ゲヴゲリヤ
「ギリシャ国境のイドメニからマケドニアまで家族と共に歩いて向かっていた勇敢な少年。幸運な写真家にわざわざ手を振り笑顔を向けてくれました」
レバノン ベッカー高原
「 "サワリニ、サワリニ、サワリニ"（僕/私の写真を撮って）というのが、レバノンの難民キャンプで一番頻繁に聞いたアラビア語です」
ギリシャ レスボス島
「難民が島に到着するときには、身体は濡れ、混乱した状態で、乾いた服も、行く当てもありません。ボランティアが提供する保温ブランケットは、この島で数えきれないほどの命を救い、今でも大きな需要があります」
ギリシャ レスボス島 モリア
「この少年は希望を捨てていない。瞳はまだ生き生きとしていて、笑顔は輝いていました。どんなときでも笑顔になることはできるのです。どんな時でも」
ドイツにやってきた難民の子供たち
Germany Migrants(01 of30)
Refugees and migrants arrive at the central station in Munich, southern Germany Sunday Sept. 13, 2015. (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Germany Migrants(02 of30)
Refugees and migrants arrive at the central station in Munich, southern Germany Sunday Sept. 13, 2015. (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Germany Migrants(03 of30)
Refugees and migrants arrive at the central station in Munich, southern Germany Sunday Sept. 13, 2015. (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Germany Migrants(04 of30)
Migrants arrive from Munich at Schoenefeld train station near Berlin, Sunday Sept. 13, 2015. ( Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Germany Migrants(05 of30)
Migrants arrive from Munich at Schoenefeld train station near Berlin, Sunday Sept. 13, 2015. ( Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Germany Migrants(06 of30)
Migrants arrive from Munich at Schoenefeld train station near Berlin, Sunday Sept. 13, 2015. ( Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Germany Migrants(07 of30)
A refugee woman from Syria carries a bag with personal things on top of her head, at a tent village for migrants at the Donnersberg bridge close to the central train station in Munich, Germany, Sunday Sept. 13, 2015. Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees and others are still making their way slowly across Europe, seeking shelter where they can, taking a bus or a train where one is available, walking where it isn\'t. (Andreas Gebert/dpa via AP) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
GERMANY-EUROPE-MIGRANTS(08 of30)
A little refugee boy is given a typical Bavarian pretzel after he arrived with his family at the main train station in Munich, southern Germany, September 07, 2015.The numbers of migrants have spiked since September 4, 2015, when Austria and Germany threw open their borders and eased travel restrictions to allow in thousands who had made it to Hungary, which has balked at the influx. AFP PHOTO / CHRISTOF STACHE (Photo credit should read CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:CHRISTOF STACHE via Getty Images)
GERMANY-EUROPE-MIGRANTS(09 of30)
A helper and a migrant girl from Syria laugh in \'Bayernkaserne\', where donations for refugess have been collected, in Munich, southern Germany, on September 9, 2015. Hundres of refugees arrive daily in Munich and the border region of Germany. AFP PHOTO / CHRISTOF STACHE (Photo credit should read CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:CHRISTOF STACHE via Getty Images)
GERMANY-EUROPE-MIGRANTS(10 of30)
A helper puts a shoe at a leg of a migrant girl from Syria in \'Bayernkaserne\', where donations for refugess have been collected, in Munich, southern Germany, on September 9, 2015. Hundres of refugees arrive daily in Munich and the border region of Germany. AFP PHOTO / CHRISTOF STACHE (Photo credit should read CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:CHRISTOF STACHE via Getty Images)
GERMANY-EUROPE-MIGRANTS(11 of30)
A helper and a migrant girl from Syria laugh in \'Bayernkaserne\', where donations for refugess have been collected, in Munich, southern Germany, on September 9, 2015. Hundres of refugees arrive daily in Munich and the border region of Germany. AFP PHOTO / CHRISTOF STACHE (Photo credit should read CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:CHRISTOF STACHE via Getty Images)
GERMANY-EUROPE-MIGRANTS(12 of30)
A migrant girl from Syria kisses her sister in \'Bayernkaserne\', where donations for refugess have been collected, in Munich, southern Germany, on September 9, 2015. Hundres of refugees arrive daily in Munich and the border region of Germany. AFP PHOTO / CHRISTOF STACHE (Photo credit should read CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:CHRISTOF STACHE via Getty Images)
HUNGARY-AUSTRIA-MIGRATION(13 of30)
Migrants smile as they wait to depart a transit zone on a public bus to the Hungarian border village Hegyeshalom early in the morning in Budapest on September 5, 2015. The first buses carrying migrants who have been stranded in the Hungarian capital set off for Austria and Germany early after they agreed to receive thousands of refugees desperate to start new lives in Western Europe. AFP PHOTO/ ATTILA KISBENEDEK (Photo credit should read ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:ATTILA KISBENEDEK via Getty Images)
Refugees at Vienna's Westbahnhof train station(14 of30)
VIENNA, AUSTRIA - SEPTEMBER 7: A woman gives food to refugees board a train leaving Vienna to Munich at the Westbahnhof train station in Vienna, Austria on September 07, 2015. Refugees, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan, arrived in Vienna after Hungary opened its borders with Austria allowing refugees to leave the country and they will continue their journey onward to Germany. (Photo by Christoph Schlessmann/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) (credit:Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
GERMANY-EUROPE-MIGRANTS(15 of30)
A helper prepares a toy for a migrant child after migrants arrived at the main railway station in Munich, southern Germany, on September 06, 2015. Germany on Sunday prepared for more refugees to arrive from Hungary via Austria, a day after thousands were greeted, often by volunteers holding signs that read \'Welcome to Germany\'. But calls grew for a European solution to its worst refugee crisis since World War II. AFP PHOTO / CHRISTOF STACHE (Photo credit should read CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:CHRISTOF STACHE via Getty Images)
GERMANY-EUROPE-MIGRANTS(16 of30)
A young refugee boy looks out of a bus window reflecting the German nation flag after he arrived at the main train station in Munich, southern Germany, on September 05, 2015. Hundreds of refugees arrived in Germany on September 5, 2015 coming from Hungary and Austria. AFP PHOTO / CHRISTOF STACHE (Photo credit should read CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:CHRISTOF STACHE via Getty Images)
Germany Migrants(17 of30)
A child plays football in the accommodation for refugees and migrants , in the exhibition halls of the trade fair Messe Erfurt, in Erfurt, Germany, Friday, Sept. 11, 2015. More than 700 refugees live there at the moment. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Germany Migrants(18 of30)
Refugee children have fun on a merry-go-round in Dortmund, Germany, Monday, Aug. 31, 2015. The children were invited by the city to a local fun fair. While Germany is preparing to accept at least 800,000 migrants this year, other European countries have not agreed to accept such large numbers of migrants. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Germany Migrants(19 of30)
A child watches police prior to the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to a refugee shelter that was attacked by far-right protesters over the weekend in Heidenau, near Dresden, eastern Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015. ( Arno Burgi/dpa via AP) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Germany Migrants(20 of30)
A child plays next to security prior to the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the refugee shelter that was attacked by far-right protesters over the weekend in Heidenau, eastern Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
SERBIA-EUROPE-MIGRANTS(21 of30)
Migrants and refugee children wait near a registration camp in the southern Serbian town of Presevo on September 11, 2015. A record 5,000 migrants have arrived at Serbia\'s border with Hungary over the past 24 hours, a television report said on September 10. Some 3,000 of them have already entered into Hungary, the state RTS television said. Most of the migrants are moving through Hungary on their way to Germany and other northern countries where they hope to win asylum. Some 50 buses transporting around 2,500 migrants as well as three trains with around 3,000 others left on September 9 to 10 overnight from Gevgelija, on the Macedonian side of its border with Greece towards Serbia, according to AFP journalists. The EU unveiled plans to take 160,000 refugees from overstretched border states, as the United States said it would accept more Syrians to ease the pressure from the worst migration crisis since World War II. AFP PHOTO / ARMEND NIMANI (Photo credit should read ARMEND NIMANI/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:ARMEND NIMANI via Getty Images)
MACEDONIA-GREECE-EUROPE-MIGRANTS(22 of30)
A migrant woman walks with her children on rail tracks as they cross the border between Greece and Macedonia near the town of Gevgelija on September 10, 2015. Europe was increasingly divided over its refugee crisis as record numbers of migrants streamed through the Balkans into Hungary, forcing Austria to suspend cross-border train services. Germany warned that an EU plan to distribute 160,000 new arrivals among member states was a mere \'drop in the ocean\', but it faces stiff opposition from eastern members who say they will not accept binding quotas from Brussels. AFP PHOTO / ROBERT ATANASOVSKI (Photo credit should read ROBERT ATANASOVSKI/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:ROBERT ATANASOVSKI via Getty Images)
GERMANY-EUROPE-MIGRANTS(23 of30)
Refugee child shows the victory sign after her arrival at the railway station in Schoeneberg, near Berlin, on September 10, 2015. Germany is expecting to welcome 800,000 asylum-seekers this year, four times more than last year and far more than any other European country. AFP PHOTO / DPA / PATRICK PLEUL +++ GERMANY OUT (Photo credit should read PATRICK PLEUL/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:PATRICK PLEUL via Getty Images)
A DFB Delegation Visits The Refugee Camp Egelsbach(24 of30)
EGELSBACH, GERMANY - SEPTEMBER 09: Refugee children waiting for the DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach at the refugee camp egelsbach on September 9, 2015 in Egelsbach, Germany. (Photo by Alexander Scheuber/Bongarts/Getty Images) (credit:Alexander Scheuber via Getty Images)
Germany Protests(25 of30)
Children of refugees hold pieces of paper in front of the accommodation for immigrants in Freital near Dresden, eastern Germany, Friday, June 26, 2015. The words read: \'Thank you Germany to be here\'. Members of Pegida, the right-wing movement that staged regular rallies in Dresden and elsewhere against immigrants and Muslims, helped initiate protests and demonstrated against the arrival of the first refugee families. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Germany Distributes Arriving Migrants Nationwide(26 of30)
BERLIN, GERMANY - SEPTEMBER 07: A boy plays at a short-term housing facility for arriving migrants and refugees in Spandau district on September 7, 2015 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin authorities erected the new tent camp, now with a capacity for 1,600 people, last week in a hasty effort to deal with new migrants, at least 300 of whom arrived by bus early this morning and more are expected today and in coming days. Approximately 20,000 migrants, mostly traveling via Hungary, arrived in Germany by train in the last 48 hours and a further 10,000 are expected today. Authorities are distributing them to registration centers and shelters nationwide. (Photo by Carsten Koall/Getty Images) (credit:Carsten Koall via Getty Images)
Germany Distributes Arriving Migrants Nationwide(27 of30)
BERLIN, GERMANY - SEPTEMBER 07: A child grabs to balloons at a short-term housing facility for arriving migrants and refugees in Spandau district on September 7, 2015 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin authorities erected the new tent camp, now with a capacity for 1,600 people, last week in a hasty effort to deal with new migrants, at least 300 of whom arrived by bus early this morning and more are expected today and in coming days. Approximately 20,000 migrants, mostly traveling via Hungary, arrived in Germany by train in the last 48 hours and a further 10,000 are expected today. Authorities are distributing them to registration centers and shelters nationwide. (Photo by Carsten Koall/Getty Images) (credit:Carsten Koall via Getty Images)
Refugees at Vienna's Westbahnhof train station(28 of30)
VIENNA, AUSTRIA - SEPTEMBER 7: Refugees, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan, arrive at the Westbahnhof train station in Vienna, Austria on September 07, 2015. Refugees arrived in Vienna after Hungary opened its borders with Austria allowing refugees to leave the country and they will continue their journey onward to Germany. (Photo by Christoph Schlessmann/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) (credit:Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
France Migrants(29 of30)
Volunteers give toys to children refugees from Syria and Irak after they arrive at the Hubert Renaud centre in Cergy-Pontoise near Paris, France, Wednesday Sept.9, 2015. The groups is the first among around 1,000 that French President Francois Hollande pledged to receive from the neighboring country Germany. (Jacky Naegelen, pool via AP) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Migrants Seeking Asylum Arrive In Berlin(30 of30)
BERLIN, GERMANY - AUGUST 27: A young migrant boy from Syria blows soap bubbles as other migrants seeking asylum in Germany wait to register at the Central Registration Office for Asylum Seekers (Zentrale Aufnahmestelle fuer Asylbewerber, or ZAA) of the State Office for Health and Social Services (Landesamt fuer Gesundheit und Soziales, or LAGeSo) on August 27, 2015 in Berlin, Germany. The Berlin office is one of many across Germany where migrants receive initial registration papers before they are sent to shelters while their asylum applications are processed. Germany is expecting to receive 800,000 migrants and refugees this year and is struggling to cope with the record number. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images) (credit:Sean Gallup via Getty Images)
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