Somalia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Syria and other countries. One night, two men came to the woman’s room and asked her to follow them. They were armed with guns and knives. When she refused to go with them, one of them put a knife to her neck. They dragged her to another room and the two men repeatedly raped her. They kept her there for a week. She had no food and only salty and dirty water to drink. After a week, she began to menstruate and was moved to another room. A week later she boarded a boat to Italy, arriving at Lampedusa in May 2016. She told UNSMIL: “I can’t be expelled back home, for if my brothers figure out that I am no longer a virgin, they will kill me… it does not matter if I was raped or not… it’s a matter of honor for them.” A 27-year-old woman from Cameroon who arrived in Palermo on 22 June 2016, told UNSMIL staff that she left her home to escape forced marriage. She spent three months in Libya in a number of “connection houses” until she reached Sabrata. She was held there in another “connection house” among approximately 25 women from different African countries. Every night, Libyan men came to choose several women and took them to other rooms where they raped them. If a woman resisted she would be forcibly dragged by the armed men. She said that she was forcibly taken at least five times by the men and raped by one of them. Once she was raped by two men at the same time. The men were armed with guns and knives. She also said that she heard other women and girls screaming while they were being sexually abused. At the time of the interview, she was two months pregnant, the result of being raped. A 27-year-old migrant from Gambia said that he worked in Libya for two years to save money to be smuggled to Italy. He paid a smuggler in Zuwara for travel to Italy. He was housed in a hangar with hundreds of other sub-Saharan Africans, including boys, girls and women for almost a month. At times, he observed the men taking women and girls away and then bringing them back. He believed they were raped. A 19-year-old woman, part of a group of four women and 10 men from Eritrea, told UNSMIL staff that she left Khartoum for Libya in the first half of 2016. When they reached Sabha, they were held in a “connection house” where they met the Eritrean smuggler who had arranged their travel from Khartoum. Women and men were housed separately. The woman said that the Eritrean man came to their room and raped her and another woman. He threatened to burn them, not let them travel further, and deliver them to Libyans. He raped them several times. A few days later, they all moved to Al-Shuweiref in small cars, hidden among various goods, and covered by a tarpaulin. They were taken to a farm and the women were kept in a barn. During the night a group of Libyan men broke into the barn and raped the four young women, while men with knives and guns guarded them. This was repeated for three nights until they were moved to Tripoli. The smugglers then arranged their transfer to Sabrata where they stayed for three weeks before boarding a boat to Italy. They reached Italy on 26 June 2016. 22