The bag by the door
FOR SOME, IT’S THE SOUND OF A KNOCK AT THE DOOR, or the thud of an explosion, shattering windows and splitting open the earth. For others, it’s the smell of smoke on the wind, or a text typed in capitals signalling that water levels are set to suddenly rise.
Whether a human rights defender at risk of arrest, a family living in a conflict zone or a woman planning to flee domestic violence in the middle of the night, they have one thing in common: a bag packed ready with this moment in mind. It does little to dull their fear, they say. But gathering life’s essentials means they know they’re prepared if they have to run. Whatever their warning looks like, however much time they have, they’re ready to go.
The origins of the “go-bag” are storied and imprecise: for as long as civilisation has existed, so has danger, disaster and war. From the romanticised illustration of a runaway, packing his life into a handkerchief and tying it to the end of a stick, to the black-and-white photos of children dragging suitcases during the second world war, history tells us people in times of crisis have always found themselves forced to condense the expanse of their lives into portable packages.
Today, the reasons and ways that people prepare their go-bags vary. Since Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February, more than 10 million people have found themselves forced to cram their belongings into backpacks, their lives falling apart at a moment’s notice. Travelling for miles, often on foot, women and children grip pet carriers and teddy bears.
In other countries, environmental disasters pose the most dangerous threat, displacing more than 7 million in 2020. In flood-prone areas of south Asia, backpacks are kept in bin bags, sometimes on the highest shelf, while those living in regions at risk of wildfire make sure their birth certificates are safe in a heatproof box, ready by the door. For millions of women experiencing domestic abuse, a go-bag needs to be discreet – and preferably stored outside the house.
With autocratic and authoritarian regimes on the rise, human rights defenders and activists are also uniquely vulnerable. According to the international human rights network HRD Memorial, more than 900 human rights defenders have been killed worldwide in the past three years. Civil Rights Defenders, a Swedish organisation, reports a worrying increase in requests for urgent assistance from those who need to go into hiding after experiencing death threats, violence and arrest.
Rather than flee their countries to seek safety, they exist in a state of perpetual danger – often carrying a toothbrush and a change of clothes whenever they leave the house.
“They have a really strong will to stay and work where they are, because that’s where they see the need for them,” says Gabrielle Gunneberg, Civil Rights Defenders’ global programme
