From time to time I have taken part in fax/email campaigns to try to prevent the forced deportation of women asylum seekers and their children, and these actions, always at the last minute, have had a good success rate.
The latest appeal which arrived this morning is on behalf of Meltem Avcil and her mother Cennet, who have been held in Yarls Wood detention centre for almost three months, and are facing removal to Germany on 07.30 Hrs, Thursday 15 November. Meltem is just 14, and has been living in this country for six years.
Juliet Stevenson, the actress, who met Meltem last week while visiting Yarls Wood detention centre with Women for Refugee Women, said, "I am shocked that this young girl is being put through such an ordeal."
Meltem's mother and father were persecuted in Turkey for being Kurds, and she and her mother are in a terrible state at the prospect of being deported to Germany from where they fear they will be sent on to Turkey.
Meltem and her mum are asking you to ask the German authorities not to receive them into Germany and they are asking you to ask British Airways not to fly them to Dusseldorf this Thursday.
You can do something from very quickly your own computer, the details of what to do and more information on this case are in the comment box below. Please go and look to see if you can help.
UPDATE
'There is growing speculation that Meltem Avcil and her mother Cennet were NOT put on the BA flight to Dusseldorf this morning – apparently the British Airport police informed the German airport authorities Meltem would not be on the flight. We are awaiting confirmation from the family themselves and will update you as we get news.'
FUTHER UPDATE:
'13 YEAR OLD Meltem Avcil and her mother Cennet were so distraught they had to be removed from the British Airways flight to Dusseldorf this morning. They are now on their way back to Yarl's Wood detention centre. Their lawyer will now resume the legal battle to keep them in the UK.'
2 comments:
TAKE ACTION NOW
1. EMAIL THE GERMAN AUTHORITIES using the model email below to: Mr
Eckhart Will, Email: Eckehard.Will@bamf.bund.de . (please copy/amend/write your own version)
2. FAX BRITISH AIRWAYS using the model fax message asking them not
to carry out the removal of Meltem and Cennet Avcil from the UK . Fax
: British Airways Chief Executive Officer on 0208 738 9801 Fax : British Airways Press Office on 0208 738 9838. (please copy/amend/write your own version, quoting flight Flight No. BA0936 from Heathrow Airport Terminal 1, to Dusseldorf , Germany , at 7.30 HRS on Thursday 15 November
2007)
Thank you for your time and support,
Model Email
FAO Mr Eckhart Will
German Third Country Unit
Germany
Dear Mr Will,
YOUR REF: 2728437: CENNET AVCIL AND MELTEM AVCIL
I am writing to ask that your Government excuse itself
from the responsibility of allowing the United Kingdom Government to remove Mrs Cennet Avcil and her 14-year-old daughter Meltem from the UK to Germany this British airways Thursday 15th November 2007, 7am Terminal 1, , Heathrow to Dusseldorf. The Avcil family has exceptional and compassionate grounds for not being returned to Germany :
a) Meltem Avcil is 14 years old and about to turn 15 on November
21st 2007.
b) She has been in school in the UK for six years
c) Mrs Avcil and her daughter have never absconded
d) Both mother and child have been detained like criminals for
almost three months. She has had no appropriate schooling since being incarcerated. She has had poor medical and social support. Her mental and psychological state has deteriorated, from being a normal, healthy bubbly teenager to a scared, depressed, lonely young girl, turning to self harm (she began cutting herself a few days ago).
I believe that it is in the best interests of this child to be returned to her home in Doncaster, the familiarity of her school, friends and teachers, and to have access within this comfort zone to psychiatrists to assist her in returning to her former happy self.
I strongly believe that it would be against the family’s human rights to be returned to a country with which they have absolutely no connection.
I therefore respectfully request that the German government allow this young girl to return to her community, friends, her school and most of importantly of all, the only country that she has ever known to be truly her home.
Yours sincerely,
Name:
Address:
City:
Postcode:
Country:
Date:
______________________________________________________________
Model Fax Message
To: British Airways
Chief Executive Officer: 0208 738 9801
British Airways Press Office on 0208 738 9838
Dear Sir / Madam,
Forced Removal of Cennet Avcil and Meltem Avcil
7.30 HRS on Thursday 15 November 2007
British Airways Flight No. BA0936 from London Heathrow , UK to Dusseldorf , Germany
I urge you to not carry out the forced removal of this family on your airline, whose case has now been picked up by the UK press and is gathering support all over the UK and parts of Europe .
The Avcil family has exceptional and compassionate grounds for not being returned to Germany :
a) Meltem Avcil is 14 years old and about to turn 15 on November
21st 2007.
b) She has been in school in the UK for six years
c) Mrs Avcil and her daughter have never absconded
d) Both mother and child have been detained like criminals for
almost three months. She has had NO schooling since being incarcerated. She has had poor medical and social support. Her mental and psychological state has deteriorated, from being a normal, healthy bubbly teenager to a scared, depressed, lonely young girl, turning to self harm (She began cutting herself a few days
ago)
I believe that it is in the best interests of this child to be returned to her home in Doncaster, the familiarity of her school, friends and teachers, and to have access within this comfort zone to psychiatrists to assist her in returning to her former happy self.
I strongly believe that it would be against the family’s human rights to be returned to a country they have absolutely no connection with.
I therefore urge you to not carry out the forced removal of this family on your airline.
Yours Sincerely,
Name:
Address:
City:
Postcode:
Country:
Date:
___________________________________________
The original appeal for Meltem from Positive Action in Housing is detailed below.
URGENT ACTION ALERT
PLEASE HELP 14 YEAR OLD SCHOOL GIRL MELTEM AVCIL TO BE RELEASED FROM DETENTION BEFORE HER 15TH BIRTHDAY ON NOVEMBER 21, 2007.
“For education, I get maths for 9 year olds, and then jigsaw puzzles, no they don’t give you an education, and even if they did I don’t think u can get educated in there when you know its really a prison.”
Please help 14 year old Doncaster schoolgirl, Meltem Avcil, and her mother to be released from Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre, where they has been held for OVER THREE MONTHS since August 2007.
Meltem and her mum are Kurdish. Meltem speaks with an English accent.
They fled persecution from Turkey to Germany in 2001. They were refused asylum in Germany and sought asylum in the UK . Meltem’s most formative years have been spent here. She fears being deported back to Germany , and then Turkey , a country she says she simply does not know anymore.
In August 2007, 12 immigration officials carried out a dawn raid on the Avcil’s family home in Doncaster . They were then taken to a police station, and driven in a caged van for 2 ½ hours to Yarls wood detention centre.
On Thursday 1 November 2007, Meltem and her mother were refused bail for a FIFTH time. We understand that the judge refused bail because she wanted medical evidence to show that Meltem ‘does not want to stay Yarl’s Wood’. It is unbelievable that a judge would want ‘medical evidence’ to ascertain whether a 14 year old girl - who has committed no crime whatsoever - would want to stay in Yarl’s Wood, especially when that child is stood right in front of you at a bail hearing, and can speak English without an interpreter and is intelligent enough to understand any questions the judge might wish to put to her about whether she wants to stay in Yarls Wood.
We are very concerned about Meltem who has been incarcerated at Yarl’s Wood for more than three months now and no one in authority seems to be concerned about this or the psychological trauma she is suffering as a result. After being refused bail the fourth time, she began to self-harm and cut her arms, something she has never done before. Some of you will remember the Ay family, who were detained at Dungavel immigration centre in Scotland for more than a year. They were granted indefinite leave to live in Germany on humanitarian grounds, after psychiatric reports showed they had been psychologically traumatised during their incarceration at Dungavel.
Speaking tearfully of her experience at Yarls Wood, Meltem said: “I feel like I’ve committed a crime or something, I feel ashamed. They treat people like animals in here – it’s no different from a jail. I’ve been living I this country for six yrs now and they want to deport me back to a country I don’t even know.
“For education, I get maths for 9 year olds, and then jigsaw puzzles, no they don’t give you n education, and even if they did I don’t think u can get educated in there when you know its really a prison.
“I saw an officer slapping a little two year old baby because he was playing with lights. And a mother crying for her baby because they wouldn’t take her to healthcare but baby was vomiting and had a high temperature. The officers were being really nasty like they’re just lowering them down saying words to make them sadder.”
Meltem went onto say she missed her school friends, and her teachers, including Mrs Jones (English), Mr Richardson (Science) and Miss Westoby (Drama). She said: “At school I was good at science, maths, and history, I wanted to become a doctor. My teachers, they were really kind, and really tried to help me. I miss them all so much, just being a schoolchild and doing normal things, with my friends Kirsty, Charlotte and Natalie. .. I want just to get out of here and see my teachers and friends again. I want to stop seeing my mum so sad and crying”.
Meltem’s school was unaware until two days ago that she was still in the UK , or that she was in Yarl’s Wood. At her school, Hall Cross Lower School , in Doncaster , Meltem was described by her teachers as a “Number 1 student”.
Done. Can't send faxes from my computer..
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