Justice for Rima Campaign

A Call for Justice and Compassion

KEEP THIS FAMILY TOGETHER

Please read Rima's story (on the right, under the photo),
then take any of the suggested actions you can - see bottom of page.

Alongside the very many letters and postcards reaching politicians, and the significant numbers signing the petition, Rima's case has continued to make media news (see the "News" page).

30th August UPDATE

We are still waiting for a date for Rima’s Judicial Review. Rima’s solicitor has recently received a letter from the UK Borders Agency confirming that they still intend to contest the case, but also acknowledging that they will not be making any attempt to remove Rima from the country while the case is pending. In view of this clear statement, we are not currently asking for any campaigning actions; we need to respect the legal process, in which we believe that we have a good chance of success.
We are meanwhile getting on with our life in Glasgow. We had a lovely amount of good quality family time over the summer, and Rima has now started back at College, having achieved all the exam results which she required. Our family life continues to be vitally important to all three of us, and a source of delight.
We thank you all for your continued support and concern. The best case scenario is that we may not need any further campaigning support, but if we do it is likely that once again we will have to ask for a quick response from all our wonderful friends and supporters.
We will let you know as soon as there are any significant developments

8th July UPDATE

On June 28th Rima's signings switched back to being monthly. We are still encouraging all our supporters to write to Theresa May and to engage with their MPs. MEPs, AMs. MSPs. Some of you are receiving postive responses from newly elected MPs and we'd be grateful for copies of MP responses (email us via letrimastay@gmail.com or through the facebook site). Meanwhile we continue to explore the various legal options open to us. The Judicial Review remains unaddressed and we have had no other news.
We will keep providing updates and will no doubt have more suggestions for campaign actions. If any of you would like copies of our new postcards to send on to the Home Secretary please do contact us, again via letrimastay@gmail.com with a mailing address and we will send these on to you directly. We are also happy to speak to local groups about our campaign.
Our continued gratitude for all your efforts.

Damian Green agrees with Alison!

Monday 14th June. Damian Green (UK Immigration Minister) is interviewed on Good Morning Scotland. An excerpt from an interview with Alison is used as the lead in. "She's right", says Mr Green. (Sadly this is not in response to the question, "Should Rima be given leave to remain?") The interview is about the review being held into how to end child detention, and Mr Green agrees that children should not be held in detention.

24th May General Assembly

During the debate on a wide-ranging report from the Church and Society Council of the Church of Scotland, the Church's General Assembly agrees to: "Urge the UK Government to protect the rights of asylum seekers who are children, and express concern over the process in determining the age of asylum seekers who claim to be under the age of 18". We are told that Rima's case has prompted this motion to be brought before the General Assembly.

19th May TV DOCUMENTARY

Our family is featured in a BBC TV documentary. The programme is called “Truth, Lies, and Asylum Seekers” and is an half-hour long programme about the situations of three asylum seekers in Glasgow. The story of our family is one of the three.

Rima's case and the programme features in this BBC website article.

19th May BBC Radio Scotland

Alison is interviewed on Good Morning Scotland as Damian Green (new UK Immigration Minister) announces no more child detention in Dungavel (and children will go to Yarl's Wood instead). She points out that whilst it's good news about Dungavel, it still means the cruel practice of child detention continues in the UK. Alison says that there are good alternatives available.

The new UK government coalition has pledged to end child detention (it featured in the Queen's Speech "my Government will … end the detention of children for immigration purposes"). However, this hasn't happened yet. Instead a review has been announced, which speaks of setting out plans "in the coming months". So we must make sure the new government delivers, as is pointed out in these articles by Clare Sambrook (OpenDemocracy.net) and Natasha Walter (The Guardian, Comment is Free).

CRITICAL PHASE - Update 16th May

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Our campaign is entering a new critical phase. Rima will turn 18 on 1st July, and the law covering her situation changes. There is a good chance that the Border Agency will try to deport her soon after then if we have not managed some progress either legally or politically beforehand. However, we have new MPs and a new UK government is in power, so now we are able to resume campaigning.

Thanks to your support, our MP, John Robertson, did write to the former Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, on Rima’s behalf just before Parliament was dissolved, asking that at the very least she be given the opportunity to claim asylum in the UK. Unfortunately the reply he received simply announced that with Parliament being dissolved and the election period imminent no action could be taken. In addition, Catherine Stihler, our MEP, raised a question in the European Parliament (thanks to Rima’s friend Douglas, aged 8) and has received a full and helpful reply from President Barroso, President of the European Commisson (see below).

So, with a new Westminster Parliament, a new UK Government and a new Home Secretary we have a fresh opportunity to bring Rima’s case to the attention of new Ministers, who may be less jaundiced than the old. Already we have seen the announcement of an end to child detention. However, Rima’s situation remains precarious; for reasons that they are not communicating neither the Home Office lawyer nor the High Court are progressing her case, and there is not much our solicitor can do about this.

But you can do something - you can continue to write letters to keep up the pressure on the Home Office and the UKBA from politicians. We are suggesting a new range of letters for you, depending on who was elected to Westminster in your constituency. We do not believe at this stage that we need more letters to MSPs or the Scottish Government at the moment, but Scots may wish to write to the new Scottish Secretary as well as to their MP. This is especially worthwhile given the announcement by the new Prime Minister, David Cameron, that there will be full co-operation with the Scottish Government on all issues. Please do personalise the letters as much as you feel able, and have time for. The more individual a letter the more impact it makes on all of these politicians and their administrative assistants.

ACTIONS

As a first priority please write to the new Home Secretary, Theresa May. See Letter A. Please do personalise the letter, if possible, because twe are told that this helps the campaign. 

If your MP was re-elected, then you could use one of this range of letters:
Letter B1 – If they have already expressed support.
Letter B2 – If they have expressed support and you know they have had a reply from the Home Office.
Letter B3 – if they have refused to express support.

If your MP has now become a Government minister, it is well worth congratulating them on that also. To our surprise, a number of Cabinet Ministers in the previous Government were very positive in their replies to constituents, so there is no reason why the same should not apply to the new ones. You might mention this to them, to encourage a positive response. If you have friends in the constituency of the new Home Secretary (Theresa May, Maidenhead) or Immigration Minister (Damien Green, Ashford), could you ask them particularly to write to them as their constituency MP.

If you have a new MP, then you should use Letter C1. MPs who have been helping us with our campaign have informed us that where new MPs have been elected then previous files are closed. So where there are new MPs I’m afraid we need to start again, on the ground.

Not sure who to write to? Go to our resources page

If, as a Scot, you want to write to the most recent Scottish Secretary, Michael Moore, you could use Letter C2b.

We are also printing a new Postcard, addressed to Theresa May. Let us know if you would like some of these for your friends and contacts to use.

We are still collecting petitions, and these seem to have the most impact on politicians if they come with a "story" attached; the most favoured ones so far are those collected by children and young people. Download the petition. Also don't forget the online petition.

Please also send hard copies of all your letters to Rima’s named UKBA case worker:

Liam Fenning,
Third Country Unit, UKBA
7th Floor
Green Park House
29 Wellesley Road
Croydon
Surrey CR0 2AJ

 

Do you use Facebook?

If so, you might wish to join the Facebook group Justice for Rima Andmariam. We use this for most of our updates, saving email for really urgent and important action requests.

Thanks for your continued commitment and effort on behalf of Rima. We continue to be buoyed up by all the support, despite the emotional difficulties of the situation.

with love, hope and gratitude,
Robert, Alison and Rima.

Reply from the European Commission

You may recall that on 9th March Catherine Stihler, MEP, asked President Barroso of the European Commission about Rima's case. (Read more about Catherine Stihler's question here.) Mr Barroso said he'd look into the case and he has now replied. Here are some of the more relevant parts of his response:

When the asylum seeker is an unaccompanied minor, Article 6 of [The Dublin] Regulation states that the Member State responsible for examining his/her claim is the Member State where a member of his/her family is legally present, provided that this is in the best interests of the minor. […] In addition, under Article 15 (3), if the unaccompanied minor has a relative or relatives in another Member State who can take care of him or her, Member States shall if possible unite the minor with them unless this is not in the best interests of the minor. In implementing these rules, Member States must always respect the best interests of the child, in accordance with Article 24 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Article 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In its recent proposal […] a new Article 6 would be added to require Member States to cooperate closely with each other in assessing the best interests of the child and in particular to take due account of the following factors: family reunification possibilities; the minor's well being and social development; safety and security considerations as well as the views of the minor in accordance with his/ her age and maturity. […] 
 
The Dublin Regulation offers the possibility for the United Kingdom to decide to examine an Asylum Application submitted on its territory by a third country national in applying for example the Humanitarian Clause, even where it is not responsible under the criteria set out under this regulation. Even if the application of this provision is not compulsory British Authorities may decide to apply it and examine Rima’s asylum application.

If you wish, you can download the full text of his letter.

THANK YOU

Thanks to all of you for your messages of support and the wonderful ideas and reports on action you have taken to date. Please do keep sending them to us. This news helps sustain us in the hard days and makes a real difference to us.

Contact us at letrimastay@gmail.com