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Begin forwarded message: <br>
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From: Positive Action in Housing <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:home@paih.org"><home@paih.org></a> <o:p></o:p>
<br>
Date: Tue May 18, 2010<span style="">
</span>4:16:40 PM Europe/London <o:p></o:p>
<br>
Subject: Press Statement regarding child detention and
incarceration of Sehar Shabaz and her 8 month old baby daughter Wania
at
Dungavel Removal Centre, Scotland. <o:p></o:p>
<br>
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<br>
<b>Press Statement regarding child detention and incarceration
of Sehar Shabaz and her 8 month old baby daughter Wania at Dungavel
Removal
Centre, Scotland.</b> <o:p></o:p>
<br>
<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p>
<br>
<span style=""></span>Speaking this afternoon from Dungavel Removal
Centre, 25
year old Sehar Shabaz, who is currently locked up in Dungavel Removal
Centre
with her eight month old baby, said: <o:p></o:p>
<br>
<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p>
<br>
“I have been living in the UK for three years. I was forced
into marriage in Blackburn, England. My husband was often drunk,
violent and
threatened to kill me. He forced himself upon me sexually. On several
occasions, he kept me locked in the house for days at a time before
returning.
After some months, I attended my husband’s sister’s wedding in
Pakistan. On
this occasion, I begged my family to take me back. However they could
not support
me. I cannot forgive my family for this. In May 2009, my daughter was
born and
I could take it no more. I had no money and was worried he would kill
me. I
called the police when he became violent but they referred me to the
Social
Work Department in Blackburn.<span style=""> </span>I spoke
to the Social Work and asked them for refuge accommodation and they
said they
could not provide me accommodation because I was not a British Citizen.
They
suggested that I go to the Refugee Council. I left in December 2009 and
came to
Glasgow. Some people helped me to come to Glasgow and I went to the
Scottish
Refugee Council and told them everything. Social work in Glasgow put me
into
homeless accommodation and I was assisted to make an asylum
application. My
husband followed me to in Glasgow and I was given help to move
elsewhere. It is
impossible for me to return to Pakistan.<span style="">
</span>My in-laws are harassing my family and claiming that I am a
fallen women
who has run off with another man. This couldn’t be further from the
truth. This
is the system I would be returning to if they deport me. They won’t
spare me,
it’s not a small issue if a girl runs away from her husband or in-laws.
Our
only value in Pakistan now is if I am dead. <o:p></o:p>
<br>
<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p>
<br>
“Yesterday morning, I went to report to Brand Street
Reporting Centre<span style=""> </span>where I report every
two weeks. I have never absconded or missed my reporting visits. I was
told to
attend with my baby. When I arrived the Brand Street reporting centre
officials
told me I was being detained. I told them I wass signing every two
weeks and I
am continually running from a very bad situation, why are you detaining
me?
They said to me “This is what we have decided”. I said I have a small
baby and
I have none of her clothes or baby things. They said that was not their
problem
and I was put into the back of a van and after an hour my baby and I
were taken
to Dungavel. I just could not stop crying. She was due for medical
treatment
today and despite giving them a medical letter at the detention centre
for my
daughter they insisted on detaining me. <o:p></o:p>
<br>
<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p>
<br>
“This is just a prison. We are kept locked in in the family
area. But why? We have never ran away or tried to break the law. We are
being
treated worse than criminals. I can’t take my baby out for fresh air
when she
needs it. That is the worst thing, not being able to play in the open
with her,
and I don’t like her seeing the barbed wire or to know what it means –
that we
are like criminals and cannot leave.<span style=""> </span>I
just want to be able to raise my daughter in peace, find work and stand
on our
own two feet and make a simple life for us. Nothing else. We are not
criminals
so why are they locking us up like this? My daughter is just a baby,
she has
done nothing to harm anyone. I just ask the government to release us
from
here.” <o:p></o:p>
<br>
<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p>
<br>
Robina Qureshi, Director of Positive Action in Housing,
said: <o:p></o:p>
<br>
<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p>
<br>
“Sehar Shabaz’s story is typical of many Pakistani women
fleeing violent partners. They become stigmatised by society for
leaving their
husbands and it is impossible to live without fear of reprisals e.g.
murders,
social ostracisation, acid attacks on womens faces and bodies. Since
2001,
Positive Action in Housing, together with human rights campaigners and
others,
has campaigned for the release of children and their families who were
locked
up in detention centres across the UK. In every case we dealt with, not
one
single family had absconded either before their detention or after. All
endured
the terror of the current asylum policy, and in many cases, won their
right to
remain after enduring dawn raids, destitution or detention. The facts
speak for
themselves. So why is this young woman being locked up with her young
baby?
Especially after the coalition government made a show of ending child
detention
only a few days ago. <o:p></o:p>
<br>
<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p>
<br>
“Being in government is about more than words of intent. It
is utterly shameful that children continue to be locked up in detention
centres
in the UK when the coalition government itself only days ago took news
headlines for its intention to scrap child detention and condemned it
as an inhumanity
towards children and families. <o:p></o:p>
<br>
<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p>
<br>
<span style=""> </span>“We call on the
government to stand by its words and release Sehar Shabaz and her baby
immediately and all families with children who are currently detained.
There is
no need for prevarication while alternatives are sought. The evidence
of harm
to children is incontrovertible. The alternative to detention is
extremely
straightforward – allow asylum seekers to stay in their homes while
their
asylum claims are still ongoing”. <o:p></o:p>
<br>
<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p>
<br>
<b>Sehar Shabaz has been told that she will be deported to
Pakistan on 22 May 2010. We call on womens groups, refugee campaigns
and
everyone to campaign for Sehar's release. Please email your MP and MSP
and
demand the release of Shear Shabaz and an immediate end to the shameful
practice of child detention in the UK</b>.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p>
<br>
<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p>
<br>
Notes to editors: <o:p></o:p>
<br>
<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p>
<br>
Positive Action in Housing Ltd is a Scottish wide charity
working with communities, housing providers, voluntary organisations
and faith
groups to enable everyone to have an equal chance to live in good
quality,
affordable and safe homes, free from discrimination and the fear of
racial
harassment and violence. We offer advice, information and support to
people
from new migrant, refugee and minority ethnic communities. We run a
free,
confidential and impartial casework service for those facing poverty,
homelessness, racism or poor housing. We run a Hardship Fund and
provide
emergency shelter and practical resources for destitute asylum seekers
and
their families. We provide volunteering and sessional work
opportunities. We
support human rights and anti-racist campaigns. We inform social policy
from a
user-led perspective.<span style=""> </span>
<br>
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<br>
Press enquiries - Robina Qureshi 07530 690 234
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