To ask you to please help these 2 little girls stay in the UK, they face FGM in Nigeria

[Topaz25]

This petition really moved me, please sign and share:
www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/uk-border-agency-please-review-the-fresh-evidence-submitted-for-afusat-saliu-s-asylum-case-properly

"Afusat Saliu, faces being returned to Nigeria. She has removal directions for 25th April. If she goes back, there is a real risk of forcible FGM on her daughters. She fled to the UK when her step-mother expressed a wish to have her daughter Bassy cut. Bassy will be four in May; two year old Rashidat was born in London - Afusat fled while she was heavily pregnant.

In Afusat's village, FGM is usually performed on babies, which is when Afusat herself was cut. If she is made to return and her family catch up with her, it is likely that she will be powerless to protect them from being mutilated. Afusat is also in danger as she escaped a forced marriage to a man 40 years her senior to whom her family is indebted."

[Impatientismymiddlename]

But we don't know that they will be butchered, because we don't know what information the home office have used to make their decision.

[caruthers]

If this case has been looked at and has been given due consideration then for me I would be happy to allow the law to take its course.

[Topaz25]

I am not willing to take a chance with my children's future.

You do realise these children are just like your children? They are innocent, defenceless children just like yours. The only difference is, you and your children were lucky enough to be born in a country where you have basic human rights. Or you could be that frightened mother fighting to save her children from unimaginable abuse. We all could. We got lucky. We don't have a right to more resources than her just because she had the bad luck to be born into a poorer country. We have the responsibility to help those less fortunate than ourselves.

[NellysKnickers]

Signed. Shocked by some responses on here.

[Redhead4]

Topaz- do you feel guilty every time you drink a glass of water knowing that there are people in the world who walk 3 hours to get dirty water?

I do not feel guilty for thinking about my children's future, I will send other country's money in order to improve the quality of life for the people within it but I am not willing to sacrifice my children's quality of life in the future to allow people to come into our country to disturb our already fragile state.

[Nestabee]

Can I ask a question about these appeals in relation to the asylum process? If anyone knows?

Is an appeal going to be detrimental to other asylum seekers?

For example if this family get given asylum after an appeal, will they take the 'spot' of another asylum seeker family.

I always worry about higher profile asylum seekers who go to the papers etc and try for an appeal, taking the place of other asylum seekers who are not able to garner as much "public sympathy' or who cannot risk being identified even within this country.

[FreudiansSlipper]

not sure where you live Redhead but my child seems to be surviving very well and has a very good quality of life, I can not see this all falling apart anytime soon

[Jacamaar]

signed

[Impatientismymiddlename]

Freudian- your children's quality of life and access to services might be affected if we took on the estimated 3 millions girls at risk of FGM every year.

The more I think about this case the more I feel concerned for those girls who, unlike this case, don't have a mother who is willing to do whatever it takes to protect their girls. Nigeria is a huge country and I don't believe that this mother will have to return to her home village and I do think that if all the people who have signed the petition had instead donated £1 to a charity specifically for this family the family would be able to resettle in a new region of Nigeria and have a greater chance of safety.

[IceBeing]

Im with impatient and rehead. British resources for British people!

I would much rather the government spent our taxes bailing out banks and funding endless treatment of old age diseases than wasting any money on preventing the death or mutilation of children so worthless they weren't even born here.

I mean what the hell kind of world would it be if my own child's school (with its brand new outdoor play equipment and newly refurbished dining hall) had slightly less money to operate on each year just so some feckless foreigners could flee the forced removal of their genitals....

[IceBeing]

Oh and I have signed.

[Impatientismymiddlename]

Icebeing: nobody is saying that we should ignore these children so that our own children can have shiny new everything. Nobody is saying that these children are worthless because they were not born here. What a few of us have said is that we cannot possible take the 3 million children at risk of FGM every year. We only have around 11million children in Britain and we already have oversubscribed schools, a struggling health system, a housing shortage and an enormous national debt. If we took an extra 3 million children a year we would have doubled our child population within 4 years and we would not have the infrastructure to deal with it. In 10 years we would have an additional 30 million children. How would we pay for them?
I think it's a better use of money to fund aid in those countries where FGM is prevalent and to reduce it and hopefully eliminate it eventually. It isn't right that children should be fleeing their home country to feel safe in another strange country. Bringing children to a (currently) safe country is just putting a sticking plaster on one problem and creating another problem.

[KateSMumsnet]

Hi everyone,

We're just going to move this thread to our petitions noticeboard.

[FreudiansSlipper]

but will as many see it can it not stay here for a few more days

[IceBeing]

impatient but why assume that all the children would come here? As many have said other countries also offer asylum. And of course the real issue with this practise is that people on the ground still think it is necessary/beneficial so if only 1 in 10 Africans believe it is something to be escaped and only 1 in 10 of those come to Britain specifically then we only have 30,000 a year to worry about. This we could cope with...

Or we could if we were willing to have class sizes go up a bit....or is keeping class sizes for privileged british students down more important than keeping the genitals on non-british babies?

and we could do this AT THE SAME TIME as funding intervention in the countries concerned.

It is all a matter of priorities.

As the mother of a daughter I find keeping babies intact to be more important than most things our government currently spends money on.

[Impatientismymiddlename]

I can think of a lot of things our government spends money on that could be better spent elsewhere. It doesn't change my stance that displacing families at risk of FGM to another country is not the best option. The children most at risk would not be coming to Britain because there would be nobody helping them to flee.

My 3 million figures were aimed at those that think it is feasible for us to take everyone at risk of FGM (was mentioned upthread).

[FreudiansSlipper]

do not be so foolish we are not going to take on 3 million girls. that is right wing scarmongering

have we taken on all those that we can consider for asylum due to their circumstances

no of course not and never will as many many do not want to leave their home country, do not have the support to leave, have no thought of leaving

[MummyPigsFatTummy]

Christ - only read the first page so apologies for not RTFT, but seriously, refusing to sign? The petition is asking the Home Office to reconsider the application on the basis of new evidence which was filed but appears to have been ignored in the decision. Hardly opening the floodgates is it?

[IceBeing]

impatient I agree totally that it is not the best option...however I do not in any sense believe they are mutually exclusive. So lets do both!

[Impatientismymiddlename]

The petition is asking the Home Office to reconsider the application on the basis of new evidence which was filed but appears to have been ignored in the decision

And if they reconsider and refuse asylum and then 'new' information comes to light which has been ignored? Does constantly reassessing the same cases cause a delay to other cases? How many cases present new evidence after a refused application?
Our home office don't refuse all cases, so they must have used some criteria to reach their decision.

[IceBeing]

impatient it would be more cost effective to have criteria like: are you from nigeria and have female children? are you a terrorist? and if yes and then no, you let them in.

cheap efficient and would protect children.

[lionheart]

I would be fatastically proud if we did advertise Britain as a safe place for women and girls who need to escape FGM.

[Impatientismymiddlename]

Ice being: cost effective how? There is much more to the costs of asylum than just the home office assessment.
If only those two questions are asked then we would be opening the floodgates, because there would be no need to evidence the level of threat involved in each case.

[MummyPigsFatTummy]

Impatient - personally, I would be happy for the Home Office to reconsider this case over and over again until they come to the decision that this family should not be sent back. And I don't mind about delay to other cases because presumably the people involved in those cases are safely over here too while their cases are being delayed and not being tortured or mutilated wherever they escaped from.

And like lionheart I too would be proud if we advertised Britain as a safe place for women and girls who need to escape FGM. Sadly, from all the other reports we here about families arranging for FGM to take place here, it seems it would be false advertising at the moment