European Commission Asked to Look Into Eritrean Deportation Case

It now seems that the European commission has been asked to take up the case of an Eritren girl who is facing deportation from the UK. The case of Rima, age 17, was raised in the European Parliament on Tuesday by Scottish MEP Catherina Stihler.

Catherina Stihler said that the teenager had sought to build a new life for herself in Scotland after fleeing her homeland where her parents were killed. She went on to say that she had been adopted by a couple in Glasgow but now faces some possible deportation charges, because UK authorities are questioning her age.

The Scottish MEP appealed to the commission to look into the case on humanitarian grounds. She asked the executive's president, Jose Manuel Barroso, what he could do to protect the girl and her fundamental rights.

The Socialist deputy has already said that the case has been raised by civil society and humanitarian groups. Catherina said that she feels the girl's future should be in Scotland. She has forwarded all of the information on the case to the commission and will await its response.

Stihler also said that she had finally decided to act after being asked by children at a primary school to sign a petition asking for the girl to be allowed to stay. Barroso said that, while he was unaware of this one case, the whole thing does raise a lot of concern. He went on to say that he wants to express solidarity with anyone whose human rights have or may be violated.

Problems with the UK's emigration system are known all over Europe. However, in a fight to keep as many people out of the UK as they possibly can, they have now caused this one case to go before the European Commission. It just proves that messing with a child's human rights is not something that people are prepared to put up with.