The petition
We, the undersigned, ask the Home Secretary to grant Ilengela Ileo [HO ref: J1079191, Port ref: LBA/03/307] leave to remain in the UK on compassionate grounds.
Ms Ileo arrived in the UK 3 years ago from the Congo and has been a dedicated volunteer case worker at the Coventry Refugee Centre, helping others in distress and difficulties. Her uncle had been murdered and there is no trace of her remaining 4 brothers and 1 sister. Ilengela’s only family is her Mum and baby sister, both have leave to remain and are living in Coventry.
Ilengela was detained at Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre from 14th April 06 till 6th July 2006 when she was granted 4 weeks bail. Three dates have been set for her deportation and she has been taken to the airport in handcuffs each time. She is emotionally drained through stress of threatened separation from her family and being returned to a country where she now has no friends or relatives and could be at risk of being imprisoned for having claimed asylum in UK.
There will be no one there to help her and she is very fearful of the terrifying treatment often dealt to vulnerable women in the Congo.
On Friday the 16th June in Parliament Ian McCartney Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs for the Government said : “The UK frequently raises with the Congolese Government our concerns about wide scale sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In February, we and international partners formally presented President Kabila with a dossier cataloguing major abuses carried out by Congolese armed forces, including rape and sexual violence.”
There was a debate in Parliament on 19th April on the situation in the DR Congo; it was the most depressing debate this century. Eric Joyce for Falkirk, said: “Sexual violence is not confined to eastern DRC, but there it remains a potent tool of subjugation. Women are routinely raped, tortured and murdered as a crude means of dominating communities and eking out a feral existence in the forest.”
Ilengela has settled in the UK, and is a part of the community here. We ask you to allow her to stay with her remaining family.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
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