Florence and Michael Must Stay!
Florence is from Sierra Leone and is seeking asylum for herself and her young son Michael. Florence fled Sierra Leone because she was suffering physical abuse including beatings by her parents and rape by her cousin, who she had been forced to marry. This all happened because Florence told her parents she was a lesbian, a fact that she had previously kept secret.
When Florence turned to the police for help they turned her away, saying it was a family matter. She tried to find a safe place to stay but could not and was forced to return home to face more abuse and violence.
She was horrified to learn that her parents were planning to force her to undergo female genital mutilation, commonly called female circumcision, as they believed this would ‘cure’ her. This process involves mutilating a woman’s genitals, often resulting in serious infection and illness, and sometimes death.
The Home Office, and courts, have turned down Florence’s application for asylum on the basis that her story is not credible, and that she could simply move to another area of Sierra Leone. Homosexuality is illegal all over Sierra Leone and it is a very homophobic society.
Her application has been refused because she could not prove that there:
“was a sustained pattern or campaign of persecution against you which was knowingly tolerated by the authorities…”
Yet in September 2004 the founder and director of Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association (SLLAGA),an officially registered organisation, Fannyann Eddy, was brutally attacked, gang raped and murdered in her office at SLLGA. The police have yet to arrest anyone. If a person in Fannyann’s position could not get protection from the Sierra Leone government, then what chance does Florence stand?
NUS LGBT is supporting the Lesbian Community Project's campaign to ensure Florence and Michael are allowed to stay in this country
What you can do:
Return to this campaign's homepage or view all articles in this campaign.