Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Stop the Forcible Removal of Jeevitha and Neeraja

John O | 01.04.2009 08:45 | Migration | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements | Birmingham | World

Jeevitha and Neeraja, aged 15 and 14 respectively and their mother Neeraja Joseph arrived in the UK in July 2008. The family have fled from Sri Lanka having been caught up in the civil war that has beset the country for over 20 years and that has escalated in the last eighteen months. The conflict has been at its fiercest in the north of Sri Lanka which is where the Joseph family are from.

Their uncle, the brother of Neeraja Joseph, has been killed in the civil war ; their family home was raided by the army; the family were detained for three weeks; during this time they were all questioned and ill-treated; Mr Joseph, their father, was abducted on the street when he went out to buy food. The family have no knowledge of whether he is alive or dead and fear the worst. Najeenus, their 17 year-old brother was left behind in Sri-Lanka and the family have no knowledge of his whereabouts or safety. The girls and their mother fear that if they are sent back to Sri Lanka, they will be killed.

Since moving to Hartlepool the girls and their mother have become very much part of the parish community of St Joseph's. They are very committed to their faith and attend the parish church on a regular basis.

Jeevitha and Neeraja joined The English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College in October 2008 and have settled in very happily. They are model students. They are exceptionally hard-working, always smartly dressed, keen to learn, have forged good relationships with their peers, are popular with staff and have a bright academic future ahead of them.

To deport the family now, taking the girls away from English Martyrs, and insist on their removal would be cruel.

"If we go back we feel that we would be killed. We are very scared. It's very scary, they have guns. My father went to buy food and I don't know where he's gone. I'm worried for my dad. It made me feel sad that there was fighting. Here I feel safe. I worry that if we go back, it won't be safe."
Jeevitha

They have suffered enough and should be allowed to stay.

The girls school English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College are campaigning to keep Jeevitha, Neeraja and their mother in the UK. They have produced a petition Jeevitha and Neeraja-petition.pdf attached, they are asking everyone to print of the petition, get as many signatures as they can.

Please return completed petition sheets to:
Joseph Family Must Stay Campaign
C/o English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College
Catcote Road
Hartlepool
TS25 4HA



Deportation Fear: School head backs 'model students'
Headteacher Joe Hughes has been touched by the plight facing the Joseph family, and shares their fears over safety should they be forced to return to Sri Lanka.
 http://tinyurl.com/cxbwgq

Council backs stay plea
Chief executive Paul Walker met Jeevitha and Neeraja at their school on Monday and was quick to back their pleas to stay after hearing of the horrors they had faced in their homeland.
 http://tinyurl.com/dmzqa8


End of Bulletin:

Source for this Message:
Joseph Family Must Stay Campaign

John O
- e-mail: JohnO@ncadc.org.uk
- Homepage: http://www.ncadc.org.uk

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech