The Netherlands threatens 14-year-old Yezidi with deportation
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Milena, a 14-year old Yezidi girl from Armenia, has hidden in an attic for more than two years out of fear she will be deported from the Netherlands.
Her family is from Armenia and has lived in the Netherlands for 12 years. However, they were not able to obtain a residency permit.
They are afraid to return to Armenia because Milena's father fears for his life there.
With the support of lawyer Eliza Tsjoepieva, the family started a petition to ensure that Milena can stay in the Netherlands. So far, the petition has gotten 15,000 signatures.
Milena's lawyer Tsjoepieva told Dutch journalist Brenda Stoter Boscolo that the 14-year-old has lived all her life in the Netherlands.
"She is part of the (Dutch) society," Tsjoepieva said. "That she was all this time (been an) illegal (here), is because of a choice of her parents."
"You cannot blame her for these choices (made) out of necessity."
The petition points out that Milena completed most of her education in Dutch and is fluent in the Dutch language. Therefore, according to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, she must remain in the Netherlands.
"The government should make an exception," said those who filed the petition. "This is a special case, and the government should implicitly look to the specific individual case of a minor."
"It's ridiculous and inhumane to see a 14-year-old Yezidi girl hiding in an attic since 2018," the Dutch Yezidi activist Wahhab Hassoo told Kurdistan 24.
"This time not from ISIS, but Dutch repatriation police."