BELGIUM: Ecuador girl and mother avoid deportation

Record ID: 348406

  • Title: BELGIUM: Ecuador girl and mother avoid deportation
  • Date: 31st July 2007
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (JULY 30, 2007)REUTERS) PHOTOGRAPHERS' CAMERAS TAKING PICTURES OF ANGELICA, HER MOTHER ANA CAJAMARCA AND AN AUNT CAJAMARCA (LEFT), AUNT, ANGELICA (RIGHT) CAJAMARCA ANGELICA AND HER FATHER JAVIER LOJA HUGGING LOJA CRYING LOJA AND ANGELICA WALKING NEIGHBOURS SMILING ANGELICA AND HER FATHER IN FRONT OF A BANNER ANGELICA AND HER FATHER HUGGING REPORTERS ANGEL
  • Embargoed: 15th August 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA22OM008ZC5KAY0N96R9IFYDXX
  • Story Text: A last-minute decision by a Belgium court allows eleven-year-old Ecuadorean girl Angelica and her mother to avoid deportation. Family and friends gather in front of their home to welcome them back.
    It's a case that has sparked public outcry and political unease in Belgium.
    Back at their home in a popular suburb of Brussels, Ana Cajamarca and her 11-year-old daughter Angelica enjoy some temporary relief.
    A few hours ago, they were on their way to the Netherlands to be forcibly embarked on a flight to Quito.
    On Monday evening (July 30), Angelica was reunited to her father, Javier Loja.
    ''I am really happy because I am with my dad now, with all my family, my brother... It was very bad, it was bad, bad, and when they took us to the airport they harmed us, they harmed my mum, they knocked and pushed...'' Angelica said.
    Asked what she learnt during the detention, Angelica described: ''To be strong, and help to fight all the bad things people do. I learnt to be strong...'' The family has been living in Brussels illegally since 2003. On June 30, Ana and Angelica were arrested while coming out of a bus. For one month, they have been locked in the detention centre '127 bis' where Ecuador President Rafael Correa came to meet them while on a private visit to Belgium.
    It was the end of a long day for the two illegals immigrants.
    Early morning on Monday, Ana and Angelica were transferred from the detention centre to Brussels airport. Ecuador's first lady, a Belgian citizen, met them there to show her support. To avoid media attention, they were then put in a van and driven to Shipol airport in the Netherlands where they were due to embark on a flight to Ecuador's capital Quito. It's on their way to the Netherlands that a court decision came, ordering the release of Angelica and her mother. The procedure had been suspended to examine claims that Cajamarca had been badly treated during her transfer.
    ''I didn't want to board the plane, so the policeman tried to force me to get on board but he couldn't, so a second policeman came and he couldn't force me neither, so a third one arrived... I resisted with all my forces, I bit, I defended myself the best way I could but they were much stronger than I was. At that moment, my daughter got out of sight, I didn't know where she was, I felt terrible, I was desperate and then they took me to an office and they told me I had to go back to my country and will not be able to stay here,'' Cajamarca described.
    The family lawyers had told the court the detention was inhuman and traumatizing for Angelica, adding the girl's detention goes against the European Convention of Human Rights and the international Convention on Children's Rights -- two international treaties signed by Belgium.
    Reports describe the eleven-year-old as a well-integrated girl who has spent most of her life in Belgium, heartbroken by having to leave her friends and father -- who is also staying illegally but has yet to be detained -- for a country she barely knows.
    For their lawyer Valentin Henkinbrant, the fight is only starting.
    ''So they are still subject to an order to leave the territory, they are still illegal. Tomorrow we will introduce a request to regularise their situation based on the strength of Angelica and her mother's familial links in Belgium. We will see where that leads us. But one has to know that requests for regularisation based on the strength of familial links are unsuccessful in 98% of cases,'' Henkinbrant explained.
    Yves Leterme, likely to become Belgium's next prime minister after winning last month's elections, said he was moved by the story but stressed he was not yet in government and that the file was in the hands of Interior Minister Patrick Dewael.
    Deportation is a sensitive subject in Belgium, where the death of a 20-year-old Nigerian during her forced repatriation by the police in 1998 still stirs painful memories.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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