Justice for Odette

Odette Sefuko - seeking sanctuary and justice

Odette Sefuko came to the UK seven years ago, to seek safety and live a life free from persecution. She is a fighter for minority rights and women's rights in DR Congo, and now Odette is fighting for her right to sanctuary in the UK.

Odette is a much-loved and valued member of the community in Sheffield, active as a volunteer for the Northern Refugee Centre, St Mary’s Lunch Club and Low Edges Conversation Club. Her friends and the wider Sheffield community have rallied round to support her campaign for justice.

You can help this campaign. Read on to learn more about Odette, her campaign for justice, and how you can help. Below is a summary of Odette's story and campaign. You can read more at the Facebook page, including how you can support the campaign.

Odette's campaign has also been featured in the Guardian's Northerner Blog, and you can watch a video of the fantastic support rally held in Sheffield.

Campaign update 5 March:

Odette was due to be deported to Uganda on 4 March but the Home Office suspended removal after an application for judicial review claim was made in the High Court earlier in the day.

Supporters say Sefuko was on the bus to Heathrow when the official order for deferred removal came through. She was then returned to Yarl's Wood detention centre where she has been held since her arrest on Wednesday 13 February.

 

Join the campaign for justice for Odette

Persecution in DR Congo

Odette is from Bukavu, part of the eastern region of Democratic Republic of Congo, and her family are Banyamulenge, an ethnic group persecuted in the Congo for many decades. As a result of her family's perceived opposition to the Government, many of her close relatives were murdered. Odette's father was murdered by the regime in 1996, and in 2002 they killed her husband.

Sexual violence in conflict

It is difficult to comprehend the extent of sexual violence in the political and armed struggles of DR Congo. Just last week (14 February 2013), the UK Parliament debated this issue, and noted that "it is believed that more than 200,000 Congolese women have been raped" since 1998. The former peacekeeping commander in DR Congo said in 2008: “It is now more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in modern conflict.” According the United Nations, there are around 8,000 reported case of rape each year in DRC.

Odette is a survivor of horrific and repeated sexual violence over several years. Her campaign team has documented this abuse and you can read more here. Odette is a survivor who became a campaigner, promoting women's rights and supporting the survivors of sexual violence, eventually becoming President of ‘Umoja Ninguvu’ (‘Together we are strong”).

In the UK parliamentary debate on violence in conflict, Conservative MP Nicola Blackwood, describing campaigners like Odette, said

"women who speak up after they have survived sexual violence and who challenge it regardless of the risk are not just victims. They are not even primarily victims... many are exceptional human rights defenders, indomitable agents for change".

But when a woman has to flee for her life, if the UK does not grant them the right of sanctuary then the government does nothing but pay lip service to the fight against sexual violence.

Escape to safety

There came a time when Odette had to escape. She had no other option but to leave her children behind in safety, a life-or-death decision that the UN Refugee Agency recognises as one that too many women fleeing danger have to make.

Like many fleeing persecution, she travelled under a false identity, that of a pastor's wife in Uganda. The UK Border Agency has used this against her, and is trying to deport her under this name, to Uganda, a country she has not connection to.

Odette has been diagnosed with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) due to the trauma she faced in DRC and the continued stress she has faced since arriving in the UK. And now she is incarcerated in Yarl's Wood, an immigration removal centre notorious for it's mistreatment of women.

What is the danger in deportation to Uganda?

Odette is not from Uganda. If she is deported to Uganda, a country where she has no connections, no support, she will be in grave danger. She will have no means to survive. There is UK caselaw that holds that "it would be unduly harsh for a woman who had experienced physical and sexual violence to relocate in Uganda when she had no family or other support and would have no option than to enter into prostitution to support herself." (the case of AA (Uganda) [2008] 2 the Court of Appeal).

There is also the risk of being forced back to DRC to face rape, torture and possible death. Odette is a human rights defender, and a survivor of sexual violence, who should be celebrated and supported in the UK, not persecuted, imprisoned and deported.

We cannot allow this to happen to Odette.

Join the campaign for justice

The campaign for justice for Odette is growing, with both local and national supporters demanding she remain in the UK. We need to stop this removal, to allow her lawyer more time to win her legal right to sanctuary.

To find out what you can do to support her right to justice, head over to the Facebook page for the latest call for action.