In the years she has lived in Cardiff, Constance has actively participated in the community and has made many friends here. She is an active member of the Heath Evangelical Church and Refugee Voice Wales and she has volunteered for Displaced People In Action and Black African Women Stepping Out. All these organisations have valued her contribution highly.

Constance arrived in the UK in April 2005. Her asylum claim has been rejected and she is now facing imminent removal to Cameroon, the country from which she fled.

Constance left Cameroon because she was being forced into an arranged marriage that she did not want to engage in. Constance was living a happy life in Cameroon; she had completed her second degree in Law and was about to enroll for her PhD until the direction of her life was taken out of her hands.

Her father had made an arrangement with his friend for Constance to marry him in exchange for a large amount of money. Constance was not consulted in this matter. The man she was being forced to marry was from a different tribe. He is a Muslim. Constance is a Christian. She would be his third wife.

The condition on which Constance was to enter into this marriage was that she would undergo Female Genital Mutilation, which is widespread among Muslim communities in Cameroon.

Nationally, the United Nations estimates that about 20 percent of women in Cameroon are victims of circumcision, which can be carried out at any stage: at birth, during early childhood, in the course of adolescence, just before marriage or after the birth of the first child.  http://medilinkz.org/news/news2.asp?NewsID=16601

USA Report on Human Rights Practices: Cameroon 2006
"Cameroon law does not prohibit female genital mutilation (FGM), Internal migration contributed to the spread of FGM to different parts of the country. The majority of FGM procedures were clitorectomies. The severest form of FGM, infibulation, was performed in the Kajifu region of the Southwest Province. FGM usually was practiced on infants and preadolescent girls. Public health centers in areas where FGM is frequently practiced counseled women about the harmful consequences of FGM; however, the government did not prosecute any persons charged with performing FGM. The Association of Women Against Violence continued to conduct a program in Maroua to assist victims of FGM and their families and to educate local populations. During the year breast ironing emerged as another form of violence against women, practiced in an effort to protect prematurely well-developed young girls from predatory older men. NGOs were leading public awareness campaigns to combat this practice."

Constance refused to enter into this marriage and the matter was taken to court by the 'fiancé.' Constance similarly refused to go to the court hearing because she knew, from her education in Law in Cameroon, that the outcome of the case would be in the man's favour.

Constance then left her family where she had been living, a search warrant was issued and the police became involved. Her Father also put an announcement out in a national newspaper offering a reward for anyone who returned her to the family because if the marriage didn't go ahead they would owe the 'fiancé' the dowry money and be shamed within the community.

If Constance is forced to return to Cameroon she faces an uncertain and unhappy future: there will be recriminations from the police, the court, the 'fiancé' and her family, all because she refused to engage in the arranged marriage and the consequences of this marriage.

Constance would like to be free of persecution in Wales where she now lives; allowed to remain in Britain and become a European citizen in order to be able to work her way up in life and bring up her British born child in a Human Rights friendly environment.

'Friends of Constance and Andrea' are now campaigning to keep them in Cardiff.

What you can do to help:
1) Print off copies of the attached model letter to, Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith, Secretary of State for the Home Office, you can copy/amend/write your own version; if you do so, please remember to include the HO Ref N1106364.

Sign the model letter and get your friends to sign copies and return to the campaign office, when enough letters are gathered the campaign will ask a local MP to present them to Jacqui Smith.

2) Print of the attached petition , get as many signatures as you can.

Return model letters/petitions to:

Constance and Andreas
C/o Refugee Voice Wales
389 Newport Road
Cardiff CF24 1TP

Inquiries/further information:
 info@refugeevoicewales.org

Refugee Voice Wales (RVW)
 http://www.refugeevoicewales.org/

Background: Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
 http://www.ncadc.org.uk/resources/fgm.html

End of Bulletin:

Source for this Message:
Refugee Voice Wales (RVW)
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