After British Airways refused to fly, five month pregnant mother, Kemi Ayinde on Tuesday 1st July, the Home Office are pressing ahead with plans to deport by another airline. Kemi, her partner Taiwo and their 18 month old daughter Yasim are due to be deported on Tuesday 8th July at 10.15 AM on Virgin Nigeria flight vk292 from Gatwick North Terminal.

The fact that Kemi was trafficked is not disputed by the Home Office. In its letter of refusal it stated that "your account that you have been trafficked to the UK has been accepted".

It has been discovered that the Virgin Group, through its charitable foundation Virgin Unite [1] has direct links with anti-trafficking charity STOP THE TRAFFIK [2]. Virgin Unite states “Virgin Unite is fully behind STOP THE TRAFFIK to end slavery once and for all”.

Virgin Unite is the not-for-profit entrepreneurial foundation of the Virgin Group and was created by Richard Branson and Virgin employees in September 2004. Branson maintains direct links with the charity and continues to act as its Chairperson. Virgin Unite's website states: “We're fortunate that Richard and the Virgin group pick up our overhead costs – so 100% of all donations go directly to the frontline where it is needed the most”.

Virgin's role in Kemi and family's up coming deportation directly contradicts their work with STOP THE TRAFFIK. It is fundamentally hypocritical of the Virgin Group to support a charity that is there to defend and support victims of trafficking, while at the same time potentially playing such a key role in sending a direct victim of trafficking back to a country where she faces the very real prospect of retribution from those that trafficked her in the first place.

Virgin Unite also has direct links with a significant number of charities that focus on the provision of care and support to vulnerable children. These include, Kids Company, Youth at Risk, Stand up for Kids, Children's Health Fund, Children's Charity Trust, Starfish, 4Children, Kidscape and NCH the children's charity.

No Borders South Wales aim to do everything possible to stop Kemi, Taiwo & Yasim being forcibly removed. We encourage everyone to complain to the airline about this injustice and its truly contradictory practices.

Notes
[1] The Virgin Group owns 51% of Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd, which owns 49% of
Virgin Nigeria Airways.

[2] STOP THE TRAFFIK (www.stopthetraffik.org) is a global movement working to combat people trafficking. They pledge to “protect the victims of trafficking”, create awareness and understanding of people trafficking, engage with those who have the power to minimise the trafficking of people and finance anti-trafficking work around the world working directly with those vulnerable to and those who have been trafficked.