"We won't give up"
Mary, eight, and Hanyie, eleven, will be deported within the next few days. Samsett mynd
"Their only hope is for someone to intervene in the matter right now and stop these deportations," says Sema Erla Sedar speaking on behalf of the two girls about to be deported from Iceland. One is the eleven-year-old Haniye Maleki and the other, the 8-year-old Mary from Nigeria.
Sedar is the director of Solaris, an aid organisation for refugees and asylum seekers in Iceland. The two girls will be deported because of the Dublin regulation in the next few days.
The association has organised a protest at Austurvöllur parliament square in Reykjavik.
"We are trying to do whatever we can and we will do whatever we can to stop this. They have tried every legal way in the matter available to asylum seekers in Iceland. I'm not very positive at this point but we will not stop until they are aboard that plane, or even after that."
Hanyie is to be deported with her Afghan father, who is disabled, to Germany where they arrived from, or to Afghanistan. Hanye is born a refugee and has no nationality. She crossed the Mediterranean twice on a rubber dinghy and is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.
"Of course being sent back to Germany is not the worst thing that can happen to them, but the situation for refugees is much worse in Germany. They will just be sent back to a refugee camp where Hanyie can't attend school. She was alone in a refugee camp there when her father was in hospital."
Mary will be deported with her parents, Sunday and Joy. She has never lived in Nigeria and was born in Italy, where her mother had been forced into sex slavery.
Sedar says that she's really unhappy that the government has not spoken out at all in the matter. "There's been no response from anyone. The public are greatly offended at this decision and want to support the young girls. There's a great divide seemingly between the Icelandic public and the government's stance on the matter. A great number of refugees are children who are in an extremely delicate position. It is sad that we don't protect the rights of children and show some compassion and humanity."
Over a thousand people are attending the event which is being shared on Facebook.
The protest tomorrow starts at 3 pm at Austurvöllur.
