Netherlands: Westernized Afghan teenager wins right to stay

Netherlands: Westernized Afghan teenager wins right to stay


Via DutchNews:

A 14-year-old school girl threatened with deportation to Afghanistan is to be allowed to stay in the Netherlands, immigration minister Gerd Leers said on Friday.

Sahar Hbrahim Gel and her family have lived in the Netherlands for 10 years. The appeal court decided in February that Sahar should be allowed to stay in the Netherlands because she was too westernised to settle back in to Afghan society.

Leers appealed against that decision, saying the ruling – based on the fact the girl was westernised - was of fundamental importance to Dutch immigration law.

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The minister said some 400 Afghan girls have been in a similar situation to Sahar. Of those 110 are still in involved in the appeal situation and 40 to 50 will be allowed to stay in the Netherlands, the minister said.

In his reasoning, LLinkeer said the ages of 10 to 18 are crucial in terms of westernisation. If they have lived in the Netherlands for at least eight years, they cannot be sent back, Leers said. This does not apply if the family has deliberately frustrated the deportation process, the minister is quoted as saying.

(source)