BFF-76 Armenian teens in Dutch asylum row come out of hiding: report

1131

ZCZC

BFF-76

NETHERLANDS-ARMENIA-IMMIGRATION-ASYLUM

Armenian teens in Dutch asylum row come out of hiding: report

THE HAGUE, Sept 4, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Two Armenian teens who grew up in the
Netherlands but now face imminent deportation have come out of hiding and
reported to authorities, a newspaper and their lawyer said on Tuesday.

Howick, 13 and his sister Lili, 12, disappeared over the weekend after a
final legal bid before the Dutch highest court last week failed to stop their
expulsion, the Algemeen Dagblad reported.

“After three days of hiding, the two Armenian ‘asylum children’ have
reported to authorities on Monday,” the paper said on Tuesday.

“The children are indeed safe,” their lawyer Flip Schueller told AFP,
stressing “their mother simply needed them to get rest,” as the reason for
their disappearance — the second time the pair had gone into hiding during
their battle to stay in the country.

In a saga that has gripped the country — with even Prime Minister Mark
Rutte and Dutch royal Princess Laurentien becoming involved — the brother
and sister have been swept into a cat-and-mouse game as their lawyers fought
their case in court.

The family had lived in the Netherlands since 2008, but last year the
children’s mother, Armina Hambartsjumian, was sent back to Yerevan after her
asylum request was finally denied.

Just before leaving the country she briefly hid the children, refusing to
tell immigration officials where they were.

The 37-year-old woman was deported without them and has since told Dutch
supporters she is unable to look after her children in Armenia.

By the time Howick and Lili eventually emerged, their case was before the
courts and Dutch authorities decided to await the outcome before making a
decision.

On Friday however, the Hague-based Council of State, the country’s highest
administrative court, ruled there was no reason why the two teens should not
be sent back to Armenia and the pair briefly disappeared again.

They are due to leave on Saturday.

Meanwhile, their supporters have been furiously campaigning to keep them in
the Netherlands, where they are now living with a foster family.

Last year, fellow pupils from their school in the central Dutch city of
Amersfoort demonstrated at parliament in The Hague, waving placards with the
teens’ faces and chanting their names.

Howick and Lili have appeared on national television with Princess
Laurentien — who is married to King Willem-Alexander’s brother Constantijn –
– also now taking up their cause.

“We belong here. My brother belongs here and my mom too,” an emotional Lili
recently told the NOS late night talk show “Laat op een”.

The pair also wrote to the Dutch King and Rutte begging them to allow them
to remain.

Dutch premier Rutte said he had empathy with the teens’ situation but that
the country also “had to be a fair and strict policy”.

“Those who don’t meet the criteria cannot be allowed to stay,” Rutte said.

BSS/AFP/MRI/2300 HRS