A HEAVILY pregnant rape survivor has been threatened by the Home Office with being sent to Rwanda.
The 28-year-old woman from Eritrea is 37 weeks pregnant and in severe distress over the situation as she looks for asylum.
She has also been told by doctors that her baby has stopped growing and that she may need to be induced into labour.
Human rights campaigners have described the situation as one of the “most egregious” cases they have seen in the Government’s scheme to send asylum seekers to the east African country for processing.
The Home Office knew the woman was pregnant when she arrived in the UK in July and arranged a pregnancy scan for her. Since then, officials have moved her between a number of hotels after she became sick with nausea in the first one she stayed in.
Under the pseudonym Delina, the woman has said she was “really frightened” about what would happen to her and her baby.
Before arriving in the UK, she had been living in an informal refugee camp in Calais for eight months and struggled to survive there - even before she was raped.
Delina has spent decades trying to find safety since leaving Eritrea at the age of 13 with her mother in the wake of her father being killed. From there, she and her mother travelled to Sudan and later Lebanon but now has no family members left.
Speaking with the Guardian, she said that she had not been able to sleep since "I got the Rwanda notice”.
Delina added: “I knew about the Rwanda plan before I came to the UK but I had to come here because I was not safe in France because I was homeless,
“I was shocked when I received the letter. I never thought I would get this when I was pregnant.
“I had a dream that my child would have a life that I never had. I never got a chance to go school and I want them to go. I thought we would be safe in the UK and have a good, safe life. Now I have lost all hope.”
Refugee charity Care4Calais has been providing support for Delina.
The charity’s founder Clare Moseley said: “We have supported hundreds of refugees who have received Rwanda notices but this is the most egregious case yet. The Government knows this woman is pregnant but have still seen fit to issue a letter threatening forced deportation to Rwanda.
"This case demonstrates the lack of compassion, cruelty and brutality at the heart of the Government’s Rwanda policy. Targeting a pregnant woman is disgusting.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are urgently investigating this matter. However, very limited information has been provided to help us establish what has happened or identify the individual. But we are clear that every person in scope for removal to Rwanda will be individually assessed and no one will be transferred if it is unsafe for them.”
