‘Glasgow Girls’ honour spirit of Burns

azzuri · ‘Glasgow Girls’ honour spirit of Burns

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‘Glasgow Girls’ honour spirit of Burns

By Paul Dalgarno

Teenagers from a Glasgow school who campaigned against “dawn raids” are among the shortlisted candidates for this year’s Robert Burns Humanitarian Award, which recognises outstanding humanitarian conduct.

Drumchapel High School pupils Amal Azzudin, Agnesa Murselaj, Roza Salih, Ewelina Siwak, Emma Clifford, Jennifer McCarron and Toni Henderson have fought for refugee rights since last year.

In particular, they have opposed the practice of “dawn raids”, whereby failed asylum seekers and their families are forcibly removed from their homes prior to deportation, winning assurances from the Home Office that families would not be deported while their children were sitting exams and raising the profile of ongoing cases.

The so-called “Glasgow Girls” are joined on the 2006 shortlist by Ayrshire-based Helen and Tahir Hasan, who founded a charity for people injured in last year’s Pakistan earthquake, and justice campaigner Jesús Tecú Osorio of Guatemala. Also in the running are the Khatib family from Palestine, who donated their son’s organs to Jewish and Israeli recipients , Jeff Halper, co-founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition, and the late American campaigner Marla Ruzicka.

“In the spirit of Robert Burns, this award recognises people working in very hard conditions for the better lot of humanity, and it is vital that we give these people due recognition,” said Catherine Lockerbie, who sits on the judging panel.

The winner will be presented with the award on May 25 at Ayr Town Hall, as part of the Burns An’ A’ That! festival.

14 May 2006

It's stories like this that keep my faith in humanity going - there is hope for this country yet! Cool

Morph

Just read this story, any ideas if they won or not. is indeed good to see people stand together against this type of problem