[van-announce] DEMO/ Court support: Adrian Dragan

[No One is Illegal-Vancouver]

* please post widely *

JUSTICE FOR ADRIAN DRAGAN
DEMONSTRATION AND COURT ROOM SUPPORT

========================
Tuesday October 26, 2004
@ 12:30 PM
Citizenship and Immigration Canada Vancouver
300 West Georgia
========================

Adrian Dragan, a Roma refugee that has been held for 16 months awaiting
removal to Romania will have another detention review hearing on Tuesday.

Last week Dragan was put into solitary confinement and he was on hunger
strike at Fraser Pre-trial in Coquitlam, BC after refusing to sign
documents that he is willing to return to Romania.

He is a Roma (also known as "Gypsy") and faces serious danger and
repression if removed to Romania, where Roma people are regularly attacked
and persecuted. In fact, Adrian renounced his citizenship in Romania in
1993 to condemn the racism against Roma there, and since he does not have
formal citizenship, he is now being held in jailed limbo, without rights
as a citizen in either Canada or Romania.

Canada has already tried once to send Adrian to Romania, but he was
refused at the Romanian border. Since he is no longer a citizen of
Romania, it would have been against international law to force him to
enter, so he was sent back to Canada and now in continued detention by
Immigration Canada.

As a stateless citizen, Dragan has no homeland and no country of
residence. As a signatory of the United Nations? 1954 Convention Relating
to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the
Reduction of Statelessness, Canada has an international duty to accept and
protect stateless people.

Call, write or fax (see sample letter below) and demand that Canada live
up to its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Reduction
of Statelessness (1978) and not deport him to Romania unless the
government can guarantee Adrian's complete citizenship rights, safety and
freedom in Romania.

For more information contact
No One is Illegal Vancouver: noii-van at resist.ca or call (604) 682-3269 x 7149
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty: ocap at tao.ca or call (416) 925-6939



SAMPLE LETTER:

Peter Lundy
Deputy Director, Central Europe Dept
Foreign Affairs Canada
613-996-7800

Romanian Consulate
111 Peter St.
Toronto, ON M5V 2H1
Phone: 416/585-5802
Fax:  416/585 4798

Judy Sgro, P.C., M.P.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1L1
Fax: 613 947 8319, Tel: 613 992 7774
E-mail: Minister at cic.gc.ca

Anne McLellan, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
c/o Solicitor General of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6
Fax: 613 990-9077, Tel: 613 991 2924
E-mail: McLellan.A at parl.gc.ca


Adrian Dragan, is a Roma (also known as "Gypsy") and faces serious danger
and repression if removed to Romania, where Roma people are regularly
attacked and persecuted. In fact, Adrian renounced his citizenship in
Romania in 1993 to condemn the racism against Roma there, and since he
does not have formal citizenship, he is now being held in jailed limbo,
without rights as a citizen in either Canada or Romania.

Canada has already tried once to send Adrian to Romania, but he was
refused at the border and sent back to Canada, to continued detention by
Immigration Canada.

On behalf of Adrian, I demand that Adrian not be compelled in any way to
sign documents that state that he is willing to be returned to Romania,
and that Adrian be release from detention immediately.

I find it deplorable that Canada would treat asylum seekers in such a
manner: placing them under duress in order to compel them to ?agree? to be
deported.   Canada must live up to its obligations under the United
Nations Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and not deport him to
Romania unless the government can guarantee Adrian's complete citizenship
rights, safety and freedom in Romania.

Sincerely,



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No One is Illegal- Vancouver
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The No One is Illegal campaign is in full confrontation with Canadian
colonial border policies, denouncing and taking action to combat racial
profiling of immigrants and refugees, detention and deportation policies,
and wage-slave conditions of migrant workers and non-status people.

We struggle for the right for our communities to maintain their
livelihoods and resist war, occupation and displacement, while building
alliances and supporting indigenous sisters and brothers also fighting
theft of land and displacement.