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| Photo: Wikimedia Commons |
Princess Laurentien has added her
voice to calls for two Armenian children who are facing deportation to be
allowed to stay.
Howick, 13, and his 12-year-old sister Lili went into hiding
last week after the Council of State ruled they could be sent to Armenia, even
though they have never lived there. The children were born in Russia and spent
the last 10 years in the Netherlands.
Their Armenian mother, Armina
Hambartsjumian, was ordered to return to her homeland a year ago, but sent the
children to a secret address before being deported. In a letter to AD on Monday
she said they had been taken to a ‘safe place’ in the wake of the
administrative court’s decision.
Princess Laurentien, who is married to former
queen Beatrix’s youngest son Constantijn, said the children deserved ‘stability
and the feeling that they belong here’. She echoed the words of comedian and
columnist Youp van ‘t Hek, who expressed his dismay in Saturday’s NRC that ‘not
one of the 150 members of Parliament has a creative solution for these two
innocent children’.
‘I can’t and don’t want to judge the situation, but I have
a great deal of sympathy for what these children are going through,’ she told NPO Radio 5.
Mrs Hambartsjumian was deported after having several asylum claims
turned down by the Dutch authorities. The two children were placed with a
foster family a week after they first went into hiding last year, but on August
24 the Council of State ruled that junior justice minister Mark Harbers was not
obliged to give them residency permits.
The Dutch government has said Howick
and Lili should be reunited with their mother, but there are reports that she
is unable to care for them. Mrs Hambartsjumian said they were suffering from
post-traumatic stress disorder and the stress would increase if they were
ordered to live in Armenia.
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Lili and
Howick on Dutch children’s television
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