Amal Azzudin
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Amal Azzudin (born 1990) is an Egyptian-Scottish campaigner and activist who co-founded the Glasgow Girls, a group of seven young women who campaigned against the harsh treatment of asylum-seekers in response to the detention of one of their friends. The group's efforts raised public awareness and won the support of the
Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...
. Azzudin has been featured in ''
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'', '' The Herald'', ''
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'', '' The Press and Journal'', ''
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''.


Early life

In 2000, Azzudin moved from Egypt to
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
,
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
, with her mother. Four years later the
Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...
granted the family leave to remain. She is one of the founders of The Glasgow Girls – a group of Drumchapel High School students who, from 2005, campaigned against dawn raids and the
deportation Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people by a state from its sovereign territory. The actual definition changes depending on the place and context, and it also changes over time. A person who has been deported or is under sen ...
of refugee families. The other Glasgow Girls were Roza Salih, Ewelina Siwak, Toni-Lee Henderson, Jennifer McCarron and Emma Clifford. The group was formed after the home of one of their school friends, Agnesa Murselaj, a Roma from
Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...
, was dawn-raided one Sunday morning by 14 bullet-proof vested officers from the UK Border Force. After several weeks the family had not been released. “Even though I had my leave to remain, I couldn’t just sit there. I had to do something. That could have been my family,” Azzudin says.


The Glasgow Girls campaign

The Glasgow Girls, encouraged by teacher Euan Girvan, formed a strategy to campaign on behalf of the family. Their online petitions to the
Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...
went viral, and the then
First Minister of Scotland The first minister of Scotland () is the head of government of Scotland. The first minister leads the Scottish Government, the Executive (government), executive branch of the devolved government and is th ...
,
Jack McConnell Jack Wilson McConnell, Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale, (born 30 June 1960) is a Scottish politician who served as first minister of Scotland and leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2001 to 2007. McConnell served as the Minister f ...
agreed to meet them. The Glasgow Girls not only successfully prevented the deportation of the Murselaj family, but also forced a change in the asylum protocols.


Career and later life

Since leaving University, Azzudin has worked for the Mental Health Foundation in Scotland as its Equality and Human Rights Officer. Her main role is to manage the refugee programme, including the Sawti project. Sawti, which means “my voice” in
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
, aims to raise awareness of mental health and wellbeing, and has developed a mentoring scheme for
refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...
s and
asylum seeker An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country, and makes in that other country a formal application for the right of asylum according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 14. A per ...
s in Scotland. In 2015, Azzudin accompanied campaigners Margaret Woods and Pinar Aksu to Lesvos, where as many as 3000 refugees per day were arriving from
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
. She wrote a diary of her experiences for The Herald Scotland. She is an ambassador for the Scottish Refugee Council.


Awards

* 2016 Saltire Society's Young Outstanding Woman of Scotland. Azzudin was winner of a Special Award to commemorate Saltire Society's 80th Anniversary * 2016 Named one of the Young Women's Movement Outstanding Woman of Scotland


Further reading

*Hill, Emma and Craith, Máiréad Nic. "Medium and Narrative Change: The Effects of Multiple Media on the “Glasgow Girls” Story and Their Real-Life Campaign". ''Narrative Culture''. Vol. 3, No. 1 (Spring 2016), pp. 87–109. *Penketh, Laura. "Asylum, immigration and anti-racism – an interview with Amal Azzudin." ''Critical and Radical Social Work''. Vol. 3 (August 2015).


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Azzudin, Amal 1990 births People associated with Glasgow Scottish activists Living people Alumni of the University of Glasgow Refugees in the United Kingdom British women human rights activists Scottish human rights activists Egyptian emigrants to Scotland