Don't Deport Pallumbi Daulle

     Mr Daulle is a Kosovan asylum seeker who has suffered tremendous mental and psychological trauma due to the experiences of his family in Kosovo during the time of the Serbian regime. Mr Daulle relates a horrific story of persecution suffered by his family. He himself was detained and raped by Serb forces in 1995. His mother, who was pregnant at the time, was beaten by Serb forces and miscarried and died a few days later. Mr Daulle's father was murdered and his younger sister was raped and murdered during a massacre of Albanians in Kosovo.

      Mr Daulle is deeply traumatised by his experiences and has sought treatment for severe depression and anxiety. He has experienced bouts of deep distress, confusion and self harming behaviour. He was taken by friends to St Annes Hospital after he broke down and tried to break all his possessions and doctors there diagnosed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Mr Daulle suffers from headaches, nightmares, insomnia, loss of appetite, weight loss and lack of energy as well as feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness. Dr W.G. Smith a Consultant Psychiatrist and Honourary Senior Lecturer to the Royal Free Hospital assessed Mr Daulle and said, "My impression was that Mr Daulle was suffering from symptoms of depression and an anxiety state taking the form of panic attacks. There were also features of post traumatic stress disorder as evident by the nightmares…" In the same report Dr Smith stated he believed Mr Daulle was suffering from "a psychotic depression". He also said "I have no doubt he would react adversely to being returned to the scene of where he had been so grossly humiliated in the hands of the Serbian soldiers". 

      In 2000 Mr Daulle suffered a head injury when he was attacked in the street. He was admitted to hospital and treated but further treatment was required and in May 2001 he was admitted to the Royal London Hospital for surgery. He is still being seen as an outpatient with regard to this injury. Dr Smith cites this injury as well as the psychological trauma as a possible cause of Mr Daulle's difficulty in giving precise information about his past. This difficulty has hampered his asylum claim.

      Mr Daulle would not be able to received the psychological treatment he needs in Kosovo. According to an United Nations Mission in Kosovo briefing note on health care provisions,

      "Psychiatric services are very limited, with an almost total lack of community services other than those associated with conflict trauma. Patients are mostly treated pharmaceutically;'rehabilitation' is virtually non-existent…funding for the gradual reform of the system, including increased primary care and community services, has not been adequate…no mental hospital presently exists in Kosovo. The present ratio of one psychiatrist for every 100,000 inhabitants indicates the extent of the challenge posed…The current lack of mental health structures for chronic psychiatric patients and the mentally disabled compels UNMIK to appeal to the host countries not to return such cases at these times".

      The US based group Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) published a report entitled Not on the Agenda: Human Rights of People with Mental Disabilities in Kosovo. You can download a full copy of this report at www.MDRI.org They documented appaling and extensive human rights abuses occurring in psychiatric hospitals in Kosovo including rape, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation, physical abuse and psychological abuse of patients. Many patients are forced to live in filthy conditions surrounded by excrement and urine. There is a lack of basic privacy with patients observed to have inadequate clothing to cover their private parts and in some cases not being clothed at all. Medical and psychiatric care is inadequate and unsafe with non-professional staff authorised to administer powerful medications without review by a psychiatrist for months or years. They found that people were arbitrarily and illegally detained at mental institutions in violation of international and domestic law. The authors of the report say,

      "We find that the lack of respect for human dignity, the danger due to unhygienic conditions, inappropriate medical care, and lack of protection from physical and sexual abuse renders detention in Shtime (an institution for people with mental disabilities) for anyone a form of "inhuman and degrading" treatment in violation of the United Nations' International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. (ICCPR)...The lack of protections against physical and sexual abuse or exploitation at the elderly Home and the psychiatric wards of general hospitals also constitute inhuman and degrading treatment under the ICCPR. The lack of protections against improper civil commitment in these facilities renders detention in these facilities a form of arbitrary detention under the ICCPR."

      Anyone suffering from trauma-related mental health problems would be extremely vulnerable if returned to Kosovo needing treatment under these conditions. The general lack of safety and inadequate treatment in these institutions makes it likely that they could be "retraumatized" by exposure to the violence and inhuman conditions found there. MDRI are especially concerned about the vulnerability of women who are particularly susceptible to physical and sexual abuse. There are many women already traumatised by their experiences during the conflict as rape and sexual assault was common.

     Mr Daulle is an extremely vulnerable person who would suffer intolerably if he were removed from his home, friends and particularly from the medical professionals who have been supporting him. It would be disastrous for him to be deported.

What you can do to help
                  Fax/write to the Home Secretary David Blunkett, using the model letter 'Attached', which you can copy/amend/write your own.
Fax no: 020 7273 3965 from outside the UK + 44 20 7273 3965

Or write to:

David Blunkett
Home Secretary
Home Office
50 Queen Anne's Gate
London SW1H 9AT

Please take time to send a copy of anything sent to:

Pallumbi Daulle Campaign
c/o NCADC
Cambridge House
131 Camberwell Road
London SE5 0HF
Enquiries/further information:
Allison Bennett
Phone: 020 7701 5197
ncadc-london@ncadc.org.uk