Kelvin Bilal Fawaz, age 29 is a British boxer with no home. He has fought six times for England but is being threatened with deportation to Nigeria. His case has highlighted the issue of thousands of black people in the UK who may be stateless also known as legal-ghost and are not recognised as nationals by any country.
KELVIN’S STORY
According to ‘Voice-Online’, Kelvin Bilal Fawaz was selected to represented Team GB in 2012 and 2016, was trafficked to the UK as a teenager from Nigeria by an uncle. He was promised that his father would soon accompany him however this never happened.
Seven years after entering England, fleeing the clutches of domestic slavery and leaving the care system, Fawaz started his amateur boxing career. The troubled youngster quickly rose through the boxing ranks and was head hunted by Team GB for the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. He was also offered a lucrative three-year contract by boxing promoter Frank Warren, who predicted the young fighter would earn at least £230,000.
But his opportunity to exploit his talent in the ring has been lost after the Home Office refused to issue him with a work visa. The Home Office has rejected several applications for citizenship by Fawaz over an 11-year period.
His marriage to a British citizen classified as void. The Nigerian High Commission has reportedly refused the Home Office’s application to secure Fawaz’s travel documents three times because it claims while he was born there he is not a citizen – his father was a Lebanese immigrant to Nigeria and his mother is from Benin.
The situation means that Fawaz is effectively stateless, not recognised as a citizen of any country. He was held in a detention centre for 34 days including the Christmas and New Year period before he was freed on bail. Now Fawaz is urging Voice readers to support his campaign to remain in the UK.
A petition letter to the Home Office to keep Fawaz in the UK has garnered more than 58,000 signatures. Speaking to The Voice Fawaz said: “My release from custody was a complete surprise and I was so happy that I was jumping up and down for joy.
“But the treatment I’ve received from Home Office is appalling. “The impression I’ve been given is that I don’t deserve a decent quality of life here and I am despised; this is because I carried out some minor offences when I was young and had no parental guidance.
“Although I’ve turned my life around and could make this country proud, my past is being held against me, which has caused me to feel depressed. I’ve been allowed to box for England but I’m not wanted here.”
Fawaz continued: “The Home Office does not view me as a human being but as a number. “My appeal is that the Home Office will give me a chance and members of the public will continue to support me. I’ve established my life in England, not in Nigeria. I wish the Home Office could appreciate this fact.”
To support Kelvin Bilal Fawaz’s campaign to stay in the country;
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