Meltem Avcil

Meltem is a former child detainee. She was woken up at 6:00am by eight immigration officers who rushed into her house and occupied every room on the 27th of August, 2007. She was put in a caged van and taken to the police station, and from there, to the B-class prison Yarlswood Detention Centre in Bedfordshire.

Now, Meltem is a 22 year-old award-winning human rights activist.

She started her first campaign while still in prison to stop children's detention. She is currently campaigning with Natasha Walter to #SETHERFREE. Her first award was the Liberty Human Rights Award. She went onto receive the Christie Jackson Young Person of the Year Award in 2014 and Cosmopolitan Ultimate Campaigner of the Year in 2015.

Meltem currently lives, works and studies Psychology at the University of Goldsmiths in London. She is an amateur author, poet and scriptwriter. Her essay was published by Virago books in 'I Call Myself a Feminist.'