NCADC News, 24 January
NCADC daily news
Today’s top stories:
- Human Rights Watch – World Report 2011 published
- Child detention: the Keep Your Promise campaign
- Deportee claims security staff held him down until he ‘could not breathe’
- 200 more migrants arrive to join hunger strike in Athens
KEEP YOUR PROMISE CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES
ECDN, Simon, 22 January 2011
The postcards were designed by the young people from Shpresa Programme, an Albanian Refugee Community Organisation in East London that has worked with ECDN to draw attention to the plight of children and young people in immigration detention. The Keep Your Promise campaign is a result of Shpresa young people expressing their concern that while the government has promised to bring an end to child detention, children will continue to be detained at Tinsley House, near Gatwick, at least until May 2011.
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MEDIA
Deportee claims security staff held him down until he ‘could not breathe’
Guardian, Diane Taylor and Owen Bowcott, 23 January 2011
A Congolese asylum seeker claims he struggled to breathe when security staff restrained him at a Heathrow boarding gate, and feared he was “going to die”. Bienvenue Mbombo, 38, alleged that UK Border Agency escorts put a knee on his chest and sat on him as he resisted efforts to deport him on a Kenya Airways flight to Nairobi this month. The UKBA claimed Mbombo had become violent.
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Britain’s two faces to LGBTI Uganda
LGBT Asylum News, Paul Canning, 23 January 2011
Despite reports that homosexuality could be punishable by death in Uganda as early as May and amidst widespread reports of violence, the British Home Office is still trying to remove lesbian and gay Ugandans on the presumption they will not be persecuted.
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A working life: The legal adviser
Guardian, Jill Insley, 22 January 2011
Legal aid adviser Gwyneth King earns a quarter of what she could in private practice, but helping vulnerable people is richly rewarding in other ways.
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BLOGS
Siva’s story – An asylum seeker is returned to Big Society
New Internationalist, Rebecca Yeo, 24 January 2011
On 7 December Siva, a 26-year-old father of two, went to sign at his local Bristol police station. Siva came to the UK from Sri Lanka when he was 14, after his parents were killed. For asylum seekers, like for unemployed people, signing on is a regular part of life. Unlike unemployed people, asylum seekers never know whether they will come out again.
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East European migrants and their rights – What will happen in May 2011?
MRN Blog, Jan Brulc, 24 January 2011
The short answer is that the rights of East European migrants (also refered to as A8 nationals) will be brought in line with the rights of other EU nationals and the broadly criticised Worker Registration Scheme will be discontinued. The AIRE Centre (Advice on Individual Rights in Europe) and MRN have prepared a briefing detailing the changes from 1 May 2011.
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EUROPE
Migrants to stage mass hunger strike
Ekathimerini, 23 January 2011
More than 200 immigrants from North African countries, who have been employed in menial jobs on the island of Crete, are to begin a hunger strike in Athens on Tuesday, seeking legal residence status in Greece.
and:
Blog: [300] Hunger strike to start tomorrow in Athens.
Follow developments here (with translations)
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Court exposes appalling detention conditions in Greece
EurActiv, 24 January 2011
Belgium has been sentenced by the European Court for Human Rights for sending back to Athens an asylum seeker who had entered the EU from Greece. The court ruled that Greece did not comply with minimum standards on the treatment of asylum seekers.
and
ECtHR judgement increases the pressure for EASO’s work in Greece
EASO Monitor, 23 January 2011
The recent European Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber judgement (M.S.S. v. Belgium and Greece) is being hailed as more than a mere condemnation of Belgian and Greek policies and practices.
Written report of judgement available here
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Denmark: Asylum seekers won’t be returned to Greece
The Copenhagen Post, 24 January 2011
Afghans will have their requests for asylum processed in Denmark. Some 340 asylum seekers awaiting deportation to Greece will now have their applications for EU residency heard in Denmark.
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Sweden might stop putting asylum seekers in jail
Stockholm News, Mats Öhlén, 23 January 2011
Asylum seekers who are to be deported from Sweden should not be placed in police custody. This according to the new Defence Investigation which will soon be delivered to the government.
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INTERNATIONAL
World Report 2011: Governments Soft-Talking Abusers
Human Rights Watch, 24 January 2011
Too many governments are accepting the rationalizations and subterfuges of repressive governments, replacing pressure to respect human rights with softer approaches such as private “dialogue” and “cooperation,” Human Rights Watch said today in releasing its World Report 2011. Instead of standing up firmly against abusive leaders, many governments, including European Union member states, adopt policies that do not generate pressure for change.
The 649-page report, Human Rights Watch’s 21st annual review of human rights practices around the globe, summarizes major human rights issues in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide.
It is an essential resource for anyone campaigning against removal from the UK. You can browse chapters by country or download the full report in pdf. Each country entry identifies significant human rights issues, examines the freedom of local human rights defenders to conduct their work, and surveys the response of key international actors, such as the United Nations, European Union, Japan, the United States, and various regional and international organizations and institutions.
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Deportations to Ivory Coast must be halted: UNHCR
AFP, 21 January 2011
The UN refugee agency on Friday signalled to governments worldwide that they should stop sending Ivorian asylum seekers back to their homeland while the country is in the grip of political unrest.
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NEW ON THE NCADC WORLD BLOG
- Jamaica: UK Home Office, Operational Guidance Note:
- Somalia: UNHCR factsheet. Somalia is country generating highest number of refugees in world, after Afghanistan & Iraq
- Somalia: UNHCR calls on Europe to “Keep the doors open”
- Pakistan: UK Home Office, Country of Origin Information Report
- Angola: political detainees held under non-existent law
- Côte d’Ivoire: UNHCR calls for suspension of forcible returns
- Afghanistan: Fears over child recruitment, abuse by pro-government militias
Go to http://ncadcworld.wordpress.com search by country.
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RESEARCH & REPORTS
“Protection Gaps in Europe? Persons fleeing the indiscriminate effects of generalized violence”
UNHCR, 18 January 2011
The second half of the 20th century saw an unparalleled number of armed conflicts.
The International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences (ISIS) recently found
that between 1945 and 2008, some 313 conflicts took place, causing an estimated 92 – 101 million deaths, which is twice the number in World War I and II combined.
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Immigration Bulletin – Issue 214
Garden Court Chambers, 24 January 2011
Cases:
- M.S.S. v. Belgium and Greece – 30696/09 [2011] ECHR 108 (21 January 2011)
The European Court of Human Rights ruling that forcible returns from EU countries to Greece under the “Dublin regulations” represent a breach of human rights. Refugees should be allowed to pursue their applications without being returned to Greece, because of the conditions there.
Legislation:
-The Education (Student Support) (European University Institute) Regulations 2010 (Amendment) Regulations 2011 No. 83 make certain alterations to the availability of support for migrant students. The effect of the changes to the definition of person with leave to enter or remain and the related amendments is that people (and their family members) who would have fallen within the category of “person with leave to enter or remain” but who do not fall within the new category of people granted humanitarian protection will not be eligible for support (excluding those with discretionary leave to remain, who hitherto were beneficaries). To read further, click here
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EVENTS
The struggle for migrants rights: Learning from the past – looking to the future
London, 27 Jan 2011, 18:30
at: Hub @ Kings Cross, 34B York Way, London N1 9AB
Join the Migrants’ Rights Network to launch the 5th year of our work!
MRN would like to invite you to join us on 27 January to the launch of our 2010 annual report and our work for 2011. This will be both an opportunity to catch-up with colleagues and to discuss the progress of the movement for the rights of migrants in the UK. The focus of the evening will be how we can meet the challenges that will face us in the year ahead and beyond.
Rob Berkeley, the Director of the Runnymede Trust – the UK’s leading policy group working on the issue of race equality, will be with us to provide his reflection on immigrant struggles for basic rights and against racism over the past 50 years.
With that as a backdrop, we will also be presenting our annual report for the past year, and setting out some of the plans MRN is working on for the next year.
This meeting is free and open to all people active in work supporting the rights of migrants. However due to limited space, registration is essential. Please follow the booking process online.
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Destitution Benefit gig
Glasgow, Sunday 30 January
Govan & Craigton Integration Network is organising a benefit gig of melodious folk and pop music to raise money for their destitution fund. Every penny raised from the £5 entry fee will go direct to destitute people in Govan & Craigton. Free entry for asylum seekers. See below for details, and the facebook event page
Three bands and a good cause…
The Social Services, Bear Bones and Timbrel
Sunday 30 January
19:30 – 22:30
Nice N Sleazy
421 Sauchiehall Street
What better way to bring the first month of the year to a close than with this musical delight at Nice n’ Sleazy’s. Join Swedish/Scottish(ish) indiecircus popsters The Social Services, island-fired, melodious folk ensemble Bear Bones and the lovely Timbrel for a good cause.
Entry: £5
Asylum seekers free
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Asylum Monologues
Sunday 6th February @ 2pm
The Avenue Methodist Church, The Avenue, Linthorpe Middlesbrough TS5 6PA
Scripted by Sonja Linden
Personal testimonies of asylum seekers in the UK
Tickets are free! Arrive early to secure a seat.
“You know before the war in my country, I was not even thinking about coming here. I was happy. I was with my family, everything was OK. Why should I want to go? But things happen.”
Asylum Monologues is an account of the UK’s asylum system, told first hand by the people who have experienced it.
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The Health & Well being of Asylum Seekers from Country of Origin to Asylum or Detention
When: 9 Feb 2011 – 18:30 – 20:00
Where: ACAMH Head Office, 39-41 Union Street, London SE1 1SD
The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH) is organising a seminar on how young people suffer trauma and loss at every stage of their often long and dangerous journey to find sanctuary. Speaker Emma Fillmore, Paediatrician at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust Their will discuss the issues of emotional and physical scars experienced by asylum seekers. read more >>>
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Becoming British citizens? The Experiences and Opinions of Refugees Living in Scotland
When: 10 Feb 2011 – 13:30 – 16:30
Where: Glasgow Parish Halls, 266 George Street, Glasgow G1 1QX
This seminar will focus on citizenship policy. The event is also the launch of Strathclyde University and Scottish Refugee Council research examining the experiences and opinions of refugees living in Scotland towards the UK citizenship process and their views on becoming British citizens. read more >>>
