NCADC news round-up, 8 March
NCADC daily news round-up, 8 March 2011
Today’s top stories:
- International womens’ day: womens’ rights are human rights
- Glasgow asylum housing transfer in doubt – union threatens strike action
- Fortress Europe: NCADC blog on border enforcement and conditions for migrants in Greece
- Legal: Astonishing new ECJ case on right of residence for parents of European children
MEDIA
Women, asylum, and the need for fairer decisions
Debra Singer of Asylum Aid, on JCWI blog, 8 March 2011
On International Women’s Day, JCWI publishes a guest post from Debra Singer of Asylum Aid, highlighting the plight of the more vulnerable women suffering at institutional injustice here in the UK.
In January Asylum Aid published Unsustainable, research which examines in detail the quality of the decisions made when women seek asylum. 87% of the women in the research sample were initially refused asylum, the majority because UKBA case owners did not accept the credibility of their claim. Yet Asylum Aid found that exactly 50% of these refusal decisions were overturned once scrutinised by an independent immigration judge. In every one of the successful appeals, the judge accepted the credibility of the woman’s claim. Read the full article for more on the ‘culture of disbelief’ and the crisis in legal representation.
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Raising Refugee Women’s Voices in the Centenary Year of International Women’s Day
Nina Murray, Women’s Policy Development Officer, Refugee Council, 8 March 2011
In the week that the world is celebrating the centenary of International Women’s Day (8 March 2011), I’ve been asked to reflect on the significance of our new, two-year, Comic Relief-funded women’s project, ‘Raising Refugee Women’s Voices’.
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A pledge of support for women on International Women’s Day – unless you’re a migrant…
JCWI blog, March 8, 2011
Theresa May says she’s committed to providing all women with ‘choices’ so that they can participate equally in society. But how do these statements fare for migrant women?
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ChildRIGHT: In a Nutshell — Care for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children
Children and Young People Now, 8 March 2011
It is important that unaccompanied children seeking asylum receive the appropriate level of care from local authorities.
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Glasgow asylum housing deal in doubt over staff transfer
Herald Scotland, 7 March 2011
The future for hundreds of asylum seekers in Glasgow has been thrown into fresh doubt after claims a new contract to support and house them is on the brink of collapse.
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Bristol’s record on helping refugees earns ‘City of Sanctuary’ award
Bristol Evening Post, 5 March 2011
Bristol has been awarded the title of a City of Sanctuary – one of five in the UK – for its work welcoming refugees and asylum seekers into the community.
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Refugee Council marks 60 years of the Geneva Convention
Migrants’ Rights Network, 5 March 2011
2011 is the 60th anniversary of the UN Refugee Convention, the international treaty which guarantees refugees’ rights. The Refugee Convention has saved countless lives and no country has ever withdrawn from it. 2011 also marks 60 years of the Refugee Council and despite the challenges it is facing, it will be celebrating this anniversary in style. Fina out you can get involved here.
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UN Human Rights Council to appoint special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants – call for nominations
Migrants’ Rights Network, 7 March 2011
At the recent 17th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in June 2011 the President of the Council was mandated to appoint an independent human rights expert to serve as the next Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants.
NGOs and others wishing to nominate candidates should, after checking with the person(s) concerned, send the names of eligible candidates to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) by Monday 14 March 2011 at the latest for inclusion in the list used as a basis for the appointment.
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NCADC BLOG
“Fortress Europe”: One step forward, two steps back
Milena Tmava, NCADC Campaigns Volunteer, 8 March 2011
The European Agency for Fundamental Rights has today published a new report describing the situation at the EU’s external land border between Greece and Turkey as a fundamental rights emergency. People, including pregnant women and families with small children, are held in inhumane conditions.
A recent judgment by the European Court of Human Rights ruled that EU countries should stop returning migrants to Greece under the controversial “Dublin II” agreement. Meanwhile, irregular migrants in Greece are 43 days into a mass hunger strike, and Greece is building a fence along it’s border with Turkey.
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LEGAL
Zambrano case: astonishing new ECJ case on right of residence for parents of European children
Free Movement blog, 8 March 2011
In a judgment just out, Zambrano v ONEm Case C-34/0 the European Court of Justice seems to have held that the parents of a child born in a Member State must be granted the right to work and the right of residence in that Member State in order to protect the right of the child to live in Europe.
This is an astonishing proposition, if my reading of the case is correct, and represents a massive extension of the principle in the Chen case.
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Detained forever? Foreign prisoners and indefinite detention
Free Movement, 7 March 2011
Hundreds of foreign national prisoners are being held indefinitely, sometimes for years, when they can’t be removed from the country. With no time limit on immigration detention powers, judges and the Home Office are operating within what one lawyer described to me as ‘a culture of indeterminate detention.’
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EUROPE
Illegal migrants risk death for right to stay in Greece
Guardian, 6 March 2011
Doctors have warned that a mass hunger strike of illegal migrants could end in tragedy after dozens of protesters attempting to win legal status in Greece were taken to hospital after five weeks without food.
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Migrants fleeing North Africa turmoil land on Lampedusa
BBC News, 7 March 2011
About 1,000 North African migrants on a dozen boats have reached the Italian island of Lampedusa overnight. Others have been sighted approaching the island, off the coast of Tunisia. Most of the migrants are said to come from Tunisia amid turmoil there and in neighbouring Libya.
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INTERNATIONAL
Libya: Allow Relief Aid In and Refugees Out
Human Rights Watch, 8 March 2011
The Libyan government and opposition forces should immediately grant aid agencies safe passage to violence-stricken areas of western Libya and allow civilians to flee the fighting, Human Rights Watch said today.
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Cote D’Ivoire: crisis deepens, with 200,000 displaced within Abidjan
UNHCR, 7 March 2011
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RESEARCH AND REPORTS
Forced Migration Review
Issue 37, March 2011
Forced Migration Review’s March 2011 issue focuses on “Armed Non-State Actors and Displacement.” In addition to the 20 articles included in the feature section, another nine discuss “subjects as varied as the labelling of migrants, solar energy in camps, gang persecution, and scoring states’ performance in respect of the rights of refugees.”
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EVENTS
Yarl’s Wood Protest
Saturday 5th March
Come and celebrate International Women’s Day by showing solidarity with the migrant women imprisoned at Yarl’s Wood!
Saturday, 5th March 2011, 1pm
@ Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre
Twinwoods Road, Clapham, Bedfordshire, MK41 6HL
Please organise your own transport.
End the detention of migrant women!
Close Yarl’s Wood now!
Supporting groups: Stop Deportation Network
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Mothers March
London, Saturday 12 March
Assemble 12 noon: Trafalgar Square (north side)
Speak-out 2pm: Room G2, SOAS
(School of Oriental & African Studies) Thornhaugh St, London WC1H 0XG
Invest in caring not killing – For everyone’s survival and welfare
End Cuts, Poverty & Discrimination
WOMEN, MEN, YOUNG, OLD BRING YOUR DEMANDS!
www.globalwomenstrike.net Tel: +44 (0)20 7482 2496 gws@globalwomenstrike.net
Join gws on facebook & on twitter.com/WomenStrike
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Launch meetings: Report of the BAIL OBSERVATION PROJECT
Where: Oxford (Old Library, Town Hall, St Aldates, Oxford)
When: Tuesday 15 March, 7.30pm,
Speakers will include the report’s authors, a former detainee who obtained bail, and an immigration lawyer.
Where: London (Committee Room, Houses of Parliament, Westminster)
When: Tuesday 22 March, 7pm
Chair: John Mcdonnell MP, other speakers to include report authors, bailee, immigration lawyer(s)
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Young People Seeking Safety Week; 28 March – 3 April 2011
The Young People Seeking Safety campaign is a network of individuals and organisations who have joined together to promote the rights and safety of unaccompanied young people seeking asylum in the UK.
Young People Seeking Safety Week 2011 (28 March – 3 April 2011) is a chance to share the music, film, and photography of young people expressing their experiences of seeking safety in the UK. Around the UK community groups will host events to bring attention to the issues facing unaccompanied young people.
