NCADC news round-up, 10 May
Daily round-up from NCADC
Today’s top stories:
- Visa charges target British Asian families
- Dying to leave Libya – Four ways the EU can stop migrants drowning
- Explaining what is in Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill
- Events: Glasgow, Bristol and London
MEDIA
Overseas relatives of British families to lose visit visa appeal rights
Alan Travis and Owen Bowcott, the Guardian, 10 May 2011
Exclusive: Leaked Home Office policy paper reveals legally risky plan for ministers to scrap right of appeal. Ministers are to scrap the right of appeal for more than 80,000 relatives of British families who are refused visas to visit them each year, according to a leaked Home Office policy paper seen by the Guardian. Senior Whitehall officials have warned that the move is considered highly controversial, particularly within Britain’s Asian communities, as well as being legally risky.
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EUROPE
Libyan migrants’ boat deaths to be investigated by Council of Europe
Jack Shenker, the Guardian, 10 May 2011
Europe’s paramount human rights body, the Council of Europe, has called for an inquiry into the deaths of 61 migrants in the Mediterranean, claiming an apparent failure of military units to rescue them marked a “dark day” for the continent.
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Dying to leave Libya – Four ways the EU can stop migrants drowning as they flee North Africa
Judith Sutherland, opinion, EU Observer
It is time for concerted European action. Europe’s response to increasing attempts to reach its shores from Libya should be guided by two fundamental goals: preventing deaths at sea and ensuring access to protection. Here are four steps the region should take.
- Commit to search and rescue at sea
- Ensure access to protection in Europe
- Conduct sea evacuations
- Step up refugee resettlement
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INTERNATIONAL
Explaining what is in Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill
LGBT Asylum News, 10 May 2011
By Uganda’s Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law
On the 14th of October 2009, David Bahati tabled the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in the Ugandan Parliament. The Bill, currently before the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, seeks to prohibit all marriages except those between man and woman, to prevent and penalize homosexual behavior, including a death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”. But it covers many other areas: a better title would have been the “The Anti Civil Society Bill”, the “Anti Public Health Bill”, or the “Anti-Constitution Bill”.
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RESEARCH & REPORTS
Detention:
Back to Basics: The Right to Liberty and Security of Person and ‘Alternatives to Detention’
UN High Commissioner for Refugees, April 2011
The widespread and growing use of immigration detention has come under considerable scrutiny in recent years on pragmatic (practical and functional) as well as human rights/legal grounds. This study articulates the current state of international law governing detention and its alternatives, and provides a critical overview of existing and possible alternatives to detention (A2Ds) options drawn from empirical research. Research visits were conducted to five countries, namely Australia, Belgium, Canada, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom.
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EVENTS
Report launch: Detention Action’s ‘Fast Track to Despair’
London, 12 May 2011 – 19:00 – 20:30
Where: Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA
Detention Action (formerly London Detainee Support Group) is launching its new name and a new report “Fast Track to Despair” on Thursday 12 May 2011 at Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre.
“Fast Track to Despair” is an analysis of the Detained Fast Track process, under which asylum seekers are detained throughout the asylum process. The extreme step of detaining people for administrative convenience was justified by Home Office and the courts over a decade ago in the light of the large numbers of asylum claims, the short period of detention and the low security conditions.
We hope that you can join us for an evening of discussion, artwork and mingling, with food and drink. Please RSVP to Kate Blagojevic at kate@detentionaction.org.uk , and forward to friends or colleagues who may be interested.
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Young People Seeking Safety campaign
Bristol conference, Saturday 14 May
from 11.30pm onwards at Easton Community Centre
Download a leaflet for the event from our website at www.ncadc.org.uk
On Saturday 14 May, YPSS comes to Bristol for an afternoon of discussion, drama, music and poetry. The conference, organised by Bristol Defend the Asylum Seekers, Bristol Refugee Rights and South West TUC will bring together campaigners, refugees and community and support groups, for an opportunity to share experiences and information.
The opening session starts at 12.30pm and will be introduced by Liz Fekete of the Institute of Race Relations, whose publications include ‘The Deportation Machine’ and ‘They Are Children Too’ and Jo Wilding, human rights activist, author and barrister specialising in immigration and asylum cases, who frequently represents unaccompanied child asylum seekers.
Young People Seeking Safety 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.
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UNITY Cinema returns to Glasgow
Glasgow Saturday 14 May
at CCA, 1pm
showing ‘Cul de Sac’
FREE (ticketed)
Kiana Firouz, an Iranian lesbian who had left Iran to avoid getting arrested, meets Sayeh, a journalist and activist focused on Iranian human rights issues in the United Kingdom.
Sayeh tries to collect some information about the controversial subject of Iranian homosexuals’ lives from Kiana, who had formerly tried to make an underground documentary about the suffering of lesbians in Iran. The story develops the relationship between Kiana and Sayeh against the background of recent uprisings in Iran and the series of incidents that led Kiana to collaborate with the opposition, eventually resulting in her claim of asylum in the United Kingdom.
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No Borders North East Film & Workshop
Glasgow Saturday 14 May
At the Free Hetherington (occupied university)
The Noborders northeast group are travelling up from Newcastle to the Free Hetherington with a thought provoking and engaging day of events.
Film Screening:
Si Nos Dejan (If they let us)
Ana Torres, Spain 2004, 80 mins
Made by people who have migrated, this fast paced documentary is based on interviews with undocumented people living in Barcelona and coming from around the world. It provides a powerful insight into the diverse experiences of a wide range of people living without a legal status.
Seminar:
Workshop & Discussion on contemporary issues of migration through the film and Noborders perspective. Exploring the concept of the nation state & it’s internal and external borders.
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Beyond Borders dayschool
Bristol, Saturday 21 May
11.30am – 6.30pm
All around the world a global crisis (i.e. capitalism) is being blamed on ordinary people.
Some people take more blame than others. Across Europe and North America a whole range of people are being classed as illegal. Migrant workers, that are so useful to booming economies, are increasingly criminalised in a recession.
The national borders that divide us exist in our minds, but the impacts of migration controls are very real both in terms of human suffering and corporate profits. Migration controls and resistance to them are one of the big issues in these times of global economy.
Come to a day of talks and discussions at Easton Community Centre on Saturday 21st May in Bristol, 11.30-6.30pm
Confirmed speakers:
-Bridget Anderson(Justice For Domestic Migrant Workers,Oxford University) :“Why No Borders?”
-Clara Osagiede (RMT Cleaners Rep, Living Wage Campaign)
“Migrant Worker Struggle”
-Ann Singleton:(Statewatch)
“The Changing Meaning of Borders in the EU”
More details at Bristol No Borders
All Welcome, lunch available, £5 suggested donation or free to asylum seekers/refugees/unemployed
Please RSVP to bristolnoborders@riseup.net
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