Migration is a Fact of Life and A ‘Force For Good’
In a message marking International Migrants Day, the UN chief António Guterres, emphasized that migration promotes the exchange of knowledge and contributes to economic growth, but at the same time, “poorly governed migration is a cause of great suffering.”
Last year Migrants Contributed nearly $650 billion
According to the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM), about 3.6 per cent of the world’s population are migrants – defined as those who move away from their place of usual residence, within the country or internationally, temporarily or permanently.
Many among them move for better opportunities and in doing so, sustain their families and communities back home. For instance, migrants remitted some $647 billion back to their homelands, according to 2022 data
‘Migration As old as humanity itself’
Amy Pope, Director-General of IOM, highlighted that migration “is as old as humanity itself”, with people often seeking to flee conflict and escape persecution. “Yet today, migration is getting more complex,” she said, noting that 2023 saw “historic increases” in the number of people on the move.
UN News: https://is.gd/wh8Rmo
International Migrants Day Monday 18th December 2023
People move for many reasons; to follow a dream, to study, to be with loved ones, in search of a better life, or to seek safety.
For this International Migrants Day, we focus on unlocking the power of migration as one of the solutions to global challenges, such as adapting to the impacts of climate change or providing better economic opportunities for communities. We highlight how our collective actions today, will prepare us for tomorrow.
The power of one person to make a difference cannot be underestimated. Individuals can be agents of change for their communities and societies and can help create opportunities for progress.
This day is also a reminder that human rights are not ‘earned’ by virtue of being a hero or a victim, but are an entitlement of everyone, regardless of origin, age, gender and status.
International Migrants Day is an opportunity to promote an informed and balanced conversation on migration and to share the stories, experiences, aspirations of migrants in their communities.
Every one of you can play a part.
The theme for this year’s International Migrants Day in the UK is “I Am A Migrant”, and there is no better way to mark the day than by foregrounding voices of lived experience. For the third year, IMIX and IOM UK teamed up to run the International Migrants Day Ambassador Programme that each provides media training to a group of migrants, to empower them to share their stories with media and advocate for their rights.
UK International Organization for Migration (IOM) https://is.gd/i7TSZ9
England Could Have Built 22% More Social Homes Last Year With Rwanda Budget
The government could have increased the number of social homes built across England last year by more than a fifth using the money it has committed to its Rwanda asylum scheme.
Home secretary James Cleverly confirmed on Wednesday that the government’s agreement to deport asylum seekers who enter the UK irregularly to the African country will have cost almost £400m by 2027.
The total sum would be enough to completely fund an estimated 2,131 new social homes, which is more than 22% of the 9,561 completed in England in the year to April 2023. The average government grant required to build a new home for social rent in England is £183,000, according to estimates by the National Housing Federation.
Read more: Adam Bychawski, Open Democracy, https://is.gd/LNpAI0
Health & Social Care - 142;800 Care Worker Visas Issued year Ended September 2003
There has been a rapid rise in the number of health and social care worker visas issued, from a very low base to 142,800 in the year ended September 2023. That’s nearly 70% of all skilled worker visas issued. This alone has made a very significant contribution to net migration, not least because those workers have only just arrived and none will have left so far.
Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) report records that the number of vacant posts in the adult social care sector fell by 7% over the last year. MAC concludes that: The extension of the visa route to care workers has therefore eased the workforce pressures in the sector and surely improved the availability of care received by clients.
The government has not implemented the MAC recommendation to mandate a minimum rate of pay in the social care sector of £1 per hour more than the National Living Wage. With higher pay, more workers in the UK might be willing to do those jobs.
Instead, the government has maintained the lower qualifying salary level for health and social care visas but banned workers from bringing dependents with them. The MAC report notes that the potential impact on the migrants themselves: it is likely to disproportionately affect women, lead to migrants being more isolated and therefore potentially susceptible to exploitation, and lead to long separation of families.
Immigration Exemption in Data Protection Act Still Unlawful
The Court of Appeal has ruled that the Immigration Exemption in the Data Protection Act 2018 is still unlawful despite the Government’s bid to prove that latest measures to bring it in line with safeguarding requirements listed in regulations are enough.
The Government appealed a High Court ruling given in March 2023 that the Immigration Exemption in Schedule 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018 is incompatible with retained EU law. Judges said the exemption does not satisfy the requirements of Article 23 of the UK General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
The Appeal Court dismissed the Government’s appeal, highlighting three fundamental principles that needed to be heeded:
A need for specific provisions rather than general principles of human rights law, the need for binding rules of law rather than simply policies, and the need for Parliamentary scrutiny and approval of safeguards.
Read more: Leigh Day Solicitors, https://is.gd/Nvxjq9
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Suicides of Asylum Seekers in Home Office Accommodation Double in Four Years
A total of 23 asylum seekers are thought to have killed themselves in Home Office accommodation in the last four years, more than double the total in the previous four years, the Guardian has learned. According to research shared with the Guardian, 23 people are confirmed or suspected to have died by suicide between 2020 and so far in 2023. Between April 2016 and the end of 2019, 10 people are thought to have killed themselves, according to freedom of information data. In further data from 2020 until August 2023, 19 people are thought to have died by suicide, and since then, a further four asylum seekers are believed to have brought the total to at least 23. The new data, obtained by Liberty Investigates, has emerged just days after an Albanian asylum seeker, Leonard Farruku, was reported to have taken his life on the Bibby Stockholm barge which is moored in Portland, Dorset.
Read more: Aaron Walawalkar and Diane Taylor, Guardian, https://is.gd/33c5GC
Over 360,000 Infectious Disease Cases in Gaza Shelters
This amounts to one infectious disease for every six Palestinians on average — and it’s likely an undercount.
Health and humanitarian officials have reported recording over 360,000 cases of infectious diseases in shelters in Gaza as Israel continues its blockade of basic needs and overcrowding and sewage are overwhelming the region. The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the Palestinian ministry of health have reported the findings in recent days, noting that the true number is likely higher. According to World Health Organization (WHO) officials, the diseases include meningitis, jaundice, impetigo, chickenpox and upper respiratory infections. This amounts to one infectious disease for every six Palestinians in Gaza on average. It doesn’t include infectious diseases among people who are not in shelters, with about 1.3 million of the 2.2 million people in Gaza sheltering in UN facilities as of last week, according to the UNRWA. Southern and central shelters are at around four times their capacity on average, the agency says.
Read more: Sharon Zhang , Truthout, https://is.gd/URHHER
Jewish Demonstrators Block Bridges in 8 U.S. Cities to Demand Ceasefire in Gaza
“We have to keep being impossible to ignore,” one of the groups organizing the events said.
On Wednesday evening and into the night, hundreds of demonstrators in eight cities across the U.S. shut down bridges and highways to pressure the Biden administration and members of Congress into demanding a permanent ceasefire in Israel’s genocidal siege of Gaza.
Jewish organizers and their allies gathered in Seattle, Los Angeles, Portland, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Minneapolis, and Chicago. The coordinated protest effort was organized by leaders from Jewish Voice for Peace, Jewish Fast For Gaza, IfNotNow and other groups to take place on the eighth day of Hanukkah, a deeply symbolic decision.
On Wednesday 14th December, night hundreds of Jews + allies shut down the biggest intersection in downtown Boston for all of rush hour,” said a post on X from IfNotNow. “Until the U.S. government follows the will of the people and calls for a ceasefire, we have to keep being impossible to ignore. It’s life and death.”
“The Twin Cities have joined the nation-wide call from U.S. Jews for a permanent ceasefire and full Palestinian freedom!” Jewish Voice for Peace said on its social media, publishing images of the protest on the Franklin Avenue Bridge in Minneapolis.
The groups documented protesters’ actions through several social media posts.
By Chris Walker, Truthout, https://is.gd/gV0oiI, 15/12/2023
Rapheael Olufemi Oluponle £20,000 Damages for Unlawful Immigration Detention
Mr Oluponle a Nigerian national, claims damages for false imprisonment, unlawful detention and personal injury following detention by the defendant between 4 May and 2 November 2016 – a period of 182 days, almost 6 months.
It is not in issue that the claimant was detained. The issues are 1) First, was any part of the claimant's detention unlawful at Common Law? 2) Second, was any part of the claimant's detention unlawful by reason of a public law error bearing on the decision to detain? 3) Third, if any part of the claimant's detention was unlawful by reason of the public law error on the decision to detain, can the defendant prove that the claimant could and would have been detained in any event? 4) Fourth, if the claimant was falsely imprisoned or unlawfully detained in in what sum should damages be assessed?
Caspar Dlyn Kings Counsel: As a result of my findings it is clear that the claimant was detained lawfully from 4 May 2016 until 3 September 2016. He was unlawfully detained from 4 September until his release 60 days later. Compensatory including aggravated damages are pursued, exemplary damages are not.
I note that the claimant's unlawful detention followed on from an almost four month period of a lawful detention. The claimant's unchallenged evidence was of frightening conditions in his continued detention into the unlawful period. It extended the claimant's separation from his family and extended his experience of these conditions. I take into account that he was racially abused and man handled. I take into account that the first and greater period of detention was lawful so that the initial shock of detention and separation from his family was attributable to lawful conduct and does not sound in damages. However, that his detention was wholly unnecessarily and unreasonably extended by the defendant's failures for a period of 60 days.The gravity of the wrongdoing of false imprisonment is worsened by its length, that longer time should be tapered in respect of damages or placed on a reducing scale.
I regard the impact on this claimant as in a wholly different class of severity. Equally there was no first shock and the claimant was detained in what by then, were surroundings which he had come to know over the previous four months although I take into account that they were frightening and had a severe effect on him although there is no evidence of personal injury.
In my view the appropriate sum of damages for Mr Oluponle's continued detention for 60 days is £20,000. The effect on him was serious, the conditions appalling and he told me of the long-lasting effects on him. I am unpersuaded that an award of aggravated damages applies in this case. The compensatory damages fully reflect the conditions in which the claimant was unlawfully detained and compensate him for his unlawful extended imprisonment.
The Home Office failure to review the detail of the interview and mistakes were made in respect of certification and then there was a delay before the case was properly reviewed. The mistakes resulted in unlawful conduct and should not have occurred but they were not highhanded, oppressive, insulting or malicious. The claimant's remedy lies in the compensatory award that I have made. Accordingly, judgment for the claimant in the sum of £20,000.
This is an edited version, full judgement, https://is.gd/ncuf3n
Are Safeguards From Harm Caused by Immigration Detention Working?
Under rule 34 of the Detention Rules 2001 every person entering detention should be offered an appointment with a medical practitioner at the immigration removal centre where they are being held within 24 hours of arrival. This should include an examination of their physical and mental health.
If a disclosure is made or concerns are raised that a person may be injuriously affected by detention, has suicidal intentions or have been tortured then an appointment must be made with a doctor for an assessment to be completed under rule 35 of the Detention Rules 2001. This aims to ensure that particular groups are brought to the attention of those within the Home Office with direct responsibility for reviewing detention and the power to order the person’s release.
There is an ongoing duty on health professionals in the immigration removal centre to report to a doctor “any detainee who claims to have been a victim of torture or gives an indication that this might have been the case”.
?Read more: Freemovement, https://is.gd/R8XBiP
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