Stop the Rwanda Deportation Flights – Weekend of Action, 16-17 July

Join us outside Colnbrook & Harmondsworth - Heathrow Airport Detention Centres, 3pm this Saturday 16 July, as part of grassroots, nationwide actions against the Rwanda Deportation flights: from Kent to Manchester, Durham,and Scotland.

The Rwanda Plan like the Borders Bill is based on lies. The government says it’s to stop people arriving by boat and men “elbowing” women and children out of the asylum queue, and to stop criminal gangs. But the biggest criminal gang is this government and all of us are at risk. Rape survivors, mothers with children, under age refugees, and ultimately anyone could have their claim deemed inadmissible and be deported. We can’t forget that the Windrush generation citizens lost their homes, jobs and some were deported.

Rwanda isn’t safe. Media reports show refugees barely surviving with scarce food, housing and medical services and living in fear of the country’s brutal security forces.

The Governments Rwanda plan is aimed at deterring people from claiming asylum, a right recognised in international law. It’s a throwback to the worst of the colonial empire. Along with policies of deliberate destitution it is aimed at dividing and terrorising all of us.

Our growing anti-deportation movement, spearheaded by asylum seekers, is more determined than ever to defend the rights of those seeking refuge. Millions are fleeing war, the climate crisis, western sanctions, starvation and the impact of colonial theft. We have every right to be here.

If you’d like to come and need help with transport please get in touch.

Crissie, Global Women Against Deportations

Geraldine, All African Women’s Group

Tel: 0207 482 2496

Source for this message:
Global Women Against Deportations
<gwad@allwomencount.net>

Global Women Against Deportations is a coalition based at the Crossroads Women’s Centre, which includes AAWG @AfricanGr along with Legal Action for Women, Women Against Rape @AgainstRape & Women of Colour/Global Women’s Strike @woc_gws. T: +44 (0) 20 7482 2496

Priti Patel’s Plan to End Channel Crossings in Disarray

The Royal Navy is threatening to “walk away” from Boris Johnson and Priti Patel’s plan to stem the number of boats carrying asylum seekers across the Channel as official data shows how spectacularly the policy has backfired. Defence chiefs are said to be fed up with trying to enact the prime minister and home secretary’s rapidly imploding plan of using the military to control small boats in the Channel.

Ministry of Defence data shows crossings have close to doubled since the military was given “primacy” over the issue from mid-April compared with the first three months of this year.

Patel and Johnson were warned that deploying the Royal Navy would be likely to increase the number of crossings but ignored expert advice because, according to internal sources, they wanted to appear tough. One former defence minister told the Observer that their miscalculation had guaranteed the navy was effectively providing an “efficient taxi service” for asylum seekers.

Read more: Mark Townsend, Guardian, https://rb.gy/jnlarz

ECtHR: Investigation into Sinking of a Migrant Boat With 11 Deaths - Greece Violated Articles 2 & 3

The case of Safi and Others v. Greece (application no. 5418/15) concerned the sinking on 20 January 2014 of a fishing boat transporting 27 foreign nationals in the Aegean Sea, off the island of Farmakonisi, resulting in the death of 11 people, including relatives of the applicants.

In today’s (Thursday 7th July 2022) Chamber judgment in this case the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been: a violation of Article 2 (right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights under its procedural head. The Court found that there had been shortcomings in the proceedings and concluded that the national authorities had not carried out a thorough and effective investigation capable of shedding light on the circumstances in which the boat had sunk.

A second violation of Article 2 (right to life) on account of the failure to comply with the positive obligation under this Article. The Court found that the Greek authorities had not done all that could reasonably be expected of them to provide the applicants and their relatives with the level of protection required by Article 2 of the Convention.

A violation of Artcle 3 (prohibition on of inhuman or degrading treatment), concerning 12 of the applicants who had been on board the boat and who, after it had sunk, had been subjected to degrading treatment on account of the body searches they had undergone on arriving in Farmakonisi.

For all related documents: ECtHR, https://rb.gy/u0cvol

Low-Paid Minority Ethnic Workers In Health And Social Care Report Unfair Treatment

Hospital cleaners, care workers and other low-paid staff from minority ethnic groups in health and social care report poor treatment compared with white peers, according to an inquiry by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published last month. Workers reported bullying, harassment and abuse in the workplace. Many said they felt they were unfairly treated because of their race or nationality.
In its inquiry, the EHRC, Britain’s rights regulator, surveyed workers paid up to £10 an hour. This includes hospital porters, caterers and receptionists. Workers in the health sector reported feeling marginalised at work and mocked for their religion. Some said they had fewer career development opportunities. They reported “excessive criticism” by line managers and not being given due credit for their work.

Read more; Ella Hopkins, Each Other, https://rb.gy/cb3zgl

Home Office to Offer Extensions to People Denied Settlement

The Home Office has published guidance on when officials should vary an application for indefinite leave to remain and instead grant an extension of permission to stay (i.e. limited leave to remain). The stated rationale is to ensure that people who apply for settlement and don’t qualify, but who do qualify for limited leave to remain, are not left without immigration status.

The advantage of this process is that it is more streamlined than making people vary an application themselves: paying a new application fee, filling out a new form, uploading supporting evidence and sometimes seeking a refund of the old fee.

Read more: Freemovement, https://rb.gy/wdwljv