Love Across The Faith Divide - Fozia Hanif & Nawaz Khan
Fozia and Nawaz are a married couple in grave danger of so-called 'honour killing' if returned to Pakistan. They face extreme violence from Fozia's faimly and community persecution because they have crossed the faith divide. yet UKBA is intent on deporting them. Fozia is a Syed Shia , Nawaz a Sunni. Well-established and successful in business, the professions, and politics across Pakistan, Syed are regarded as an elite caste. Syed girls are not allowed to marry outside the kinship group, and certainly not to a Sunni.

Visit their Campaign Page <>here . . . .

Longest lengths of Detention @ 30th June 2013
3.5 years 1,298 days 1 Female
2.9 years 1,070 days 1 Male
2.9 years 1,060 days 1 Male
2.7 years 1,007 days 1 Male
2.4 years 894 days 1 Male
2.4 years 886 days 1 Male
2.4 years 880 days 1 Male
2.2 years 824 days 1 Male
2.1 years 767 days 1 Male
2 years 766 days 1 Male

UN Labour Treaty Extends Rights For Domestic Workers Worldwide

A United Nations treaty entering into force today will extend the labour and social rights of some 53 million domestic workers around the world. From today, the Domestic Workers Convention will be legally binding for signatory countries. The treaty was adopted in 2011 by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and is the first of its kind.

Domestic workers often face deplorable working conditions and are subject to labour exploitation and human rights abuses. Lack of legal protection increases their vulnerability and makes it difficult for them to seek remedies. As a result, they are often paid less than workers in comparable occupations and work longer hours.
Read more: <>UN News Centre 05/09/13

Let Martha Storey Nkhoma Come Home To Her Community

Online Petition by Faiths in Action Women, Nottingham

Please help bring Martha home to her community and protect her human rights!

Martha has been part of our community for nearly 14 years; central to Nottingham interfaith projects, in peace work and women's empowerment and in her church.

On Tuesday 06/08/13 Martha was taken with only the clothes she was wearing and detained under threat of deportation. For the first few days she was not able to call anyone, including legal help and was not given medicine for her high blood pressure. This is happening in the UK, now. As a woman alone criminalised in a failing system that is neither fast nor fair, Martha needs and deserves our help.

Her friends are worried about her well-being. She has suffered from depression and is not sleeping. We feel the continuing lack of adequate medicine undermines her human rights and dignity as well as the validity of the legal process. We are also concerned that in order to visit her we have to be fingerprinted and body searched.

Martha came as a nurse from Malawi to the UK, selling all she had to be here. She stayed to retrain when her qualifications were not recognised in the UK. She has been waiting to receive her 'right to remain' so that she could complete training, doing vital volunteer work while waiting. Her application has been continually postponed in a process neither fast nor fair. At one point she was told her passport had been lost. Martha has become a victim of a failing procedure that took too long to reach decision and has criminalised her in the process. She has become an important member of the community in the time it has taken, yet as a woman alone she was an easy target.

For Martha Storey Nkhoma, the community she has been part of for nearly 14years is the family she has. From peace projects to challenging domestic abuse and supporting survivors of violence, to sharing a contagious love of cooking for people, to interfaith work, Martha is involved. We ask that you support her right to remain and uphold her human rights. We ask this both for Martha and the community who miss her and have so much to thank her for.

You can sign the petition here . . . .

Stop UKBA Poster Campaign of Hate, Intimidation and Harassment

We All Belong to Glasgow - Refugees Are Welcome Here

Demonstrate: Monday 9th September 4:30 – 6:30pm

UKBA
Festival Court
200 Brand Street
Govan
Glasgow G51 1DH

Speakers to include Robina Qureshi, Paih, Margaret Woods, GCtWR, MPs, MSPs, Councillors, Trade Unionists, Church and religious figures, celebrities, etc.

The race between politicians to the bottom on immigration and asylum has reached a new low. As Positive Action's press statement put it:

"Giant posters depict a destitute refugee in the UKBA Brand Street offices in Glasgow. It says "Is life here hard? Going home is simple". On every single chair in the large waiting room, there are large stickers saying "Ask about going home" to reinforce the hostile message to asylum seekers reporting daily or weekly there. A similar London based poster campaign is being investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority.

As we all should know, "Go Home" is a well-known racist taunt that has been used for decades in this country by fascists and racists against those of us from immigrant communities. That a government agency should decide to take up the same racist and xenophobic refrain while "processing" would-be refugees to this country, is shameful and deeply offensive. If there was a parallel campaign telling patients in A&E hospitals not to turn up for treatment you can imagine the public outcry. The "Go Home" poster campaign exposes the UKBA's attitude and gives us a small idea of what refugees in this country go through when they seek asylum.
Claiming refuge is a human right. The reality is that refugees coming into the UK are caught up in the incompetent bureaucratic mess that is the British asylum system - a system that in November 2012 failed to deal with its asylum backlog, and left more than 100,000 items of post relating to asylum cases unopened. The asylum seekers concerned have been left in limbo for an average of 7 years.<https://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#140cc40e5da08d53__ftn1>[1]

Positive Action in housing believes that the UKBA's "Go Home" poster campaign is nothing more than a racist and xenophobic "Hate Campaign" designed to harass and wear down those from refugee communities and undermine the excellent anti-racist work already being done in Scotland."

Almost weekly some new way of playing the race card is produced by the government, designed to show them as being tougher and nastier on immigration and asylum than any other party. They are winding up to potentially the nastiest election campaign we have seen for a long time if not ever. We have a proud record of standing up against racism in Glasgow and we will not let this latest outrage pass. Come and join us at Brand Street on Monday evening, confront and drive back government racism and let Glasgow shout out loud:

Called by Positive Action in Housing and Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees.

If your organisation wishes to be added to the list of those calling this demonstration, then reply to this email or phone or text the numbers below.

Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees
Contacts: Margaret – 07870 286 632 / Jock – 07896 877 315
Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees
c/o Fire Brigades Union
52 St Enoch's Square
Glasgow
G1 4AA

From: Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees <glascamref@gmail.com>

Children/Adults Entering/Leaving Detention Q2 April/May/June

Children Entering Detention
In the second quarter of 2013, 38 children entered detention. Of those children entering detention in the second quarter of 2013, 11 were detained at Cedars compared with 23 at Tinsley House, 1 at Campsfield House and 3 at Yarl's Wood. The numbers entering Cedars in the second quarter are the lowest full quarter figures since Cedars first opened.

81.5% Children Released Back To Their Communities
Of the 38 children leaving detention in the second quarter of 2013, seven were removed from the UK, one was granted leave to enter or remain and the remaining 30 were granted temporary admission or release. Of those leaving detention, 30 had been detained for less than three days, seven for between four and seven days and one had been detained, in Harmondsworth, for between 15 and 28 days.

Adults: Length of detention
As at the end of June 2013, 3,142 people were in detention, 5% higher than the number recorded at the end of June 2012 (2,993) and the highest figure since the series began in 2008.

Of the 7,613 leaving detention during the second quarter of 2013, 4,703 (62%) had been in detention for less than 29 days, 1,484 (19%) for between 29 days and two months and 975 (13%) for between two and four months. Of the 451 (6%) remaining, 60 had been in detention for between one and two years and 13 for two years or longer.

Of the 2,673 detained for seven days or less, 1,691 (63%) were removed and 902 (34%) were granted temporary admission or release. Of the 73 detained for 12 months or more, 26 (36%) were removed, 19 (26%) were granted temporary admission or release, 25 (34%) were bailed and 3 (4%) left for other reasons.

Top ten nationalities entering detention Q2 / 2013

Pakistan 1,342 - India 1,060 - Nigeria 454 - Afghanistan 393

China 339 - Bangladesh 711 - Albania 270 - Iran 256

Ghana 183 - Romania 148 - Brazil 134

Source: <>National Statistics

Continuing Conflicts that Create Refugees - August 2013

10 actual or potential conflict situations around the world deteriorated and nine improved in August 2013, according to CrisisWatch N°121

Deteriorated Situations: Central African Republic, DR Congo, Egypt, Iraq, Kashmir, Lebanon, Libya, Rwanda, Syria, Yemen

Iraq: Sectarian violence in Iraq continued to exact heavy death tolls, including over 78 civilians killed in a series of car bombings in Shiite areas on 28 August. So far there appears to be little appetite by political leaders for the compromises necessary to halt the escalating violence (see our latest report). Instead, the government has requested from the U.S. additional weaponry and intelligence support in order to "combat terrorism". It has arrested over 670 of what it calls suspected terrorists as part of a new military operation, dubbed "Martyrs' Revenge".

Lebanon: entered a phase of tit-for-tat violence on a scale unseen since the civil war, as the country's crippling political and sectarian divide continues to deepen. At least 42 people were killed and hundreds wounded in two explosions in Tripoli on 23 August. The attacks were interpreted as retaliation for a powerful car bomb in the Hizbollah-controlled southern Beirut suburbs on 15 August which killed at least 27 people.

Egypt hundreds were reported killed in an army crackdown on supporters of former president Mohamed Morsi in Cairo on 14 August, the result of security forces' continued excessive force against predominantly peaceful pro-Morsi protests (see our recent briefing). The army declared a curfew and a state of emergency. Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood officials have been arrested, often on apparently flimsy charges of inciting violence. The current cycle of violence is believed to have claimed over a thousand lives, predominantly Morsi supporters.

Yemen: clashes between Huthis and their various rivals in Amran, Saada and Ibb left scores dead and many more injured. Attacks on security personnel increased, with 29 killed in the first half of the month alone. A reported al-Qaeda threat prompted the closure of Western embassies early August and led to a sharp escalation in U.S. drone strikes that killed dozens, primarily in the South.

Libya: Discontent and insecurity continued to worsen in Libya. Armed groups are becoming increasingly polarised between those opposing the government and congress and units intent on defending them and other state institutions. On 17 August groups involved in the July closure of oil ports in the east declared the region of Barqa an autonomous federal province and attempted to sell Libyan oil on the black market. The government threatened to use force to reopen the ports, but they nevertheless remain closed, threatening the country's economic lifeline.

DR Congo and Rwanda: Relations came under increasing strain after Rwanda accused Kinshasa of "deliberately" and repeatedly firing into Rwandan territory. The DR Congo government and UN both denied the veracity of Rwanda's allegations, instead blaming M23 rebels. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Washington called on both sides to avoid all-out war. Meanwhile hopes for a peace deal receded in the DR Congo with fresh fighting in North Kivu between M23 rebels and government forces who were for the first time backed by UN peacekeepers with a robust offensive mandate (see our recent report).

Central African Republic: Seleka ex-rebel fighters are growing increasingly unruly, abusing the civilian population and engaging in deadly clashes with supporters of former president François Bozizé. In late August the UN reported that some 5,000 civilians sought refuge in Bangui airport and warned of a looming humanitarian crisis. Former Seleka rebel leader Michael Djotodia was formally sworn in as interim president on 18 August, beginning an eighteen-month transition, but with no rule of law, no political roadmap, and the population's support for the rebel coup leaders waning, the country's prospects look increasingly bleak (see our recent report).

Kashmir: in early August India claimed five of its soldiers were killed by Pakistani fire near the heavily militarised Line of Control, in what it called a "gross violation" of the 2003 ceasefire. The two countries traded further accusations of cross-border violations as continuing skirmishes and mounting casualties on both sides obstructed efforts to calm tensions.

Unchanged Situations: Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Burundi, Cameroon, China (internal), China-Japan, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Georgia, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea- Bissau, Haiti, India (non-Kashmir), Indonesia, Iran, Israel-Palestine, Kenya, Korean Peninsula, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Myanmar, Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijan), Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, North Caucasus (Russia), Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uzbekistan , Venezuela, Western
Sahara, Zimbabwe

September 2013 Outlook - Conflict Risk Alert: None - Conflict Resolution Opportunity: None

Refugees Struggle With EU Asylum 'Lottery'
The process of seeking asylum in Europe amounts to little more than playing the lottery, a group of refugee charities said on Friday. Twelve years after committing to unify asylum policies, the European Union (EU) remains far from achieving its goal and, as a result, the chances of being granted refugee status vary wildly from country to country, the European Council on Refugees and Exile (ECRE) said in a report.

The report highlights big differences in the decisions, procedures and rules relating to asylum seekers in 14 different EU countries – from access to accommodation, legal aid and jobs to the use of detention.
Read more: <>Thomson Reuters Foundation, 06/09/13

Immigration (Detention of Pregnant Women)

Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con): I am grateful for the opportunity to introduce this debate and to call for the ending of the detention of pregnant women for immigration purposes. In making my case, I want to challenge my hon. Friend the Minister on the numbers; on the efficacy of current Government policy; and on the ethics of the Government's policies on the detention of pregnant women for immigration purposes. However, in those challenges, I want to encourage him in making the change; it is an achievable change in the context of the Government's policies to reduce immigration. Such a change will say more about the morality of the Government and the country and our handling of our immigration policies than any other change within his control as Minister for Immigration.
Read more: <>House of Commons / 5 Sep 2013 : Column 580

Support Elizabeth and her children's campaign to stay in Leeds
Yesterday, Elizabeth was horribly woken by 2 van loads of UKBA officers entering her home. They demanded that she and her 2 children get into the van. She has been taken to Cedars, the detention centre disgracefully run by the children's charity Barnardo's.

Elizabeth has been here since 2007 and has started her new life here after fleeing her abusive ex-husband in Nigeria. She has a new partner and both her children (aged 5 and 3) were born here. They are doing very well at the local school and nursery and have lots of friends. Her daughter has received a glowing letter of support from her school:

Elizabeth has been given removal directions for this Friday 6th September at 22.20
Details of what you can do to try and stay the removal @ NCADC

UKBA: Operational Guidance Note: Somalia
This document provides Home Office caseworkers with guidance on the nature and handling of the most common types of claims received from nationals/residents of Somalia, including whether claims are or are not likely to justify the granting of asylum, humanitarian protection or discretionary leave. Caseworkers must refer to the relevant asylum instructions for further details of the policy on these areas.

Caseworkers must not base decisions on the country of origin information in this guidance; it is included to provide context only and does not purport to be comprehensive. The conclusions in this guidance are based on the totality of the available evidence, not just the brief extracts contained herein, and caseworkers must likewise take into account all available evidence. It is therefore essential that this guidance is read in conjunction with the up to date country of origin information (COI ) and any other relevant information Published on <>Refworld, 04/09/13

British Nationality [Criminal convictions]

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department under what circumstances an individual who holds a permanently unspent criminal conviction is allowed to become a British citizen. [166878]

Mr Harper: When considering applications for British citizenship, criminal convictions form part of the assessment of whether a person is of 'good character'. Prior to 13 December 2012, these were considered in line with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Generally, where a conviction was unspent, the application was refused.

For applications made on or after 13 December 2012, the requirements were amended to reflect the exemption of certain immigration and nationality decisions from section 4 of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Now they are considered in line with the table outlined as follows.

Sentence Impact on citizenship application four years or more imprisonment. Refused regardless of when the conviction occurred.

Between 12 months and four years imprisonment Refused, unless 15 years have passed since the end of the sentence.

Up to 12 months imprisonment Refused, unless seven years have passed since the end of the sentence.

Non custodial sentence Refused if the conviction occurred within the last three years.

This represents a tightening of the requirements where a person has been sentenced to a period of imprisonment. We have also reduced the amount of discretion open to caseworkers to grant in spite of a conviction.

However, in exceptional circumstances citizenship may be granted where the application would normally be refused. In particular, where a person has been convicted of an offence which is not recognised as such in the UK (eg proselytising, homosexuality).
Sentence Impact on citizenship application

4 years or more imprisonment

Refused regardless of when the conviction occurred

Between 12 months and 4 years imprisonment

Refused, unless 15 years have passed since the end of the sentence

Up to 12 months imprisonment

Sentence

Non custodial sentence

Refused if the conviction occurred within the last 3 years

<> House of Commons / 2 Sep 2013 : Column 23W

Garden Court Chambers - Immigration Law Bulletin - Issue 339

Removals and Voluntary Departures Q2 April/May/June 2013

In the year ending June 2013, there were 4,948 enforced removals who had sought asylum at some stage, down 9% from the previous 12-month period (5,416) and 58% lower than the 11,743 in 2004, the earliest available data in the time series. This long-term decrease in asylum cases departing can be viewed in the context of a generally decreasing trend in asylum applications since 2002; although the asylum applications have increased in recent years, they still remain low compared to the peak in 2002.

In the year ending June 2013, 9,114, or 65% of the total enforced removals, had not claimed asylum at any stage, down 6% from the previous 12-month period (9,694) and down 9% from the peak of 10,070 in 2008.

In the year ending June 2013, total voluntary departures are little changed at 29,265 as compared with the previous 12 months (29,234). 64% of those departing were categorised as other confirmed voluntary departures, 22% as notified voluntary departures and 13% as Assisted Voluntary Returns (AVRs). The largest category, other confirmed voluntary departures, are cases where a person has been identified as leaving when they no longer had the right to remain in the UK.

The highest number of enforced removals in the year ending June 2013 were for nationals of Pakistan (2,027), who also saw the highest increase since the year ending June 2012 (+271 nationals or +15%). Nationals of India were the second highest with 1,901 enforced removals.

During the second quarter of 2013, 1,177 foreign national offenders were removed, which represents an increase of 4% from the number of those removed in the second quarter of 2012 (1,131).

Enforced removals from the UK decreased by 7% to 14,062 in the year ending June 2013 as compared with the previous 12 months (15,110) and this represents the lowest figure since the series began in 2004.

Top Ten Nationalities Removed Q2/2013

Pakistan 538 - India 410 - Afghanistan 246 - Romania 188
Nigeria 186 - Bangladesh 169 - Albania 164
China 164 - Vietnam 126 - Jamaica 80

Source: <>National Statistics

Removal of Chechen family from Sweden to Russia would expose them to real risk of ill-treatment

In today's Chamber judgment in the case of I v. Sweden (application no. 61204/09), which is not final.

European Court of Human Rights held, by a majority, that: The deportation of the applicants to Russia would give rise to a violation of Article 3 (prohibition of torture and of inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The case concerned the Swedish authorities' decision to reject a request for asylum lodged by a family from Chechnya (Russia) who stated that they would be exposed to a real risk of ill-treatment if returned to Russia.

The Court held that - while there were reasons to doubt the credibility of the applicants' account as to why they were under threat - a number of factors taken cumulatively gave rise to a real risk of ill-treatment in case of their removal, in particular the fact that Mr I had visible signs of torture, which could indicate that he had actively taken part in the second war in Chechnya.

The Court also found that the right of the Member State of origin of the applicants to submit comments on the case, under Article 36 of the Convention (third party intervention), did not apply where the applicants' reason for applying to the Court was their fear of ill-treatment if returned to that State. Therefore Russia was not notified of the introduction of the case.

Somali man would not be at risk due to current security situation in Mogadishu if deported from Sweden

In today's Chamber judgment in the case of K.A.B. v. Sweden (application no. 886/11), which is not
final1, the European Court of Human Rights held, by five votes to two, that there would be: no violation of Article 2 (right to life) or Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment)

of the European Convention on Human Rights if the applicant were returned to Somalia. The case addresses the prevailing security situation in Mogadishu (Somalia). It concerned a Somali national, originally from Mogadishu, who alleged that his deportation from Sweden to Somalia would put him at real risk of being killed or subjected to ill-treatment.

The Court found that the applicant would not be at risk as a result of the current security situation in Mogadishu, the general level of violence in the city having decreased since 2011 or beginning of 2012. Also assessing the applicant's personal situation, the Court concluded that he had failed to make out a plausible case that he would face a real risk of being killed or subjected to ill-treatment on return. Notably, he does not belong to any group that is at risk of being targeted by an Islamist group (al-Shabaab) and he allegedly has a home in Mogadishu, where his wife lives.

Continuation of interim measures
The Court also decided to continue its indication to the Swedish Government, made under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court, that the applicant should not be removed until the judgment became final or until further decision.