No-Deportations - Residence Papers for All

                                                    News & Views - Monday 18 th Febuary to Sunday 24th February 2013

Unaccompanied Minor Cannot be Removed to Third Country
When an unaccompanied minor has lodged asylum applications with more than one Member State, the Member State responsible for examining the application will be that where the most recent application was lodged.

For this to apply, no member of the minor's family must be legally present in another Member State and the minor's best interests must not require a different solution
European Court of Justice, case MA, BT and DA


Another Death at Harmondsworth IRC
Alois Dvorzac an 84-year-old Canadian man has died after becoming ill at Harmondsworth IRC. He was said to be "extremely distressed" before being rushed to hospital on Sunday 10th February 2013. He died later that day in hospital after suffering a suspected heart attack.

The United Kingdom Borders Agency refused to confirm or deny the death and would not say why Dvorzac was in detention. The Canadian high commission in London said they were aware of reports of a Canadian who was detained in London and had since died. A spokeswoman said the high commissioner in London was in contact with the local authorities. She added: "Due to the Privacy Act, no additional information can be released at this time." It was a "sad case", she said.

The centre is managed by the private company GEO on behalf of UKBA. It is the largest immigration detention centre in Europe.
Read more: Eric Allison, guardian.co.uk, 19/02/13

18 Deaths Across the UK Detention Estate


US Immigration Proposal- 'Eight-Year Path to Legal Residency'
A leaked copy of the draft bill, first reported by USA Today, contains provisions that would allow the nation's estimated 11 million undocumented workers to seek a "lawful prospective immigrant" visa that would allow them to live and work freely in the country.

Prospective visa holders would have to pass a criminal background check and submit to biometric tests, according to the document. Eight years after receiving the visa they would be eligible to apply for a green card, which allows permanent residency. Green card holders are able to apply for full US citizenship five years after being granted residency.
Read more: guardian.co.uk, <>Sunday 17 February 2013


Britain's Arms Deals With Sri Lanka Revealed
Small arms weaponry, ammunition and various other military equipment were among millions of pounds' worth of goods exported last year from Britain to Sri Lanka under licences for arms and other closely regulated exports.

Sri Lanka is listed by the Foreign Office as a "country of concern" because of its human rights record. In a December update, the Foreign Office also said the human rights situation there had been marked by negative developments over the last three months.
Read more: Ben Quinn, guardian.co.uk, Monday 18 February 2013


DR Congo (Violence Against Women and Girls )
Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment she has made of (a) the situation of women in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and (b) their exposure to sexual violence; and what humanitarian intervention the UK is making to improve the safety and security of women in DRC. [142458]

Justine Greening: DFID recently undertook an assessment of the situation of women and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Women and girls suffer high levels of poverty and have limited access to formal employment and economic assets such as cash and credit. Violence against women and girls is widespread yet prevention mechanisms and services for survivors are limited outside conflict-affected areas.
House of Commons / 14 Feb 2013 : Column 824W


Stop the Deportation of Hassanat and her Three Young Daughters


Early Day Motion 1085: Burmese Army in Kachin State
That this House notes the actions of the Burmese army in shelling Kachin which has killed civilians including children; further notes the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities; calls on the Burmese government to cease attacks on civilians and to actively protect Christians from persecution; and calls on the UK Government to influence and promote true religious freedom throughout Burma.

Sponsors: Shannon, Jim /Campbell, Gregory / Connarty, Michael / Donaldson, Jeffrey / Russell, Bob / Simpson, David
House of Commons: 13/02/2013


 

Justice for Odette Sefuko - Seeking Sanctuary and Justice

Emergency protest: Wednesday 27th February, 12:00 noon
Sheffield Town Hall
Pinstone Street,
Sheffield, S1 2HH

Odette Sefuko came to the UK five years ago, to seek safety and live a life free from persecution. She is a fighter for minority rights and women's rights in DR Congo, and now Odette is fighting for her right to sanctuary in the UK.

Odette is as much-loved and valued member of the community in Sheffield, active as a volunteer for the Northern Refugee Centre, St Mary's Lunch Club and Low Edges Conversation Club. Her friends and the wider Sheffield community have rallied round to support her campaign for justice.
Removal directions have been set for Monday 4th March 2013
If you can help Odette campaign against deportation go <>here . . . .


Sri Lanka's Authoritarian Turn
As the UN Human Rights Council prepares to open its 22nd session next week, the Sri Lankan government has made no meaningful progress on either reconciliation or accountability and instead has accelerated the country's authoritarian turn, with attacks on the judiciary and political dissent that threaten long-term stability and peace

"The Rajapaksa government's politically motivated impeachment of the chief justice last month reveals both its intolerance of dissent and power sharing and the weakness of the political opposition", says Alan Keenan, Crisis Group's Sri Lanka Project Director. "By incapacitating the last institutional check on executive power, the government has crossed a threshold into new and dangerous terrain. It is threatening prospects for the eventual peaceful transfer of power through free and fair elections".
Read more: International Crisis Group, <>20/02/13


Garden Court Chambers - Immigration Law Bulletin - Issue 312


UK Border Agency defies MPs Over Deportation 'Reserves'
Extra detainees still being held at airports before charter flights, a year after MPs and prison inspector demanded end to practice. The UK Border Agency is under attack for ignoring demands from a cross-party Commons committee and the chief inspector of prisons to stop its "inhumane" treatment of some deportees.

In January last year, Keith Vaz, chairman of the home affairs select committee, said it was "inhumane to uproot somebody on the expectation that they will be returned to their home country only to then return them at the end of the day to a detention centre in the UK — sometimes a different one from the one they left that morning." His committee published a report demanding that the practice stop. The chief inspector of prisons, Nick Hardwick, also called for an end to the "objectionable and distressing" policy. But over half of the 40 deportation flights that have since left the UK involved the use of reserves.
Read more: Daniel Boffey, The Observer, <>16/02/13


Asylum Research Consultancy (ARC) COI Update Volume 51
This document provides an update of Country Guidance case law and UKBA publications and developments in refugee producing countries between
05/02/2013 and 17/02/2013  - Volume 51 here . . .


Divided We Fall: Intolerance In Europe Puts Rights At Risk
An Afghan migrant is stabbed in the heart on the streets of Athens. Black-shirted paramilitaries linked to Hungary's third-largest political party march through a Roma neighborhood shouting, "You will die here." A neo-Nazi gang commits a string of murders of Turkish immigrants in Germany. An ideologue driven by hatred of "multiculturalism" kills 67 mostly young people on a Norwegian Island.

It may be comforting to see these incidents as isolated, disconnected or driven by local events. But the truth is more discomforting: hatred and intolerance are moving into the mainstream in Europe.

Intolerance in Europe manifests itself in support for extremist parties and violence and discrimination against minorities and migrants. Rather than tackling the problem head on, Europe's leaders often downplay the problem or blame the victims. But concerted steps are needed to stop the violence and discrimination and curtail the corrosive influence of racist parties, without limiting freedoms of speech and association.
Read more: Human Rights Watch, February 14, 2013


Save Fozia And Nawaz From 'Honour' Crime
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 family 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.
Sign there online petition here . . . .