Patrice Ndjonssy Has Left the UK
At about 7:00 this morning Patrice rang on the escort's phone to say that he was in Ghana. He said he was very shocked by the treatment he had received and did not realise it could happen to someone in the UK. He said he felt he had been treated like an animal. He was handcuffed immediately they came to fetch him and said there were five escorts and also some police, which surprised him.
He said a lot of pressure was exerted on him and that he has pain all over his body. He says he thinks his finger is broken but the paramedic put on a bandage and gave him painkillers. His wrists are swollen from the handcuff pressure and he says he has many (new) marks on his body.
The chief escort's version of events was that they had politely introduced themselves to Patrice and asked for his co operation. He could not discuss further, but recognised that he was in pain from his finger, but the pain killer was helping. He said that they knew he had rib damage on one side so had been careful of that. Patrice has been told he will be taken on to Douala - so not dumped in Ghana. There will be a full update next week.
Many thanks to all who have supported Patrice over the years
Everyone Has the Right to a Nationality
Statelessness affects more than 12 million people around the world and at least 600,000 in Europe alone. To be stateless is to not be recognized as a citizen by any state. It is a legal anomaly that often prevents people from accessing fundamental civil, political, economic, cultural and social rights.
The European Network on Statelessness is a civil society alliance committed to address statelessness in Europe. We believe that all human beings have a right to a nationality and that those who lack nationality altogether are entitled to adequate protection.
In Europe, statelessness occurs both among recent migrants and among people who have lived in the same place for generations. Most countries in the region frequently encounter stateless persons in their asylum systems. In the Balkans and elsewhere many Roma remain stateless as a result of ethnic discrimination. Statelessness is also a continuing reminder of the break-up of the Soviet Union.
Despite the scale of the problem, most European countries have no framework to effectively deal with statelessness and tackling this requires major law and policy reform. The European Network on Statelessness is dedicated to strengthening the often unheard voice of stateless persons in Europe and to advocate for full respect of their human rights.
Too often, stateless people lead invisible lives – more must be done to identify this vulnerable population
European Network on Statelessness
http://www.statelessness.eu/about-us
Removals and Voluntary Departures Q1/2012
There were 13,386 people (including port removals) who left forcibly or voluntarily during the first quarter of 2012. This was 6% less than the first quarter of 2011 (14,224) and a 26% fall compared with the last peak in the third quarter of 2008 (18,078) - the highest quarterly figure since the publication of data began in the first quarter of 2001.
The 6% fall was mostly accounted for by fewer non-asylum cases refused entry at port and subsequently removed (3,095 in Q1 2012 compared with 3,822 in Q1 2011). Excluding port removals, the number of enforced removals and voluntary departures during the first quarter of 2012 (10,291) was at a similar level of departures recorded during the first quarter of 2011 (10,402).
2,453 of those removed had sought asylum of these 681 were assisted voluntary returns and 151 other voluntary returns
183 asylum claiments of the main total were removed to third countries
1,219 foreign national offenders were removed in Q1/2012
10 top nationality removal destinations
India 2,480 Pakistan 1,234 China 1,061
Nigeria 737 Brazil 619 Bangladesh 519
Sri Lanka 338 Afghanistan 312 Albania 310 Vietnam 259
People Seeking Asylum Q1/2012
There were 4,818 asylum applications during the first quarter of 2012, 1% lower than the first quarter of 2011 (4,844). However, this followed asylum increases for each quarter in 2011 compared with the same quarter in 2010.
Applications received from ports 528
Applications received in-country 4,290
Initial decisions: 1,236 grants of asylum, 20 of HP, 304 of ELR
Outright refusals 2,936, includes 351 certified refusals
Top ten source countries for those seeking asylum
Pakistan 706 Iran 575 Sri Lanka 391 India 234 Bangladesh 250
Nigeria 201 China 170 Syria 156 Sudan 155 Somalia 140
Roseline Akhalu Back Home in Leeds
Public Interest Lawyers (PIL) have challenged Rose's removal and are bringing a civil claim for damages for the ill treatment she has suffered at the hands of UKBA and their contractors Reliance. Tessa Gregory,the solicitor acting for Rose, stated: 'The Government's treatment of Rose and the determination to deport her truly beggars belief. This is an exceptional case where the Home Secretary should clearly allow Rose to remain in the UK to receive the treatment she so desperately needs. To do otherwise is inhumane, unspeakably cruel and a profound insult to the person who donated their kidney in the hope of giving another life.'
Home but not safe so please sign the petition here . . . . if you haven't done so already.
New Removal Directions for Roseline Akhalu
Roseline is loved and respected by her fellow parishioners and many people in the wider community who have formed close friendships with her over the past four years. In spite of her health problems, Roseline has volunteered tirelessly in the parish and is actively involved in a number of community based groups.
Currently detained in Yarl's Wood IRC, Roseline was served with removal directions by Charter Flight to Lagos, Nigeria on Thursday 7th June 2012.
Online Petition: We, the undersigned, are asking that Roseline Akhalu (Home Office Reference Number A1344782) be granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK.
You can sign the petition here . . . .
16th attempt to Remove Patrice Ndjonssy
Say no to his deportation - Removal Thursday 7th June
Patrice Ndjonssy is a 40-year-old Cameroonian national is currently detained at Colnbrook IRC. Patrice fled to the UK in 2008, to escape persecution in Cameroon. His safety is at severe risk, should he be removed.
UKBA plans to remove Patrice on Virgin Atlantic flight VA657 from London Heathrow @ 22:45 hrs Thursday 7th April 2012 to Accra, Ghana for onward transit to Cameroon.
This will be the 16th attempt to remove Patrice.
Lengthy detention and constant failed attempts to remove Patrice have taken their toll on his mental health, which is now at an all time low, not helped by the fact that he is in solitary confinement and with out a mobile phone.
It is possible to reach him through the switchboard, dial 020 8607 5200 and then press 1689, ask for Patrice Ndjonssy, guards should fetch him from his cell.
None of the facts of his case have changed and can be viewed here . . . .
Attached model letters have been updated for the 7th June.
Please act quickly for the 16th time to save Patrice from this unjust removal.
What you can do to help
1) Please fax/phone/email, Richard Branson, owner of Virgin Atlantic and ask him not to carry Patrice Ndjonssy on Virgin Atlantic flight VA657 on Thursday 7th June, model letter <PatriceNdjonssyVA.doc> attached.
Richard Branson
Virgin Atlantic Customer Relations
PO Box 747 Dunstable LU6 9AH
Head Office: 0844 811 0000
Fax: 0844 209 8708
customer.services@fly.virgin.com
2. Please Fax/Email, Secretary of State for the Home Office, Rt. Hon Theresa May, MP. Ask her to exercise her discretionary powers to stop the flight, ands release Patrice Ndjonssy from detention and to grant him protection in the UK. You can use the attached model letter Patrice NdjonssyTM.doc or alternatively write your own one. Please remember to quote Patrice's Home Office Reference number in any correspondence: N1142890/2
Rt. Hon Theresa May, MP
Secretary of State for the Home Office,
2 Marsham St
London SW1 4DF
Fax: 020 7035 4745
Emails:
mayt@parliament.uk
pscorrespondence@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk
CITTO@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
Please let the campaign know of any actions:
no-deportations@no-deportations.org.uk
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Stark choice under new immigration rules: exile or family breakup
Home secretary Theresa May briefs MPs on changes that may disqualify non-EU partners from UK family visas
Home secretary Teresa May faces criticism from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants over rule changes which would mean British citizens 'effectively exiled on account of choosing to have a relationship with a non-EEA national'.
British citizens with foreign-born partners are to be given the choice of indefinite "exile" in countries including Yemen and Syria or face the breakup of their families if they want to remain in the UK, under radical immigration changes to be announced next week, MPs have been told.
The home secretary, Theresa May, is expected to confirm that she will introduce a new minimum income requirement for a British "sponsor" without children of up to £25,700 a year, and a stringent English speaking test for foreign-born husbands, wives or partners of UK citizens applying to come to live in Britain on a family visa.
Alan Travis, guardian.co.uk, Friday 8 June 2012
Ahmed Abdullah Belongs to Glasgow
 Ahmed Abdullah a national of Somalia and resident of Glasgow, was detained on Friday 1st June when he went to sign at the UKBA reporting centre. He is currently in detention and due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Qatar Airway flight QR002 from Heathrow @ 21:30 hrs to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania on Monday 11th June 2012.
Ahmed is not a national of Tanzania, so it is not known at this stage if the Tanzanian authorities will allow him entrance into Tanzania. If they do they are more than likely to expel him immediately to Somalia.
Somalia has been home to the world's worst humanitarian crisis for many years. A country having little or no governance, endemic corruption, profiteering by ruling elites, very poor Human Rights, the government cannot/will not protect the population from others or itself, massive internal conflict, forced internal/external displacement, institutionalised political exclusion of significant numbers of the population, progressive deterioration of welfare infrastructure (hospitals, clinics, doctors, nurses) not adequate to meet health, needs, progressive economic decline of the country as a whole as measured by per capita income, debt, severe child mortality rates, poverty levels.
Ahmed is Bajuni and from a small island in the south of Somalia where he lived until he fled with his mother when he was aged 7 after soldiers shot his father. After his father was killed, Ahmed became a refugee and lived precariously for most of his adolescence in different refugee camps. In 2005, when he was 20, an agent arranged a fake visa for him to come to the UK under a Tanzanian identity so he could join is grandmother who was claiming asylum here.
UKBA have refused his asylum case due to his earlier use of a fake visa and the results of a controversial dialect analysis.
Most of his family are dead but Ahmed has recently discovered that he has an elder sister living in England who has a British passport and has lived in the UK for ten years. Ahmed was waiting for arrangements to be made for DNA analysis to prove he has been telling the truth about his identity when he was detained.
Ahmed has made a significant contribution in his local community in Govan, Glasgow and is well known to many people.
What you can do to help
(Please let the campaign know of any actions taken, info@unitycentreglasgow.org)
1) Email/Fax, Akbar Al Baker CEO Qatar Airways. Urge him not to carry out the forced removal of Ahmed Abdullah/Bakari Khamis Ali. Due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Qatar Airway flight QR002 from Heathrow @ 21:30 hrs to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania on Monday 11th June 2012. Download model letter AhmedAbdullahQA.doc you can copy/amend/compose your own.
Put as much pressure on this airline as you can, to make them consider if it's worth the damage to their reputation to continue as one of UKBA's deportation airlines.
Fax: 0161 838 5398
Email: akbar@qatar.net.qa
2) Email/Fax Theresa May, Home Secretary
Ask her to exercise her discretionary powers to stay the removal and release Ahmed Abdullah from detention and to grant him protection in the UK. Download model letter, AhmedAbdullahTM.doc or alternatively write your own one. Please remember to quote Abdullah's Home Office Reference number A1393864 in any correspondence.
Fax: 020 7035 4745
Emails:
mayt@parliament.uk
Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
pscorrespondence@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk
"CIT - Treat Official" <CITTO@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk>
Immigration Detention Reaches All Time High
(All figures/text from UKBA Immigration Statistics Q1/2012)
There were 3,034 people, 91% of capacity, in immigration detention on 31 March 2012, the highest recorded since publication of data began in 2001, and 14% more than on 31 March 2011.
[Lindholme IRC is no longer has reverted to a HMP Cat D & C)
Of the 7,516 people entering detention during the first quarter of 2012, 6,647 entered for the first time; 720 entered for the second time; 83 entered for the third time and 18 entered for the fourth time or more since January 2009, the earliest recording point in this dataset.
Of the 6,870 people leaving detention during the first quarter of 2012, 4,275 were removed from the UK and 2,595 (37.7%) were released back into the community.
The number of children entering detention was 53 in the first quarter of 2012
Of the 53 children, 35 were children held at Cedars pre-departure accommodation, 12 were border cases detained at Tinsley House, the remaining 6 were age dispute cases detained at Campsfield House, Colnbrook Short Term and Morton Hall.
53 children left detention during the first quarter of 2012. Of these: 27 were removed and 25 (47%) were granted temporary admission/release.
10 top nationalities entering detention Q1/2012
India 433 Pakistan 387 Bangladesh 276 Nigeria 218 China 194
Afghanistan 191 Jamaica 136 Algeria 97 Ghana 81 Sri Lanka 79
People in detention by place of detention 31 March 2012
Brook House IRC 408 Campsfield House IRC 210
Colnbrook IRC 276 Dover IRC 285
Dungavel IRC 207 Harmondsworth IRC 574 Haslar IRC 155
Morton Hall IRC 375 Tinsley House IRC 115 Yarl's Wood IRC 344
Colnbrook STHF 63 Pennine House STHF 17 Cedars PDA 2
Editors note: UKBA website has gone haywire and even if you can access the statistics page, it won't let you download any of the data. If you require a copy of Detention Statistics Q1/2012, reply with a blank Email and in the Subject line put: Send Statistics Q1/2012
Continuing Conflicts that Create Refugees - May 2012
7 actual or potential conflict situations around the world deteriorated and 1 improved in May 2012, according to the new issue of CrisisWatch
Deteriorated Situations: DR Congo, Lebanon, Mali, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Syria
Download the full report: CrisisWatch N°106
Syria: Violence continued with fears of sectarian conflict growing after 108 were killed in Houla during heavy regime shelling. Residents claimed that scores of women and children were massacred by pro-regime Alawite militiamen from nearby villages. A series of deadly bombings, blamed by the Assad regime on al-Qaeda, also rocked the country, including Damascus. UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Anan warned that Syria is at "tipping point".
Lebanon: Escalating violence between supporters and opponents of the Syrian government provoked fears of a return to confessional violence: fighting erupted in Tripoli between Sunnis and Alawites. The killing of a Sunni cleric and the abduction of 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims in Syria further raised tensions. Meanwhile, a string of violent incidents on the Lebanese-Syrian border resulted in several deaths and injuries. Crisis Group identifies a conflict risk for Lebanon.
Mali: As a 40-day transition period ended in pro-junta demonstrators stormed the presidential palace, wounding Interim President Traoré, after ECOWAS blocked the military junta's attempt to name coup leader Captain Sanogo as interim president. In the north, the conflict continues to intensify with the UN announcing that some 320,000 have been displaced since January.
DR Congo: The conflict worsened in east fierce fighting between the army and rebels – including a new rebel group "M23" – has displaced thousands in the region. UNHCR reported that the number of displaced people across the country topped 2 million this month for the first time in nearly three years.
Mexico: In another sign of worsening drug-related violence, some 90 bodies – many of them dismembered – were dumped across the country. Five journalists were murdered only in two weeks, three of them in Veracruz, raising the number of journalists killed to 109 since the war on drug cartels started in 2006. The most recent deaths raise fears the violence may detrimentally affect freedom of expression in the run up to the July general election.
Pakistan: Tensions with the U.S. deepened after a tribal court sentenced a doctor who aided in the hunt for Bin Laden to 33 years in prison. NATO supply routes remain closed amid ongoing diplomatic wrangling. Meanwhile, political and sectarian violence in Karachi and Quetta, two of Pakistan's largest cities, continued throughout May, claiming over 20 lives.
Nepal: political parties failed to announce a new constitution by the 27 May deadline, ending four years of negotiations and prompting the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly. The announcement by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai that he intends to lead the country until November elections for a new Constituent Assembly was condemned as unconstitutional by the opposition Nepali Congress.
Unchanged Situations
Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bolivia, Bosnia, Burma/Myanmar, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Cote D'Ivoire, Cyprus, Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel/Palestinian Occupied Territories, Jordan, Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Libya, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Moldova, Morocco, Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijan), Nigeria, North Caucuses (Russia), North Korea, Philippines, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Somalia, Somaliland, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor Leste, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zimbabwe.
Improved Situations:
Haiti Foreign Minister Lamothe was confirmed as the new Prime Minister after six months of political instability.
June 2012 Outlook
Conflict Risk Alert: Lebanon, Mali, Syria
Conflict Resolution Opportunity - None |