Article Eight - The Struggle for Family and Private Life in the UK
As welfare rights and legal aid come increasingly under attack we are losing basic rights to access legal help, support and protection. Refugees and Migrants are amongst the hardest hit. This training day will provide information and advice and explore how we can unite with those fighting for leave to remain or who have just been granted status to challenge the austerity measures.
Kent Refugee Help Training Day
Saturday 24th November 2012
10:00 am –3:30 pm
The Friends Meeting House
6 The Friars,
Canterbury
Kent
CT1 2AS
Speakers: Sheona York, Asylum and Immigration solicitor, Kent Law Clinic, University of Kent.
Article 8 and Family Migration- Changes to the law and legal aid cuts This will include a presentation by a student case worker.
Shanti Haft, Benefits Advisor
Shanti will talk about the sweeping changes to welfare benefits, including the cuts to Housing Benefit which have forced individuals and families to relocate, the abolition of the Social Fund and the move to a new Universal Credit which will disenfranchise thousands.
Self Organization and Empowerment
A former detainee will recount his resistance to deportation and explain how he is establishing a private life through volunteering, education and training. There will be an opportunity for other ex- detainees to share their experiences and achievements.
Refreshments include Free Lunch - All Welcome
RSVP Kate Adams, kadams341@hotmail.com
National Day of Action - Stop Barnardo's Detaining Children
Thursday 8th November - Any Time - Any Barnardo's Shop/Office
Along with notorious security firm G4S, children's charity Barnardo's runs the Cedars family detention centre in Sussex. This is where several <http://unitycentreglasgow.org/?page_id=486>asylum seeker families from Glasgow have been detained since it opened last year.
UNITY and other campaiginers will be leafleting outside the Barnardo's shops in Glasgow at <>250 Great Western Road G4 9EJ and at 116 Dumbarton Road G11 6NY from 11.00am on Thursday 8th November.
Following a series of <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-20035679>documented assaults on migrant families held in Cedars, the <http://ncadc.org.uk/blog/2012/10/instead-of-protection-the-saleh-familys-ordeal-continued-in-the-uk/>appalling treatment of the Saleh family, and the damning <http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/inspectorate-reports/hmipris/immigration-removal-centre-inspections/cedars/cedars-2012.pdf>HM Inspector of Prison's report last month.
Anti-detention campaigners are calling on all concerned groups and individuals to join up in an intensive day of action to ratchet up the campaign against Barnardo's involvement in child detention.
A 27 weeks pregnant woman who was brutally restrained by guards at Cedars was living in Glasgow before being detained with her husband and small son in a raid on her home in April this year which Unity publicised.
Barnardo's does not really have the welfare of children at heart. If it did, it would have pulled out of Cedars as soon as its own red lines‚ had begun to be breached. The reality is that these conditions relating to the use of force against minors and the length of detention at Cedars have been repeatedly broken, and Barnardo's continued involvement in Cedars is only serving to legitimise the continued use of child detention.
As Medical Justice put it: "they ruined the campaign to end the detention of children, which campaigners felt could be achievable as the government had already promised it." full text here . . . .
Our aim is to put enough pressure on Barnardo's to pull out of Cedars. We believe this will strip away any legitimacy for the continued use of child detention and take us closer to stopping it for real. We see the fight against child detention as one part of the struggle against the brutal system of immigration detention as a whole.
Suggestions For Action:
There are various simple ways through which you can take action and help stop child detention: if you can pay Barnardo's a visit on the day, you can still phone, tweet or email them and their supporters. Do something!
1. Phone blockade. Call Barnardo's and ask why they are continuing to work at Cedars despite the repeated breaches of their own Red lines. Remember, senior staff at Barnardo's never have to hear from the families held at and deported from Cedars. Your phone calls and messages are a chance to put across some hard truths about Cedars.
- Barnardo's head office: 0208 550 8822
- Press office: 020 8498 7555 (24 hours)
- Media and communications managers: 0208 498 7685 or 0113 393 3245
- Corporate partnerships/fundraising: 0208 498 7138
- Commissioning their services as consultants: 0208 498 7734
- Supporter care/telephone donation line: 0800 008 7005
If you would like to protect your anonymity (if you don't want a call back from Barnardo's, for example), dial 141 before entering the number.
2. Tweet. If you have a Twitter account, why not tweet these celebrity endorsers of Barnardo's (see Barnardo's website for details of their support for the charity). Ask them, politely, if they are aware of Barnardo's role in Cedars, and whether they might reconsider supporting them.
Actor and author Stephen Fry: @stephenfry
Actress Fay Ripley: <https://twitter.com/FayRipley>@FayRipley
Actress Michelle Collins: <https://twitter.com/missmcollins>@missmcollins
Actress Amanda Holden: <https://fr.twitter.com/Amanda_Holden>@Amanda_Holden
Taekwondo Olympic bronze medallist Lutalo Muhammad: <https://twitter.com/LutaloMuhammad>@LutaloMuhammad
Rugby player James Haskell: <https://twitter.com/jameshaskell>@jameshaskell
3. Leaflet Barnardo's charity shops. Most Barnardo's shop volunteers and customers probably don‚t know what Barnardo's is involved with. You can let them know about Cedars and what goes on inside.
UNITY and other campaiginers will be leafletting outside the Barnardos shops in Glasgow at 250 Great Western Road and at 116 Dumbarton Road from 11.00am.
4. Pay a visit to Barnardo's offices. For a list of all Barnardo's addresses, see <https://network23.org/barnardosout/barnardos-where/>this page.
UNITY!
The UNITY Centre
30 Ibrox Street
Glasgow
G51 1AQ
0141 427 7992
www.unitycentreglasgow.org
info@unitycentreglasgow.org
Demo @ Harmondsworth IRC Tuesday 6th November 2012 @ 1:30pm
Remember The Dead - Justice For The Living - End Immigration Detention Now!
Meet at the main entrance to Harmondsworth and Colnbrook IRCs
Colnbrook by Pass
Harmondsworth
West Drayton
UB7 0FX
Prince Kwabena Fosu died in Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre last Tuesday 30th October 2012. The private security firm running the prison, GEO Group Limited, and the Home Office refused to disclose any information about what happened, or the person's name or nationality.
Detainees inside and an anonymous GEO officer confirm his name as Prince Kwabena Fosu, a Ghanaian detainee, 31 years old. They say he was forcibly restrained by GEO officers, taken to the 'block' (isolation cells), sustained injuries from being hit by an officer and stripped naked and left for 24 hours with the heating turned off until his death. [*See full statement below***]
We Will Not Let This Death Be Silenced - bring banners, whistles, instruments and whatever you can find to make a lot of noise outside the detention centre, and to show solidarity to those still incarcerated inside Harmondsworth & Colnbrook IRCs!
The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman is visiting the detention centre on Tuesday 6th November. Reports say the death has been referred to the Hillingdon coroner but an inquest is not expected to open until the middle of next week.
This is the seventh death of a detainee in Harmondsworth IRC and brings to 17 the total number of deaths in the UK Detention estate.
This is the tip of the iceberg in the untold reality of people suffering at the hands of a racist immigration system that persecutes people because they have the 'wrong' kind of identity and status.
Everyday people without papers are seized. They are detained and deported. They are racially profiled, picked out because they are 'foreign' and deemed 'undesirable' from society. Every day people face 'identity controls'. They are criminalised and told they are 'illegal'.
This fear of 'others' promoted by governments makes xenophobia and racism normalised and institutionalised.
Immediate closure of all Immigration Removal Centres, the modern day concentration camps of our society.
Remember the dead - Justice for the Living - End Immigration Detention Now!
Called by: No Borders London / 'No-Deportations' / Santé Refugee Mental Health Access Project / RAPAR
Supported by: Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees / Leicester Civil Rights Movement / Hammersmith & Fulham Community Law Centre / ASSIST {Sheffield} Asylum Seeker Support Initiative Short Term /
SYMAAG South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Grou /
SYRLJ South Yorkhire Law and Justice / RAPAR
noborderslondon@riseup.net
www.noborders.org.uk
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UK Border Agency Backlog 'out of Control' say MPs
The number of outstanding immigration and asylum cases rose by 25,000 in three months and is "spiralling out of control", making the total caseload the equivalent of the population of Iceland, an MP has said.
More than 300,000 cases needed to be dealt with at the end of June, up 9% over the previous three months, the Commons home affairs select committee said. But clearing the backlog should not be a rushed job done without the proper checks, the committee's report on the UK Border Agency (UKBA) warned.
Keith Vaz, the committee's chairman, said: "There are now about the same number of cases awaiting resolution by UKBA as there are people living in Iceland. The backlog is spiralling out of control."
Read more: guardian.co.uk, Friday 9 November 2012
States Must Take Resolute Measures to End Segregation of Roma
Roma children are experiencing segregated and substandard education in the school systems in the majority of the 47 Council of Europe member states. The consequences are devastating. It makes it very hard for these children to escape poverty and marginalisation later on in life. Non-integration also generates large – and unnecessary – costs for society at large.
Read more: Nils Muiznieks, Commissioner for Human Rights
UKBA: Country of Origin Information Report: Malawi
This Country of Origin Information (COI) Report has been produced by COI service, United Kingdom Border Agency, for use by officials involved in the asylum/human rights determination process. The report provides general background information about the issues most commonly raised in asylum/human rights claims made in the United Kingdom. The main body of the report includes information available up to 26 September 2012. The report was issued on 31 October 2012.
Published on Refworld, 06/11/12
Children With no Nationality
Hundreds of children living rough in London and other cities may have no nationality, the BBC has found. Inside Out London has uncovered stories of children who according to official records do not exist - some forced into sex work to eat. Further research by the BBC suggests it is a UK-wide problem. Charities warn of stateless children in Birmingham, Leeds, Coventry, Nottingham, Newcastle, Liverpool, Oxford and Cardiff.
Read more: BBC News, 5 November 2012
Garden Court Chambers - Immigration Law Bulletin - Issue 299
Nigeria Military Accused of Executing 48 men
Nigeria's military has been accused of carrying out execution-style killings of 48 young men rounded up in the stronghold of the country's Islamist rebels. The report came as a retired Nigerian general, Mohammed Shuwa, who was a key figure in the 1960s civil war, was on Friday shot dead by unknown gunmen at his home in Maiduguri.
Read more: Mike Pflanz, Telegraph, 02 Nov 2012
Asylum Research Consultancy (ARC) COI Update Volume 44
This document provides an update of Country Guidance case law and UKBA publications and developments in refugee producing countries between 20/10/2012 and 03/11/2012 - Download Volume 44 here . . .
Ghanaian Detainees Statement - Death of Prince Ofosu
We are presenting this information from Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre, regarding the death of Prince Ofosu, a detainee aged 31 years.
What we do know about the death of Prince Ofosu, the Ghanaian detainee who died on Tuesday 30th October, 2012 is as follows:
1. Prince Ofosu was forcibly restrained by GEO officers employed by the UKBA.
2. We understand that Prince Ofosu sustained some injuries. The GEO officer, Jim by name who inflicted massive blows on prince Ofosu had some blood stains on his uniform, but he was asked to remove the blood stained clothes so that no one would notice what happened. His clothes were changed for him. That happened in a room known as "block" [rule 40].
3. Currently, in order to pervert the course of justice, the GEO officer Jim purposely applied for leave because of what he has done.
4. A reliable information from another GEO officer who was at the scene, (but wants to remain anonymous), specified that prince Ofosu was stripped naked at the "block" [rule 40] and the heating system was turned off. Prince Ofosu was left in the cold without even a duvet till his death 24 hours after being detained at the block.
5. Another incidence occurred where a Ghanaian by name Kofi, was refusing to be removed or deported. The GEO escort staff, forced Kofi on board the transporting coach. On the way to Stansted airport, Kofi wa injected on his neck on the bus with drug by the escort officer and a GEO nurse. Kofi slept within few seconds and was easily put on the flight PVT090 and deported to Ghana on 5th July 2012. The detainees at Harmondsworth tried contacting Kofi from Ghana but no news about him so far.
6. There are other Ghanaian patients in detention who are not being given medical care as required. One example is a young lad whose blood sample was taken for examination but after two months, he was told they could not find his blood sample, suggesting they don't care whether he survives or dies. This patient also suffers blood pressure and diabetes, but the medication they gave him is Gaviscon and Ibuprofen.
7. There is another who has developed chronic head ache due to the death of Prince Ofosu, for fear that he probably might be the next to be maltreated to death. He was unable to eat or sleep at night.
8. There is yet another with heart failure who, even though has a specialist consultant that only monitors his heart condition, the UKBA has ignored him and has been detained without proper care. He had MRI scan recently, but had not even received medical results from his consultant when he was forced into detention.
9. Furthermore, there is another Ghanaian who has a kidney problem and had his urine sample taken at the clinic for investigation on 17th October, 2012. He was told he would receive the result in five (5) days but till date (2/11/12) nothing was received. The illness is still persistent but there has been no treatment. Suggesting that the UKBA and the GEO staff do not care about his welfare.
10. Finally, there is no permanent doctor here at Harmondsworth IRC clinic. Those doctors who come on duty appears to be part-time (locum) doctors. Each doctor probably comes weekly. When a doctor prescribes medication to a detainee, he or she is not available regularly to monitor the progress of the detained patient.
In conclusion, we in detention appear to be maltreated. Others have much genuine cases but the UKBA tries hard to falsify documents to suit their evil practises.
Signed:.........[concerned Ghanaian detainees].
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