UKBA Persecuting Sofia and Johnson Kalu Again
On June 22nd Sofia reported that Johnson Kalu her partner had been detained and had gone on hunger strike, he was released from detention on Wednesday 27 th June.
This morning it was Sofia's turn to suffer more UKBA injustice, she was captured when reporting @ Dallas Court and is now in Pennine House Manchester STHF. No doubt just a short stop before being taken to Yarl's Wood IRC of which she has horrific memories, having previously been detained there in 2011.
Sofia a leading activist with WASP, when at liberty worked tirelessly to help others with asylum/immigration problems. At the moment no idea what UKBA have planned for her, will update y'all as soon as we have hard data.
In the meantime, please send Emails of Solidarity/Support to:
Sofia Kalu <sofiakalu@yahoo.co.uk>
Second Attempt to Separate Bernard and Sharon
Bernard Bernard Mboueyeu is a national of Cameroon and a resident of Sheffield where he lives with his family. He is currently in immigration detention and due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Monday 16th July 2012 on EasyJet flight U2431, @ 06:00 hrs from London/Luton to Paris Charles de Gaulle for onward transit on Air France flight AF900 from Paris Charles de Gaulle 13:50 hrs, to Yaounde, Cameroon. Full background here . . . .
Family friends and Sheffield Campaign to Defend Asylum Seekers (CDAS) are campaigning to keep Bernard in the UK
What you can do to help
Bernard & Kath feel that Air France should be the main target
Please let the campaign know of any actions taken,
Kath Grant: <kath.northernstories@googlemail.com>
Bernard Mboueyeu: <mboueyeualain@live.co.uk>
1) Email/fax/phone, Carolyn McCall Chief Executive Officer EasyJet and urge her not to carry out the forced removal of Bernard Mboueyeu - Model fax <BernardMboueyeuEJ.doc> attached. You can copy, amend or write your own version - please quote, Bernard Mboueyeu due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Monday 16th July 2012 on EasyJet flight U2431, @ 06:00 hrs from London/Luton to Paris Charles de Gaulle for onward transit to Cameroon.
Customer 'Service: easyjet@mailnj.custhelp.com
Carolyn McCall email: Carolyn.McCall@easyJet.com
Phone: 0158 244 3330
Fax: 0158 244 3355
2) Please fax/phone/Email, Jean-Cyril Spinetta, CEO, Air France and urge him not to carry out the forced removal of Bernard Mboueyeu - on Air France flight AF900 from Paris Charles de Gaulle, to Yaounde, Cameroon on Monday 16th July 2012 @ 13:50 hrs. Download model letter BernardMboueyeu AF.doc
Jean-Cyril Spinetta Chief Executive Officer Air France
Email: jcspinetta@airfrance.fr
Phone: 00 339 6939 1030 Fax: 00 333 4414 4479
2) Email/Faxing Theresa May, Home Secretary
Ask her to exercise her discretionary powers to stay the removal and release Bernard Mboueyeu from detention and to grant him protection in the UK. Download odel letter, BernardMboueyeuTM.doc or alternatively write your own one. Please remember to quote Bernard's Home Office Reference number D1142549 in any correspondence.
Rt. Hon Theresa May, MP
Secretary of State for the Home Office,
2 Marsham St
London SW1 4DF
Fax: 020 7035 4745
Emails:
Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
pscorrespondence@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk
"CIT - Treat Official" <CITTO@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk>
Zimbabwean Opposition Activist David Mtonde Facing Removal
For the last eight years David Mtonda has, like so many asylum-seekers in the UK, been regularly reporting to the Home Office to confirm his location and presence in the United Kingdom. A self-described 'family man', with two daughters aged 5 and 18 years old and his partner—all British passport holders—there was no reason to expect that his visit on the 15th of June 2012 was to be anything different.
Rather than the normal signature, David was without prior warning met by three officers before being handcuffed and brought to Oxford where he has been held in Campsfield IRC ever since. He has since been issued with removal directions for Kenya Airways flight KQ101 to Nairobi, connecting to KQ700 to Harare, on Monday 16th of July.
More information: NCADC Campaign page here . . . . .
French Police Lose Power to Detain Illegal Immigrants
France's highest court has ruled that the country's police can no longer arrest and detain illegal immigrants unless they are suspected of having committed a criminal offence. Illegal immigrants in France can no longer be held in police custody simply for not having residency papers, the country's highest court ruled on Thursday. Until now, police could detain "sans-papiers" ["without papers", the French term for illegal aliens] even if they had not committed a crime.
Under French law, police detention only applies to people suspected of having committed an offence punishable with a prison term. Police detention is limited to 24 hours, although it can be extended to 48 if further inquiries have to be made. Being an illegal alien, under French law, is not a criminal offence.
Bring an illegal alien is not a crime in France. On Thursday the French "Cour de Cassation" [the country's highest court] ruled in favour of a group of illegal immigrants who claimed their detentions were in breach of European law.
Read More: By France 24, 06/07/12
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Solidarity With Migrants Checked on the Street/Workplaces
Migrants and Stop And Search: Know Your Rights:A campaign has been launched to provide people with vital information if they are subject to or witness a raid by the UK Border Agency (UKBA).
Lots of people have seen raids happening in different parts of London/UK and have been shocked by racist immigration policies, and wanted to know what the law said about immigration checks and how to prevent them.
The Latin American community suffered a big raid in February at a music event in South London, when twenty-three people were arrested. This was the trigger for a campaign to inform undocumented migrants on their rights and immigration officers' duties, bringing together quite a few groups - including the Precarious Workers' Brigade, Prisma, Stop Deportations, Southwark Action and the South London Solidarity Federation.
The campaign launched the bust cards in June.
English bust card here . . . Spanish/Portuguese versions here . . . .
Read more here . . . .
UKBA Failure to Provide Support to Asylum Seekers Unlawful
Judgment has now been handed down in MK & AH v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2012] EWHC 1896 (Admin), a case concerning delays to Section 4 support for destitute asylum seekers otherwise known as 'Kanyemba'. The Home Office policy of delaying a decision on Section 4 applications on the basis of further submissions has been declared unlawful as it leads to a significant risk of a breach of Article 3.
Read more: Refugee Action, 11/07/12
DR Congo Rebels Capture Key Towns in East as Conflict Escalates
Rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have captured a series of key towns, plunging the vast country into its worst conflict for nearly five years and threatening the credibility of the government and UN peacekeepers.
The mutineers, led by a renegade general sought by the international criminal court, have marched unchecked through swaths of the country's east, to just 40km from Goma, the capital of North Kivu province and headquarters of the UN mission.
Read more: guardian.co.uk, Monday 9 July 2012
Briefing on M23 and Crisis in DR Congo
Some 220,000 people have been freshly displaced in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since a group of former rebels integrated into the national army (FARDC) mutinied and began capturing towns and territory in North Kivu Province, often in the face of minimal resistance.
With the total number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in eastern DRC topping two million for the first time since 2009 and amid fears that the rebels are closing in on the regional capital, Goma, humanitarian needs are growing dramatically, especially for shelter, water and sanitation, health, food and non-food items.
There are significant regional dimensions: around 20,000 people, including 600 FARDC soldiers, have sought refuge in Rwanda and Uganda - where officials said they were overwhelmed by the influx - while Kigali stands accused of backing the mutineers, a charge it vehemently denies.
Read more: IRIN Goma, 10 July 2012
Asylum Research Consultancy (ARC) COI update volume 38
This document provides an update of Country Guidance case law, UKBA publications and developments in refugee producing countries between 25/06/2012 and 09/07/2012.. Download volume 38 here . . .
Garden Court Chambers, Immigration Law Bulletin - Issue 282
Changes to the Family Migration Immigration Rules - Now in Force
Serco Shackling Detainee for 8 days Breached Article 3
"Our client 'FGP' was detained in Colnbrook IRC pending his removal to Algeria, which he was trying to challenge. He already suffered with depression, having lost a wife to cancer, having suffered the death of a baby girl and the death of his teenage son in a drowning accident. In immigration detention he developed severe abdominal pain which resulted in his emergency hospitalization for almost 9 days. At all times he was restrained by either ratchet cuffs or closet chains – which are handcuffs at the end of a chain which is then attached to a security officer. The security company running the centre and which was responsible for his treatment was Serco.
The Court found that to have restrained FGP in this way throughout his admission to hospital was a violation of his right not to be subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment and was therefore in violation of Article 3 ECHR.
Read more: Medical Justice, 05/07/12
120,000 Migrant Children Living In UK Face Destitution
The government needs to do more to support an estimated 120,000 undocumented migrant children, who are living under the radar within the UK, the Children's Society told MPs at a select committee hearing on Wednesday.
Read more: Amelia Gentleman, guardian.co.uk, Thursday 5 July 2012
South Sudan: 9 Children a Day Dying in Flooded Refugee Camps
For the more than 120,000 refugees currently stuck in the overcrowded camps and transit sites in South Sudan's Upper Nile State, an already desperate situation is quickly becoming worse. The rainy season has turned what was a baked mud wasteland into a swampy, flooded plain, contaminating a water supply that was already stretched thin. Due to the deteriorating hygiene conditions, more and more refugees are becoming sick with malaria, hypothermia, pneumonia and diarrhea. Children have been especially hard-hit by the increasingly unlivable conditions — in Jamam camp alone, every day almost nine children are dying.
Read more: Reliefweb, 05/07/12
Action Against Changes to Immigration Rules
Demonstration 4:30 pm Monday 9th July
Home Office
Marsham Street
London SW1 4DF
Called by Migrants Rights Network and JCWI
Action for ESOL calls on you to Take Action!
Why? The government has announced changes to family immigration rules which will stop UK residents on lower incomes from bringing their spouses to the UK. Spouses who are allowed into the UK will have to wait five years and be forced to sit an Entry 3 ESOL exam and take the Life in the UK test in order to get settlement. This is unfair and discriminatory. Action for ESOL is joining JCWI (Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants) and the Migrants Rights Network in taking action against the changes.
Bring: colleagues, friends, outrage and wedding gear (optional)
Action for ESOL
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