General Information - October 2022

Borders Watchdog Left ‘Speechless’ by Failings At Migrant Centre

‘Adults at Risk’ in Immigration Detention?

Lack of Route For Victims of Transnational Marriage Abandonment Unlawful

Asylum Seekers: Home Office Accused of ‘Catastrophic Child Protection Failure’

Home Office Hotels Not Fit to House Unaccompanied Child Asylum Seekers

New Independent Complaint Investigation Service Launched by Home Office

ILR Applications Under Appendix FM: Slow, Expensive and Inaccessible

Are 3 Million UK Women Being Treated Worse than Asylum Seekers/Migrants?

Public Attitudes to Immigration Shows Public Take a Balanced Approach

How Much Influence Does the Media Have Over the Hostile Environment?

How Can Country Guidance Cases be Changed?

Home Office to Review Policy on Timing of Applications

What’s Happening in the Rwanda Legal Challenges?

Over 1,300 Asylum Seekers Can Claim Compensation for Phones Seized by UK

Home Office Pays £75,000 Damages For Missed Indicators of Trafficking

UK Needs a Refugee Policy That is Principled, Pragmatic and Effective

‘Safe and Legal’ Routes to the UK for People Seeking Protection

Home Secretary’s Conservative Party Conference Speech: an Empty Vessel

Are People Crossing the Channel in Small Boats Doing Anything Illegal?

Ukrainians in the UK Face a Homelessness Crisis - Government Needs to Act Now

Home Office Concedes in Supreme Court EU Law Deportation Appeal

What are the 10 and 20 Year Rules on Long Residence?

Number of Potential Trafficking Victims Locked up in UK Triples in Four Years

Widespread Problems With Incorrect Age Assessments for Young Asylum Seekers

UK Hostile Environment Immigration Policy Remains In Place

Windrush Compensation Scheme Welcomed, but Real Reform Still Necessary

An Asylum Seeker’s Right to Work but Not Their Dependents

Major European Judgment on Age Assessment Process

UK Ministers Accused of Giving Mixed Signals Over Migrant Workers

What of the Government’s Plans for Channel Crossings?

Continuing Conflicts That Create Refugees - October 2022 Deteriorated Situations: Haiti, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Iran, Eritrea, Myanmar, Russia (Internal), Ethiopia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Burkina Faso, Tunisia Conflict risk alerts for October: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia (Internal) Ukraine, Yemen, Cameroon Yemen faces the spectre of a return to full-scale fighting as efforts to extend the six-month-long UN-brokered truce faltered ahead of the 2 October deadline. Deadly clashes along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border spread deep into Armenian territory and could intensify in the coming weeks as negotiating positions harden. The 1 October anniversary of the self-proclaimed Ambazonia Republic could pave the way for escalatory fighting between Anglophone separatists and security forces in Cameroon. Improved Situations: India and China agreed to disengage their forces at one friction point along the undemarcated border. Resolution Opportunities: None Source: Internatinal Crisis Group, https://www.crisisgroup.org/crisiswatch

Shut Down Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre - National Protest Saturday, 15 October 2022 Assemble 12:00 Noon Corbridge Road, Medomsley, County Durham, DH8 6QY The third national protest against Derwentside (more commonly known as Hassockfield) Immigration Removal Centre... and the first national protest at the site itself! In the last few days of 2021, the first women were transferred to Derwentside Immigration Prison. Many women incarcerated at Hassockfield are innocent of criminal activity and are detained for unjust, unnecessary and inhumane administrative purposes. The majority of women within immigration detention have endured unimaginable trauma from human trafficking, modern slavery, torture, abuse and gender-based violence. We know that confinement and imprisonment resurface trauma and render women extremely vulnerable. The opening of this immigration prison completely contradicts previous Home Office pledges to reduce the number of immigration removal centres (prisons!) across the country. Since March 2021, we have been committed and will continue to be committed to doing all we can to get this prison shut down! This site could instead be used for something that will bring benefit and hope to those in the surrounding community, creating jobs that are not founded on the inhumane exploitation and detention of human beings. It is time we made the UK a welcoming, supportive and kind place that welcomes those forcibly displaced, no matter where they come from. No one chooses to be a refugee. It is time the Government abolishes its hostile policies, and closing immigration prisons like these is the first step in doing so! This is our first national protest at the site itself, and we must make as much noise as possible to show solidarity so that the women imprisoned there can hear. Please join us and stand in solidarity against this abhorrent facility. We are calling for the Government to #Shut Down and #SetHerFree! We are also saying #NoToRwanda!