General

17 February 2012

A DAMNING report says the UK Border Agency routinely belittles female rape victims.

http://www.islingtontribune.com/news/2012/feb/%E2%80%98culture-disbelief%E2%80%99-uk-border-agency-over-asylum-rape-claims-says-aid-charity

The report from Islington-based charity Asylum Aid claims that a “culture of disbelief” exists among staff at
the agency, which results in female asylum seekers not being believed when they say they have been raped, despite suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Russell Hargrave, spokesman for the charity, said: “It amounts to institutional sexism really.



10 Februaary 2012

Housing shake-up fears for Bradford refugees

http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/local/localbrad/9523386.Housing_shake_up_fears_for_Bradford_refugees/

Organisations supporting refugees and asylum seekers in the Bradford district have raised concerns over plans by the UK Border Agency to award private security company G4S a contract to run social housing for people seeking refuge in the UK.

The firm, which runs immigrant detention centres and prisons, is the preferred bidder to take over the management from local authorities of hundreds of asylum seekers’ homes across Yorkshire at the end of the month.
Representatives who met at Bradford Action for Refugees’ offices in Piccadilly yesterday expressed fears the contract would require all asylum seekers living in local authority housing to be moved to new homes, and raised concerns over the company’s record for handling asylum seekers.


7 February 2012

Confronting prejudice with charm: migrants in the UK

http://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/nazek-ramadan/confronting-prejudice-with-charm-migrants-in-uk

We know it’s not easy to confront the tabloid press. We know we’ve taken on a huge challenge; we may make it; we may not. But as migrants, we must deal with it". This is why 100,000 copies of a free newspaper written by migrants will be distributed across the UK this week, says the paper's editor Nazek Ramadan

It introduces us to migrants’ many talents in the food, music, fashion, sports and arts industries. It also highlights the impact of some of the newly introduced policies such as the cap on migrant workers, and the restrictions on students’ visa on both migrants and the UK economy

22 January 2012

The European Union and member governments proved unwilling to tackle human rights abuse at home during 2011, even as they proclaimed the issue’s importance in inspiring the Arab Spring, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2012.

http://www.hrw.org/newsc/2012/01/22/eu-rights-abuse-home-ignored

Human Rights Watch found worrying trends on human rights in the European Union region, highlighting events in nine member states and developments in the areas of migration and asylum, discrimination and intolerance, and counterterrorism policy.

A separate essay in the report analyses long-term trends on human rights in Europe. It concludes that declining respect for rights, weak enforcement when violations do occur, the growing influence of extremist parties, and the retreat from the idea that rights apply equally to everyone amount to a crisis that demands urgent action.

“Judging from the soaring rhetoric on the Arab Spring in 2011, human rights would seem to be a central concern of the EU,” said Benjamin Ward, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The sad truth is that European Union governments too often set aside rights at home when they prove inconvenient, especially those of vulnerable minorities and migrants, and brush aside criticism of abuse.”

21 January 2012

ASYLUM seekers and other immigrants are pocketing compensation cheques the size of lottery wins by suing the UK Borders Agency.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/296341/Refugees-hit-jackpot-with-5-2m-payouts

A staggering £5.2million has been shared out among the top 60 claimants over the past three years.
Last year alone the UKBA paid £14.2million in compensation, ex-gratia payments and legal fees.
One refugee got £170,000 while two others had £150,000 each. In 2009, one was awarded £200,000.
Over the three years, 20 claims were settled for more than £100,000 for incidents such as being detained too long or being hurt in custody.

In some cases the money is given to failed asylum seekers after they have left Britain.

A shameful spinning of the facts on immigration

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-a-shameful-spinning-of-the-facts-on-immigration-6292556.html

In fact, the Government statistics debunk the myth of ‘benefits tourism'.  The only really surprising thing about the number of migrants claiming benefits in Britain is that the figure is so low. Even more cheering is that a mere 2 per cent of the claims are illegal.

Chris Grayling  (Employment Minister) released his newly crunched numbers to the Daily Telegraph accompanied by an opinion piece portentously stressing that he will check every migrant claimant's entitlement. He denies that giving such prominence to so tiny a problem is scaremongering. It is a matter of credibility, the minister says; he must be able to "look people in the eye" and assure them that they can have confidence in the immigration system.
Mr Grayling should be ashamed of such disingenuousness. Of course the Government should apply statistical rigour to immigration and welfare numbers. Of course it should clamp down on benefit fraud of any kind. But to skew reporting of so proportionately negligible a number for a roar of approval from Britain's overdeveloped anti-immigration lobby is as irresponsible as it is inexcusable.

13 January 2012

Leading article: Britain's reputation is in the dock over rendition

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-britains-reputation-is-in-the-dock-over-rendition-6288878.html

Questions have been raised about the UK's line between decency and realpolitik
Cynics might suggest that there was no way that a member of the British security services was ever going to be brought to trial over allegations that the UK colluded in the mistreatment of terrorism suspects in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Libya. But there is more to it than simply a security establishment anxious to avoid lengthy and embarrassing court proceedings prying into institutions which prefer to operate in secrecy.


7 January

(This is from the USA and, though not our normal remit, of great interest)
Dispatch From Detention: A Rare Look Inside Our ‘Humane’ Immigration Jails

http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/01/dispatch_from_detention_this_is_what_humane_deportation_looks_like.html

Sam Kitching, a soft-spoken, round old man dressed in civilian clothes who works for the Sheriff’s department at the Baker County Jail put his hand on my shoulder and, addressing me as “young man,” said, “It’s very important that you be careful in there. They might have AIDS and might try to grab your hand and push something into it.”
“AIDS?” I ask.
“They could,” he said. “These men can be dangerous.”

A younger man dressed in a tight, dark green Sheriff’s uniform unlatched the door into one of the pods that holds several dozen federal immigration detainees.
Mostly Latino and black and all dressed in orange jump suits, unzipped with the arms tied around waists, the men stood or sat at metal tables in groups of four or five in the three-sided concrete room.



G4S bags new asylum contract

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=27131

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) is to give all contracts for the Compass project to accommodate asylum seekers over the next five years to three multinational detention and deportation companies.
It is outrageous that these include G4S, whose guards were “escorting” Jimmy Mubenga when he died during a forced deportation in 2010.
G4S, Reliance and Serco were each allotted two of six regions when UKBA announced its preferred bidders in December

6 January 2010

Charity chief praises public as appeal total tops £13k

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/charity-chief-praises-public-as-appeal-total-tops-13k-1.1142564

CAMPAIGNERS are celebrating after raising more than £13,000 in just two months to help destitute asylum seekers.
The Scottish Refugee Council’s (SRC) Protection Appeal, which is raising money to help them lobby for changes to Government policy and provide essential advice to people as they go through the asylum process, is now determined to get the total up to £20,000 by the end of the month.
The SRC has been standing up for the rights of refugees for almost 30 years

4 January 2012

No need to detain refugees and undocumented migrants, says Jesuit report

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/15988

Detaining migrants is unnecessary because more humane and less costly non-custodial alternatives exist, according to the latest report from the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS).
Entitled From Deprivation to Liberty: Alternatives to detention in Belgium, Germany and the UK , the report, which was launched in the European Parliament, is based on in-depth interviews with 25 migrants participating in alternatives-to-detention programmes in the three countries.
The report says that although community-based measures are clearly a step in the right direction, unless they are accompanied by appropriate legal, social and other support, migrants can be forced into destitution.
In light of these findings, JRS is urging EU member states to replicate existing alternatives-to-detention.

3 January 2012

Greece's unlawful immigrants: in dangerous hands

http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2012/01/03/feature-04

An EU court ruling says Greece is too risky for asylum seekers to be returned, but what can the country do when so many want to come in -- and get out?


Blamed for both allowing in too many illegal immigrants and for letting them out to get to other EU countries, Greece now has been hit anew with charges it mistreats many of them and that those who do get out shouldn't be returned.


New forms of torture leave 'invisible scars,' say researchers

http://www.sciencecodex.com/read/new_forms_of_torture_leave_invisible_scars_say_researchers-83786

Use of torture around the world has not diminished but the techniques used have grown more complex and sophisticated, according to new research from Queen Mary, University of London.
The study* suggests that these emerging forms of torture, which include various types of rape, bestiality and witnessing violent acts, are experienced by people seeking asylum in the UK.
In many cases the techniques cause no visible effect but are responsible for a variety of serious mental health problems. The researchers say that their findings are vital for understanding what many asylum seekers have endured and for ensuring the correct medical treatments are available.
The majority of countries signed a UN convention banning all forms of torture almost thirty years ago but the new research joins a body of evidence showing that the use of torture not only persists but is also widespread.
The researchers, led by Dr Nasir Warfa, based their study on asylum seekers who were being detained at Oakington Immigration Centre in Cambridgeshire. They carried out an audit of reports of torture over a six-month period. The results showed that 17 per cent of people at the Centre reported that they were tortured in their home countries.

29 December 2011

A Bradford woman who won the Yorkshire Refugee of the Year award is setting her sights on even greater achievements in 2012.

http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/9439224.Bradford_Refugee_of_the_Year_vows_to_keep_campaigning/

Next year, Beatrice Botomani, who fled to the UK from Malawi in 2004 with her two children, will qualify as a teacher fulfilling a lifelong ambition.
She hopes to work in the adult learning sector once her studies at Bradford College finish.
Miss Botomani has already helped improve the lives of others by campaigning for the rights of women and child refugees in detention.

Beatrice Botomani set to achieve ambition by qualifying as a teacher

13 December 2011

The multi-national corporation Serco has been urged to sign up to a set of housing quality standards after being named as the likely provider of accommodation to asylum seekers in Glasgow.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/new-contract-for-housing-of-asylum-seekers.16142904

The UK Border Agency has named six preferred bidders to take over the work for the next five years, after a Home Office tendering exercise.
In fact, there are only three winners, as the companies Reliance, G4S and Serco have been awarded preferred status for two regions each.Serco Civil Government is set to take over the multi-million pound contract from the charity YPeople in April.
The provision of housing for asylum seekers in Scotland has often been controversial. It was provided for several years by Glasgow City Council, and has since been managed by the private Angel Group and the charity Ypeople (formerly YMCA Glasgow).


6 December 2011

Bradford's Beatrice is Yorkshire Refugee of the Year

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2011/dec/06/refugee-of-the-year-awards-migration-yorkshire-bradford

Awards honour arrivals who fled persecution and now - like many before them - are doing their bit in return
Bradford has taken three to prizes and had a share in the fourth at this year's Refugee of the Year awards organised by Migration Yorkshire.
You may not have heard of this competition, given that refugees are generally reported in terms of being a problem or suffering problems themselves. But the awards celebrate a long and continuing tradition of people who have been given a haven by the UK returning the favour as best they can.

Beatrice Botomani, first and the overall winner, who is the voluntary co-ordinator of Bradford Refugee Forum. She arrived in the UK in 2004 with her two children and set about trying to help others in the same position.

Botomani also created a home-made 'sisters network' to win support from 60 prominent local women, tapped into the Bradford Women's Forum and is now training women to use local radio, through Bradford community Broadcasting's series BRASS – Bradford refugee and asylum seekers' stories. In case you think this is all a bit gender-biased, note that her son Wells and two friends won their own award in last year's UK Solution for the Planet School competition with a project.

3 December 2011

Wanted: more immigrants to boost British economy

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/wanted-more-immigrants-to-boost-british-economy-6271541.html

George Osborne's economic strategy rests on continued high levels of immigration to Britain – in contrast to the Conservatives' policy of cutting net migration down to the "tens of thousands".
The Government will find itself in the position of either having to allow continued immigration in the hundreds of thousands or jeopardising the country's economic recovery, according to its own fiscal watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Ministers will not reduce average annual immigration down to the "tens of thousands" over the course of this parliament according to the OBR's projections. Instead, net inward migration to Britain will remain at an average of 140,000 a year until 2016, it says, despite repeated promises from Conservative ministers that they will reduce immigration flows to substantially below these levels.



28 November 2011

Australian immigration makes decision on boatpeople asylum seekers

http://www.visabureau.com/australia/news/28-11-2011/australian-immigration-makes-decision-on-boatpeople-asylum-seekers.aspx

Australian Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has announced plans for refugees seeking asylum in Australia to be released from detention and granted temporary bridging visas while their claims are being assessed.

Some refugees seeking asylum in Australia will be released from detention and granted temporary bridging visas.
The Australian government is currently detaining approximately 3,800 people in immigration detention centres, many of whom arrived without an Australia visa. Those who have waited the longest for their claims to be assessed will be given priority when bridging visas are being allocated.

The Minister has said he expects at least 100 bridging visas a month to be allocated to detainees who have had to endure significant delays in application processing times. Critics have called the conditions that the detainees have been held in 'dehumanising', with rates of self

Report on Congolese returned asylum seekers

http://ncadc.org.uk/world/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/unsafe_return.pdf

'So they say to me, there, you went to a foreign country. You went and said that we don’t respect human rights here. There, you accused us, that the government doesn’t respect human rights, that we do, did things to you when you were detained, and that you were illtreated when you were in the country. And for having said that over there, here, on principle, we have to arrest you. Because there, you betrayed our country, you betrayed our government. So they arrested me, they took me. They took me after, after that, it was an interrogation of several hours.’ (sic)
Refused Congolese asylum seeker describing his post return arrest in DRC
(Translation from French)

22 November 2011

Taxpayers have paid £273 million since 2006 to hold in custody those who should not be in the UK and to enforce their removal.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/8905293/Bill-for-holding-and-removing-illegal-immigrants-increases.html

The annual bill has increased from £35.5 million in 2006/07 to £51.7 million last year.
The rising costs are, in part, due to delays in removing individuals as they fight lengthy appeals against deportation.
The figures come at a time of deep concern over the number of foreign criminals who are using human rights laws to avoid removal.
The Home Office is currently reviewing the interpretation of so-called Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights to restrict its use by criminals, most of whom are successfully arguing they have a right to family life because they have been here so long.


SCORES of protesters formed a blockade outside the UK Border Agency’s main immigration offices in Glasgow to demonstrate against the latest wave of dawn raids in the city.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/protesters_stage_own_dawn_raid_on_border_police_headquarters_1_197805022

One activist scaled a metal tripod to block the vehicle entrance to the UKBA facility in the Ibrox area, while three other people chained their necks to gates using bicycle locks.
The protest, which began at around 5:30am yesterday, was designed to take a stand against “a return to the bad old days” of dawn raids. Three people were arrested.
The direct action was sparked by the forced deportation of several families in recent months. It was organised by The Unity Centre, a Glasgow-based solidarity centre for asylum seekers, along with the No Borders Network.


21 November 2011

Official lying in the UK: what child detention reveals about how we are governed

http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/anthony-barnett/official-lying-in-uk-what-child-detention-reveals-about-how-we-are-govern

For almost two years OurKingdom has been exposing the gap between official rhetoric and practice in the UK government’s appalling treatment of the vulnerable children of asylum seekers.
Today we present a disturbing new dossier by OurKingdom Co-Editor, the award-winning author Clare Sambrook— Official lying and how it harms our democracy (which can be opened as a PDF).
The dossier arose in response to an invitation from the House of Lords Communications Committee. The peers invited Clare to give live evidence on 11th October for their current inquiry into the future of investigative journalism. This dossier is being submitted to the committee today as an additional briefing paper.

18 November 2011

Australian article relevant to UK and European attitudes to asylum seekers

http://theconversation.edu.au/why-australia-should-abandon-the-refugee-convention-4003

With the collapse of offshore processing, and the likely increase in boat arrivals into a politically charged environment, a cross-road may have been reached regarding asylum policy in Australia.

Now would be a good time for politicians to lift themselves above their unedifying blame-game and unconvincing mouthing of adherence to the 1951 Refugee Convention, and to open a debate with the Australian people about the continuing relevance of this UN treaty.

15 November 2011

London: Jesuit refugee centre open day

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=19310

One organisation which is working to support asylum seekers is the Jesuit Refugee Service. (JRS UK). There was open house yesterday, at their new home in Wapping - ten minutes' walk from Tower Bridge in London. Based in a converted school, the Hurtado Jesuit Centre offers practical support, advice, prayers and hospitality to more than 100 refugees each week.
Formally JRS-UK was based in Stamford Hill. They moved in earlier in the year: the centre was officially opened by the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Father Adolfo Nicolás SJ, on 16 April. Since then, its staff and volunteers have had time to settle into their new location and the day was a chance to welcome old supporters and new neighbours.

The office is open from Monday to Friday. Besides offering support to refugees at the centre, trained volunteers also make weekly visits to refugees detained at Harmondsworth and Colnbrook detention centres. JRS also has a pen-befriender scheme connecting detainees with volunteers from around the UK.

On Thursdays from 10-3 the Day Centre is open and refugees can come in for lunch, receive packs containing toiletries, bus passes, advice and help with filling out forms and writing letters.

UK border checks are 'a bad joke', whistleblower claims

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/8886864/UK-border-checks-are-a-bad-joke-whistleblower-claims.html

Dangerous asylum seekers are being released into the community as UK Border Agency staff struggle to cope with the increasing number of foreigners entering the country.   The whistleblower, a middle manager who does not want to be identified, said UKBA staff lack the resources to track down asylum seekers.

As a result, it is claimed, complicated immigration cases are being abandoned to save time, while detention centres employ a "one in, one out" policy that sees low-risk detainees released to allow more dangerous foreigners to be locked up.
The whistleblower said British border checks had become "haphazard" and "a bad joke".

"The whole place is a basket case," he told The Sunday Times (£). "Asylum seekers run rings around us and we are virtually powerless to do anything about it. It is depressing."whistleblower has claimed.

11 November 2011

New Report Documents Torture in Sri Lanka (Video)

http://www.care2.com/causes/new-report-documents-torture-in-sri-lanka-video.html

Sri Lankan authorities have blocked international bodies from reporting on conditions in the country. President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government has dismissed all the reports as “preposterous.” The President has embarked on a charm offensive to help repair Sr Lanka’s reputation, most recently at the Commonwealth Heads of Government conference.

10 November 2011

Inclusive Democracy

http://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/natasha-walter/unheard-and-unseen-in-britain

I run a charity called Women for Refugee Women . We work with women who have fled persecution to seek asylum in the UK.
They arrive in this country traumatised, grasping the chance of refuge, vulnerable, but hopeful.

Yet time and again I am shocked to the core about what I learn about how they are then treated in the UK. One young woman I met recently arrived here this summer from the Gambia, fleeing extreme violence from her husband, whom she had been forced to marry. She had burns on her arms and was still in shock from a recent miscarriage which she believed had been caused by her husband’s beatings. Her husband is an influential man in her country, and she felt that nobody she knew could offer her or her daughter any protection at home, so she took the risk of crossing borders to start a new life. Since arriving here what has happened? She claimed asylum immediately and she made the decision not to hide the details of the violence she experienced, and so she was able to communicate her need for safety from the outset. Yet she has been called a liar to her face and told to go back home by Home Office staff. At times she has been forced to sleep on the street; at times she has had to beg food and money from charities. She has also been sent to Yarl’s Wood detention centre and locked up for weeks. She has been refused asylum, and is currently preparing to appeal that decision.

10 November 2011

Free speech and Palestinian cause a test for UK Courts

http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/free-speech-and-palestinian-cause-a-test-for-uk-courts

Last month, a British immigration court decided that Sheikh Raed Salah, a popular Palestinian leader, could be deported. Sheikh Salah has lodged an appeal in a higher court, hoping to block his removal.
But he is no asylum seeker, and has no desire to live in Britain.  He is renowned in the Arab and Muslim worlds for a popular campaign in defence of Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque against Israeli encroachment.
He was visiting the UK for a speaking tour, and entered legally using his Israeli passport on June 25.

7 November 2011

Agency attacked in damning report

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5iJ_MKp5sU58xynuXQM2Lyds-axHw?docId=N0507661320667504253A

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) is continuing to fail, according to the latest damning report on the body charged with protecting the country's borders.

The review came just days before the latest controversy over the relaxation of border controls which is thought to have allowed hundreds of thousands of people to enter Britain without proper checks.In the latest review of the UKBA by MPs, figures revealed the number of "lost" asylum and immigration cases had tripled in six months from 40,500 in March to 124,000 in September, while the rebranding of the immigration and nationality directorate, deemed "not fit for purpose" five years ago by then-home secretary John Reid, seems to have done little to improve its reputation.

4 November 2011

MPs attack archive of lost asylum applicants

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/nov/04/archive-lost-asylum-applicants?newsfeed=true

Border Agency's 'controlled archive' being used as a 'dumping ground' for cases on which it has given up, says committee
The number of asylum and migrant applicants the UK Border Agency has lost contact with has spiralled from 18,000 to 124,000 in the past year, according to a critical report by MPs.

The Commons home affairs select committee says the size of the agency's "controlled archive" of lost cases is equal to the population of Cambridge and is being used as a "dumping ground" for cases on which they have given up.
The MPs say the bulk of the cases, 80,000, were moved into the archive to help clear a long-term asylum backlog, and the remaining 40,000 were outstanding migration cases.

29 October 2011

Protests at Commonwealth summit as leaders set to debate plans for new stronger line on civil rights abuses

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2054563/Protests-Commonwealth-summit-leaders-set-debate-plans-new-stronger-line-civil-rights-abuses.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Central Perth in locked down as 1500 protestors lay siege to conference
Moves to appoint Human Rights Commissioner is expected to run into opposition
Protesters laid siege to the Commonwealth summit in Perth, Australia, this morning as leaders met to debate how human rights can be secured across all 54 member states.
Police locked down the city centre as 1,500 protesters gathered for a demonstration and march through the city streets to coincide with the opening of the summit.
The lead-up to the event has been dominated by pressure on Commonwealth leaders to take a tougher line on human and political rights abuses.

15 October 2011

Deportations to put pressure on Mugabe? – Zimbabwe Vigil Diary

http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=7556&cat=2

A new attempt is to be made on Thursday to deport Vigil supporter Shamiso Kofi despite the violent failure of the first attempt earlier this month. There is speculation that the UK and South Africa are making a concerted attempt to deport Zimbabweans to put pressure on the Mugabe regime.

Shamiso is one of the first Zimbabweans to be targeted for forcible return since the UK ended its moratorium on sending back failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers. It comes amid reports from South Africa that hundreds of Zimbabweans are being sent back.

October 11, 2011

A price to be paid for keeping Britain British

http://www.nouse.co.uk/2011/10/11/a-price-to-be-paid-for-keeping-britain-british/

In the wake of the August riots, David Starkey declared that ‘whites have become black’ and intimated that the mixing of cultures would lead to conflagrations greater than those witnessed in Tottenham and Clapham. Melanie Phillips, writing for the Daily Mail, asserted that multiculturalism had led to the disenchantment of white British youths, whose culture ‘was deliberately shattered’ by the incursion of a foreign element. These sentiments closely mirrored those of David Cameron, who in February suggested that state multiculturalism has failed.
This fear of the ‘other’ has led the British Government down a path of ever restrictive immigration control as it seeks to stamp out foreign influences.

October 10 2011

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: We must defend these laws which protect us all

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/yasmin-alibhai-brown/yasmin-alibhaibrown-we-must-defend-these-laws-which-protect-us-all-2368147.html

The new Tories are charming and dangerously likeable. But they are the enemies of a more equal, just, fair and fulfillling society for everyone.
Did you watch and listen to THAT woman, Theresa May, last week? I did, live at the Tory party conference in Manchester, while pressing my bitten nails into my hands and building up such fantasies of violence that they could imprison me for thought crimes under our anti-terrorism laws. As she stood up to speak you saw they didn't really like her much, because she wasn't Margaret Thatcher or the next best, Ann Widdecombe.
There wasn't much applause for the first part of her speech, so she threw them immigrants and asylum-seekers and then the Human Rights Act (HRA) to tear into. Members turned into noisy hounds and May was riding high. Until Ken Clarke pulled her off the horse. He is set to be punished by the PM who obviously backs May's inciting horn calls. (Here's a modest proposal – maybe they should use asylum-seekers instead of foxes for their hunts.)

October 5th, 2011

Sokwanele

http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/7053

Over the last decade or more, many Zimbabweans fleeing their country have sought political asylum in the United Kingdom. The UK holds Zimbabwe’s second-largest diasporic population, and their shared language and historical linkages make the UK the obvious destination for many seeking refuge from Zimbabwe’s political situation.

As a country that takes seriously its commitments under the Refugee Convention to protecting those fleeing from persecution, the UK has provided and continues to provide shelter to thousands seeking sanctuary.  But the Uk has not been entirely benign to those seeking political asylum.  A wealth of recent reports has exposed the grim reality of the UK's asylum policy, detailing the misery into which those seeking asylum can be thrown.

September 26, 2011 (22 September 2011)

Application of EU Rights Charter – AG’s Opinion

http://ukhumanrightsblog.com/2011/09/26/application-of-eu-rights-charter-ags-opinion/

UK Human Rights Blog
The Common European Asylum System was designed to establish a fair and effective distribution of the burden on the asylum systems of the EU Member States. Regulation No 343/2003 was passed in order to introduce a clear and workable method for determining which single Member State is responsible for determining any given asylum application lodged within the European Union. The measure was also intended to prevent forum shopping by asylum seekers.

The problem with the Regulation is it was passed before the current crisis in the eurozone. Asylum overloading is one of the many problems afflicting parts of the EU, in some cases involving countries at the epicentre of the debt crisis. The Regulation does not contain any provisions that deal specificially with this situation, particularly where the Member State, because of its geographical location, faces numbers of asylum seekers that far exceed its capacity to cope, with the result that it cannot guarantee that those asylum seekers will be treated in accordance with the minimum standards in the Common European Asylum System.

16 Sept. 2011

Thinking outside the boxes

http://www.theage.com.au/national/thinking-outside-the-boxes-20110915-1kbqq.html

The Gillard government has been quietly increasing the number of asylum seekers in community detention. Is this the way of the future? Russell Skelton reports.

IT'S a fact seldom referred to in the bitter debate over refugee policy, but some 1200 men, women and children - more than 25 per cent of all the nation's asylum seekers - live in the community as they wait for their claims for refugee status to be processed. And that number is likely to jump substantially: Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has approved 1880 detainees for community detention since the scheme was reintroduced 18 months ago.

The figures appear inexact because some asylum seekers have been given visas and others are waiting to move into the community as soon as suitable accommodation is found. Also, recent boat arrivals include significant numbers of women and children who will qualify automatically for community detention after health, identity and security checks are completed

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/thinking-outside-the-boxes-20110915-1kbqq.html#ixzz1Y8Z3J2CW

15 August 2011
£12m paid in asylum seeker claims

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/12m-paid-in-asylum-seeker-claims-2338008.html

More than £12 million was paid out in legal costs and compensation to asylum seekers and other immigrants last year, figures have showed.
The UK Border Agency (UKBA) paid a total of £14.2 million last year in compensation, legal costs and ex gratia payments, up almost £2 million on the previous year, the agency's annual report for 2010/11 showed.
This included payments to families who were unlawfully detained and removed, as well as £175,000 in compensation to an asylum seeker who was unlawfully detained and injured while in custody.
Legal costs alone topped £7.7 million in just over 1,000 cases, compared with £3.8 million for 691 cases in 2009/10.

15 August 2011
Guantanamo Bay firm to run Dungavel detention centre

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2011/08/15/guantanamo-bay-firm-to-run-dungavel-detention-centre-86908-23346246

A firm who run part of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp have won the contract to manage Dungavel immigration removal centre.
The GEO group manage the Guantanamo Bay Migrant Operations Centre, as well as private jails in the US.
In America, the firm have been dogged by allegations of human rights abuses, sexual assault and negligence.
And after a series of scandals involving rioting, racism and assault, they lost a contract to run immigration centres in Australia.
The company will take over the running of Dungavel in September for five years. The contract is worth £25 million of taxpayers' cash.
Last night, politicians condemned the Government's decision to offer the contract to such a contoversial company.

1 August 2011
http://euobserver.com/?aid=32672
Let Turkey into Europol, British MPs say
Turkey should be allowed to become a member of the EU's joint police body, Europol, no matter what happens with its EU membership bid, a new report by the British parliament has said.
The study, published by MPs on the home affairs committee on Monday (1 August), cited Europol director Rob Wainwright and the head of the British Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), Steve Coats, as favouring the move.

"Because [Turkey is] not a member of Europol ... they don't enjoy the same services that other European law enforcement has in terms of our ability to connect police teams together," Wainwright told the parliamentary enquiry.
"There are advantages to it in terms of our intelligence systems, intelligence pathways and operational ability to work on operations with other partners," Coats told MPs.