Glasgow: Dawn raids are back!

Watch out for the UKBA in your community ˆ warn your neighbours!

Stop Dawn Raids! Stop Detaining Children!

Come to the protest Monday 21 November, 10.00 am
Festival Court
200 Brand Street
Govan
Glasgow G51 1DH

Following the dawn raid on two families early last week Unity is calling for a protest outside of the UKBA reporting centre and headquarters of the Immigration Enforcement Team on Monday 21 November. Unity hopes it will be a well-attended protest that will make it clear once and for all that the UKBA using dawn raids and the detention of families is just not acceptable.

Monday 21 November is the next working day after the UN's Universal Children's Day on 20 November ˆ a day set aside for promoting the welfare of the children of the world.

We want as many people as possible to come to Brand Street on Monday to make a noisy colourful protest against the resumption of dawn raids that the UKBA cannot ignore.

From: "The Unity Centre" <info@unitycentreglasgow.org>

Early day motion 2438: Child Sacrifice in Uganda
That this House condemns the abhorrent practice of child sacrifice in Uganda; notes with concern that between 2006 and 2010 only one person was found guilty despite 83 criminal cases and an estimated 900 murders of young people through child sacrifice; and urges the Ugandan government to implement the terms of both the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child which it has signed andto implement the recommendations of the Jubilee Campaign and Kyampisi Childcare Ministries' Child Sacrifice in Uganda report.
Primary sponsor: John Leech, date tabled: 15/11/2011

Early day motion 2436: Status of Jerusalem
That this House believes that Jerusalem is a shared city, sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians; notes with alarm the systematic attempts to reduce the Palestinian population of East Jerusalem and the Jerusalem periphery through evictions of Palestinian families, demolition of Palestinian homes, expansion of Israeli settlements, removal of residency rights from many Palestinian residents of Jerusalem and refusal of access to Jerusalem and its holy sites to most Muslim and Christian Palestinians from the West Bank, resulting in the gradual destruction of Palestinian life and culture; supports the Government's position of not recognising Israel's unilateral annexation of East Jerusalem, of regarding Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem as contrary to international law and of refusing to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel until it becomes the shared capital of both nations; and calls on the Government to take steps to ensure that the Israeli authorities respect the rights of Palestinians as well as Israeli citizens and the freedom of worship of all faiths in Jerusalem.
Primary sponsor: Jeremy Corbyn, Date tabled: 15/11/2011

Funke & Joseph have left the UK
Funke and Joseph are back in Nigeria, I'm sad to say. A lawyer in London tried to get an injunction on the grounds that Joseph was not given anti-malarial drugs 48 hours prior to leaving but that was knocked back because Joseph is not under 5 years old...he is 5 years 2 months!!! However, Phil spoke to Funke yesterday and they are both safe. They had the company of nine guards and a doctor on their flight.

Cheers, Justin, The UNITY Centre

Kahiriri Family have left the UK
As everything stands now and having not received any phone call or email from her since Friday, tells the campaign that she is no more in the UK, all attempts to contact her by phone have failed.

From: Congolesecommunityofwales Cardiff
<congolesecommunityofwales@ymail.com>

One would hope that Barnardo's are ashamed of themselves for their part in deporting these children to poverty & destitution and the prevalent societal violence that are the daily lot of children in Nigeria and Namibia.

Omotunde: a closer look
. . . . is warranted as it gives an idea of how the domestic courts are applying the principles in <http://freemovement.wordpress.com/?s=zambrano>Zambrano in relation to deportation cases, a potentially difficult issue for practitioners and judges alike. Omotunde addresses the deportation of a foreign criminal who had a British Citizen child. The issue arose as to whether removal of a particular parent would 'deprive [the child] of the genuine enjoyment of the substance of the rights attaching to the status of European Union citizen'
Read more . . . .

18th Anniversary Demonstration at Campsfield IRC

12:00 noon Saturday 26th November 2011

Campsfield Main Gates
Langford Lane
Kidlington
Oxfordshire
OX5 1RE

25 November 1993: two minibuses bring the first detainees from Harmondsworth, Heathrow, to Campsfield. Demonstrators at the gate protest. Since then, detainees themselves have mounted countless protests. Over 10,000 innocent people, refugees and undocumented migrants, have been imprisoned in Campsfield for anything from a day or two to months, even years, without being charged with any crime, without judicial oversight or proper reason given, and without time limit.

Bring banners / drums 

Campaign to Close Campsfield
info@closecampsfield.org.uk
<http://www.closecampsfield.org.uk/>www.closecampsfield.org.uk

Somalia: Rape cases soar in Galkayo camps
- Deteriorating security, a culture of impunity and an increase in attacks on internally displaced people (IDPs) in the central Somali town of Galkayo, Mudug region, have resulted in a sharp increase in rape cases, gender activists told IRIN.

"Attacks on women have gone up dramatically in the last two months and the severity of the attacks has become worse," said Silje Heitmann, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) gender-based violence (GBV) specialist for south-central Somalia.

Many of the rape survivors live in IDP camps in the town, in flimsy shelters that often do not have doors or other structures that would deter an attacker. Gender activists also attributed the increase in rape to a deterioration of security, with armed gangs of young men roaming about the town, often high on khat (a natural stimulant), and frequently able to get away with raping women who have no clan support.
11 November 2011 (IRIN)

Shades of Double Punishment
[Since 1971 it has been the way of the UK Government to punish UK families, of which one of the family was a foreign national and had committed a criminal offence or breach of immigration rules by deporting the offender. This has always been seen as a 'double Punishment'. Now the government are attempting to punish all UK families for something only one member of the family has done. First they come for the foreign nationals, now they are coming for you!]

Collective punishment of families
Local authority and police decisions to seize the homes of family members of those charged in connection with the riots or convicted of terrorist offences punish whole families for one member's wrongdoing.

Councils routinely bring possession claims against blameless tenants whose children, lodgers or visitors cause nuisance or annoyance to neighbours[4] - but as housing lawyer Liz Davies observed, since the purpose of such provisions is to protect neighbours from anti-social behavior, the departure of the person causing the nuisance is enough to prevent the tenant's eviction.

An even more extreme example of collective punishment is taking place in Longsight, Manchester, where, if the police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have their way, seven members of the family of Munir Farooqi, including two young children, will soon be homeless. Farooqi was convicted in September on charges of soliciting murder, acts preparatory to terrorism and disseminating terrorist publications, after allegedly trying to recruit undercover agents to fight in Afghanistan and selling extremist literature from his Manchester market stall. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum tariff of nine years, and is appealing his conviction. But Greater Manchester Police and the CPS have applied to seize his Victorian family home, which is believed to be owned by his wife - although she, their children, including an 8-year-old, and the couple's seven-month old grandchild live there.
Francis Webber IRR (More)

(This alert is no longer live)

Eighth Attempt to Remove Cornelius Lansana

Cornelius Lansana a national of Sierra Leone and resident in the UK since 2002, is currently in detention @ Dover IRC and due to be forcibly removed from the UK on BMI flight - BD 967 on Friday 18th November @ 13:15 to Sierra Leone.

This will be the eighth attempt to remove Cornelius. The fifth attempt on Wednesday 8th June 2011 failed, Immigration officials in Sierra Leone, refused him entry and he was brought back to the UK. The sixth attempt on Friday 4th November failed through UKBA admin error. Seventh attempt failed because no escorts were available to take him to the airport

They are trying to remove him on a 'European Travel Document' that the Sierra Leone London Embassy has okayed, but highly unlikely that immigration at the the airport in Sierra Leone will accept.

Model letters/contact details, can be found here . . . .

Sri Lanka: Army chief is jailed again for speaking out over war crimes

The former chief of Sri Lanka's army was sentenced to three years in prison yesterday after he was convicted of alleging the country's Defence Secretary was involved in war crimes in 2009 at the conclusion of the long conflict with Tamil rebels.

A three-judge bench of the High Court delivered a split verdict in a case relating to an interview Sarath Fonseka gave to a newspaper while campaigning for the presidency later that year. The court found his interview breached emergency laws that were in place. "I reject this decision with disgust," Mr Fonseka said. "I believe that the fair-minded people will correct this mistake one day, otherwise it will remain a black mark in the history of our judiciary."

The allegations centred on a notorious episode, reported by The Independent, which came to be known as the "white flag incident". Supporters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), as well as human rights campaigners, claimed several LTTE members were shot dead while trying to surrender in the final hours of the conflict.
Indpendent, 19/11/11

UK Border Agency spent 20 million pounds deporting people this year

£6,682,578.49 on Chartered Flights

£13,729,698.48 on Commercial Flights

For the period April to June 2011, the latest period for which figures are available, 408 people were removed on chartered flights.

For the same period, 3,850 individuals were removed from the UK on leaving immigration detention,

669 were escorted on scheduled flights.

Number of complaints where an individual has alleged assault during an enforced removal

January to November of this year: 26 complaints

January to December 2010 - 41 Complaints

January to December 2009 - 33 Complaints

Source for all data in this message can be found here . . . .

Nigeria: Tightening the noose on gay rights
Rights groups in Nigeria fear a same-sex marriage (Prohibition) bill being discussed in parliament could boost already prevalent discrimination against homosexuals. The bill goes much further than banning same-sex marriage; it threatens to ban the formation of groups supporting homosexuality, with imprisonment for anyone who "witnesses, abet[s] or aids" same-gender relationships, and could lead to any discussion or activities related to gay rights being banned.

Under a colonial-era law, sodomy is punishable by a 14-year jail sentence; and in the country's mainly Muslim northern states, where a version of Shar'ia law applies, the penalty is death by stoning, although this has never officially been carried out.

The National Assembly began debating the latest version of the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill in November. Most high-ranking officials have voiced their approval of the bill, signalling it is likely to pass.
IRIN, 15th November 2011

Nowhere People - The Global Face of Statelessness
Please find attached an invitation to the launch of the joint UNHCR and Asylum Aid report Mapping Statelessness in the UK. This report, on the 50th anniversary of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, examines the number and situation of stateless people living in the UK, and the legal routes out of the limbo into which stateless persons can fall.

The launch, between 3:00 to 5:00pm on Tuesday 22nd November at the Royal Albert Hall, is accompanied by the photographic exhibition Nowhere People by the award-winning photographer Greg Constantine.

Please RSVP to: <mailto:gbrloea@unhcr.org>gbrloea@unhcr.org

Domestic Violence: Immigrants
Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 11 October 2011, Official Report, column 330W, on domestic violence: immigrants, what steps she plans to take to protect victims of domestic violence who have no recourse to public funds and have not been successful in their application for indefinite leave to remain. [79760]

Damian Green: The answer of 11 October 2001, Official Report, column 330W, confirmed that support is currently provided through the Sojourner project to victims of domestic violence who have no recourse to public funds to enable access to a refuge for a limited period while an application for leave for indefinite leave to remain as a victim of domestic violence is considered by the UK Border Agency. From April 2012, those currently eligible for Sojourner support will be given a short period of leave to enable them to access welfare benefits while their claim for indefinite leave is made and considered.

The support will continue to be limited to those who have entered the UK as a spouse, civil partner, un-married or same-sex partner of a British citizen or a person present and settled in the UK, and who are able to demonstrate that their relationship was caused to permanently break down as a result of domestic violence. There are no plans to extend support to those whose claim to be a victim of domestic violence is ultimately not upheld.
House of Commons / 14 Nov 2011 : Column 502W

Garden Court Chambers, Immigration Law Bulletin - 251

ARC: Country Of Information Update Volume 22
This document provides an update of Country Guidance case law, UKBA publications and developments in refugee producing countries 17/10/2011 and 31/10/2011.
Please visit www.asylumresearchconsultancy.com and then click on the icon 'COI Update Vol 22' to access the document.

A Commentary on the Eritrea Operational Guidance Note (OGN) prepared for the Still Human Still Here Coalition. The commentary identifies the main inconsistencies and omissions between the available country of origin information and case law for Eritrea and the conclusions reached in the September 2011 OGN. The commentary is intended as a tool to assist legal practitioners and to help ensure that all relevant material is considered by decision-makers.

Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Structural Differences and Access to Country Information (COI) at European Courts Dealing with Asylum, July 2011. ARC was appointed as the UK counterparts of an EU-funded project to identify the UK legal provisions that refer to guidance and standards regarding country of origin information.

From: "ARC"info@asylumresearchconsultancy.com

Sudan and South Sudan: Violence on both sides of the border continues to displace civilians

Ongoing fighting on both sides of the newly-established border between Sudan and South Sudan continues to displace civilians and threaten stability in the region. The countries have blamed each other for violence on their respective sides since South Sudan became independent in July 2011.  (More)

Kazakhstan: Prison mosques, churches, and prayer rooms closed down

Kazakhstan has recently closed mosques, churches and prayer rooms in prisons, citing two laws restricting freedom of religion or belief before they came into force, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. "Mosques and Russian Orthodox churches were built in prisons in violation of building regulations and the law", Aliya Kadenova of the Interior Ministry told Forum 18. "They are illegal - that's why they are being closed down." She refused to say why, if they had been built illegally, no prison governors had been prosecuted.   (More)

Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace & Justice
Next Monday representatives of 25 of the world's most powerful countries will be wined and dined by Gotabaya Rajapaksa [1]: the president's brother and Sri Lankan defence secretary, arguably the most powerful man in Sri Lanka, a brutal autocrat who has publicly denounced democracy and human rights [2], and a man against whom the UN has found credible allegations of the most serious types of war crimes; an allegation that is also levelled against the LTTE, their adversary in the conflict.
Click here to send these governments a message that they should not attend