Detainees on Hunger Strike in Harmondsworth IRC
News filtering out of the detention estate say that a number of detainees in Harmondsworth have been on Hunger Strike for three days. No contact as yet with the protestors, so not able to say, what nationalities are involved or what their demands are. If anyone on list is in contact with the protestors or has definitive information please get back to 'No-Deportations', make clear that what you send can or cannot be put in the public domain.
Lemlem, Still Here, Still Fighting
Removal was stayed after intervention by her MP Paul Blomfield who will meet with the Home Secretary on Tuesday26th June to discuss Lemlem's case.
Many thanks to all who have taken actions
Elizabeth Larminie <larminie@googlemail.com>
Lemlem Hussen Abdu Belongs to Sheffield
Lemlem Hussen Abdu a national of Eritrea and long time resident of Sheffield, is currently in detention and due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET701 to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Sunday 24th June @ 21.00 hrs. Full background here . . . .
What you can to do help:
1) Email/Fax/Phone Girma Wake, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ethiopian Airlines. Request that he does not carry Lemlem Hussen Abdu on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET701 to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Sunday 24th June @ 21.00 hrs. Download model letter LemlemHussenAbduGW.doc
Email: loncto@ethiopianairlines.com
Fax: 020 7747 9339
Phone Admin/Management: 020 8987 9086
2) 2) Email/Faxi Theresa May, Home Secretary
Ask her to exercise her discretionary powers to stay the removal and release Lemlem Hussen Abdu from detention and to grant her protection in the UK. Download model letter, LemlemHussenAbduTM.doc or alternatively write your own one. Please remember to quote Lemlem's Home Office Reference number A1357578 in any correspondence.
Fax: 020 7035 4745
Emails:
mayt@parliament.uk
Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
pscorrespondence@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk
"CIT - Treat Official" <CITTO@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk>
Source for this Message / Friends of Lemlem
Elizabeth Larminie <larminie@googlemail.com>
Gina Clayton <gina.clayton@blueyonder.co.uk>
'Self-Harm' in Immigration etention January/February/March 2012
7 individuals were on 'Self-harm' watch in Cedars Pre-departure Accomodation, data does not say if those at risk were adults or children
In the first three months of 2012 - 21 detainees attempted to kill themselves, whilst in the care of G4S. This is a very serious increase (200%) on the last quarter of 2011, when only 7 detainees in the care of G4s attempted self-harm.
Overall there was a 17% increase in the number of individuals who attempted Self-Harm in Q1/2012, compared to Q4/2011.
There was a 6% decline in Q1/2012 of Individuals on Formal Self-Harm at Risk, compared to Q4/2011.
Read more here . . . .
Aziz Lamari entitled to damages after deportation delay
The High Court has ruled that a foreign national jailed for 12 months for robbery is entitled to damages because he was detained too long while attempts were made to deport him.
A judge ruled Aziz Lamari, an Algerian citizen, should have been released last month. By then it was clear there was no reasonable likelihood of deportation taking place within a reasonable time, and Lamari was suffering from mental illness "driven" by his detention, said the judge.
The Home Secretary was also found guilty of contempt of court because her department failed to release Lamari after it eventually accepted he should no longer be in detention and gave an undertaking to release him into suitable accommodation.
Read more: John Aston, Indpendent, 19/06/12
Immigrants: Domestic Violence
Mr Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what evidence the UK Border Agency requires to accept a claim for leave to remain as a victim of domestic violence. [111372]
Damian Green: In order for a claim for indefinite leave to remain as a victim of domestic violence to be considered under part 8 paragraph 289A of the Immigration Rules, the applicant must have been granted entry clearance or leave to remain as a partner in a genuine and subsisting relationship, be in the UK and provide evidence that their relationship was caused to permanently break down before that leave expired as a result of domestic violence.
Evidence to prove domestic violence has taken place can include court orders, criminal convictions, police cautions and formal documentary evidence such as a letter from Chair of a multi-agency risk assessment conference (MARAC).
Where formal documentation is not available, other types of evidence such as a medical report from a doctor or hospital, police incident report(s), letter(s) from social service departments and written report(s) from a domestic violence support organisation are accepted in support of a claim.
House of Commons / 18 Jun 2012 : Column 668W
800,000 New Refugees in 2011, Highest this Century
A report released today by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees shows 2011 to have been a record year for forced displacement across borders, with more people becoming refugees than at any time since 2000. The report details for the first time the extent of forced displacement from a string of major humanitarian crises that began in late 2010 in Côte d'Ivoire, and was quickly followed by others in Libya, Somalia, Sudan and elsewhere. Worldwide, 42.5 million people ended 2011 either as refugees (15.42 million), internally displaced (26.4 million) or in the process of seeking asylum (895,000).
Viewed on a 10-year basis, the report shows several worrying trends: One is that forced displacement is affecting larger numbers of people globally, with the annual level exceeding 42 million people for each of the last five years. Another is that a person who becomes a refugee is likely to remain as one for many years – often stuck in a camp or living precariously in an urban location. Of the 10.4 million refugees under UNHCR's mandate, almost three quarters (7.1 million) have been in exile for at least five years awaiting a solution.
Reliefweb, 18/06/12
Second attempt to remove Ahmed Abdullah
 Ahmed Abdullah a national of Somalia and resident of Glasgow, was detained on Friday 1st June when he went to sign at the UKBA reporting centre. He is currently in detention and due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Qatar Airway flight QR76 from Heathrow @ 16:00 hrs to Doha on Tuesday 19th June 2012.and then Qatar Airway flight QR506 to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
Ahmed is not a national of Tanzania, so it is not known at this stage if the Tanzanian authorities will allow him entrance into Tanzania. If they do they are more than likely to expel him immediately to Somalia.
Somalia has been home to the world's worst humanitarian crisis for many years. A country having little or no governance, endemic corruption, profiteering by ruling elites, very poor Human Rights, the government cannot/will not protect the population from others or itself, massive internal conflict, forced internal/external displacement, institutionalised political exclusion of significant numbers of the population, progressive deterioration of welfare infrastructure (hospitals, clinics, doctors, nurses) not adequate to meet health, needs, progressive economic decline of the country as a whole as measured by per capita income, debt, severe child mortality rates, poverty levels.
Ahmed is Bajuni and from a small island in the south of Somalia where he lived until he fled with his mother when he was aged 7 after soldiers shot his father. After his father was killed, Ahmed became a refugee and lived precariously for most of his adolescence in different refugee camps. In 2005, when he was 20, an agent arranged a fake visa for him to come to the UK under a Tanzanian identity so he could join is grandmother who was claiming asylum here.
UKBA have refused his asylum case due to his earlier use of a fake visa and the results of a controversial dialect analysis.
Most of his family are dead but Ahmed has recently discovered that he has an elder sister living in England who has a British passport and has lived in the UK for ten years. Ahmed was waiting for arrangements to be made for DNA analysis to prove he has been telling the truth about his identity when he was detained.
Ahmed has made a significant contribution in his local community in Govan, Glasgow and is well known to many people.
What you can do to help
(Please let the campaign know of any actions taken, info@unitycentreglasgow.org)
1) Email/Fax, Akbar Al Baker CEO Qatar Airways. Urge him not to carry out the forced removal of Ahmed Abdullah/Bakari Khamis Ali. Due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Qatar Airway flight QR002 from Heathrow @ 21:30 hrs to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania on Monday 11th June 2012. Download model letter AhmedAbdullahQA.doc you can copy/amend/compose your own.
Put as much pressure on this airline as you can, to make them consider if it's worth the damage to their reputation to continue as one of UKBA's deportation airlines.
Fax: 0161 838 5398
Email: akbar@qatar.net.qa
2) Email/Fax Theresa May, Home Secretary
Ask her to exercise her discretionary powers to stay the removal and release Ahmed Abdullah from detention and to grant him protection in the UK. Download model letter, AhmedAbdullahTM.doc or alternatively write your own one. Please remember to quote Abdullah's Home Office Reference number A1393864 in any correspondence.
Fax: 020 7035 4745
Emails:
mayt@parliament.uk
Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
pscorrespondence@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk
"CIT - Treat Official" <CITTO@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk>
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Johnson Kalu Captured by UKBA on Hunger Strike in Colnbrook
Hi everyone my husband Johnson Kalu has been detained yesterday (Wednesday 20th June) as he went to report. He was having an appointment for his bail review and was told by UKBA officials that there is no immigration officer to review his bail and that he must come another day.
So when he went to collect is mobile phone 12-14 immigration officers was waiting for him and told him that they will detain him and they handcuffed him immediately. He told me he collapse when he open his eyes on top of him was an officer who told him that nothing will stop them from taking him to detention.
Last year while he was still in detention (nine months) his solicitor make a fresh claim for him in October and send it to the UKBA via record delivery in Liverpool and was waiting for a reply and then apply for bail he also has an outstanding Judicial review for unlawful detention but to know avail they still take him for a interview with the Nigerian Embassy.
Johnson is now in Colnbrook IRC and he has been refusing food for three days now. He has not been served with Removal Directions as yet.
I still have nightmares from when I was captured by UKBA (September 2011) and incarcerated in Yarl's Wood and was more than glad to get out of that hell hole.
I am so confused and very hard up now for all the injustices.
Sofia Kalu <sofiakalu@yahoo.co.uk>
Background: Johnson and Sofia Must Stay
Uganda bans 38 NGOs 'for promoting homosexuality'
Uganda said on Wednesday it was banning 38 non-governmental organisations it accuses of promoting homosexuality and recruiting children. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda, along with more than 30 other countries in Africa, and activists say few Africans are openly gay, fearing imprisonment, violence and losing their jobs.
Ethics Minister Simon Lokodo told Reuters the organisations being targeted were receiving support from abroad for Uganda's homosexuals and accused gays and lesbians of "recruiting" young children in the country into homosexuality. Read more: Telegraph, 20/06/12
UN report on Rwanda fuelling Congo conflict 'blocked by US'
The United States has been accused of blocking a UN report which examines claims that Rwanda is fuelling a violent rebellion in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Congolese government said the UN group of experts' report is being stalled by Rwanda and its allies on the security council to protect President Paul Kagame.
Read more: guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 20 June 2012
Nigeria: 80 killed in gun battles in Muslim-Christian conflict
At least 80 people have been killed since Monday in clashes in two northern Nigerian cities triggered by Islamists waging an insurgency against the government, figures from police and the Red Cross show.
Read more: guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 20 June 2012
Fund for Peace - Failed States Index 2012
Though the index will show that some countries have moved down the index, this does not mean that conditions have got better; just that they have been replaced by countries with deteriorated conditions moving up the index.
Top ten worst countries: Somalia, DR Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Chad, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Haiti, Yemen, Iraq, Central African Republic
Somalia remains the worlds worst county for Human Rights for the fifth year running.
Dr Congo moved up 2 places to become the second worst
Sudan remained third to be immediately joined by South Sudan at fourth
Zimbabwe moved up 1 place to fifth
Central African Republic moved up 2 places
Syria moved up 25 places
Libya moved up 50 places
Failed state: A state having little or no governance, endemic corruption, profiteering by ruling elites, very poor Human Rights, the government cannot/will not protect the population from others or itself, massive internal conflict, forced internal/external displacement, institutionalised political exclusion of significant numbers of the population, progressive deterioration of welfare infrastructure (hospitals, clinics, doctors, nurses) not adequate to meet health, needs, progressive economic decline of the country as a whole as measured by per capita income, debt, severe child mortality rates, poverty levels.
Read more here . . . .
UK Court Quashes Zimbabwe Country Guidance Case
Immigration lawyers and Zimbabwean nationals in the UK with unresolved asylum claims will temporarily breathe a sigh of relief following news that the Court of Appeal has quashed the case of EM & Others, which was the leading case in Zimbabwean Asylum cases.
EM & Others succeeded the case of RN which had far more favourable conclusions and resulted in huge numbers of Zimbabweans coming out of the shadow to claim asylum at the time.
But the sigh of relief will be temporary as the case has been remitted or sent back to the Upper Tribunal where it will be heard again, but this time featuring evidence that the Home Office had failed to disclose to the Upper Tribunal.
EM was a particularly unwelcome decision in that it significantly raised the level of profile that a claimant needed to show to prove that they faced a real risk of persecutory treatment upon return to Zimbabwe.
Read more: By Brighton Mutebuka, Newzimbabwe.com, 18/06/12
36 Dead in Nigeria Church Attacks, Rioting
Multiple suicide attacks on churches in northern Nigeria and subsequent rioting by Christian youths targeting Muslims killed at least 36 people on Sunday, officials said. Bomb blasts struck three churches in the northern Kaduna state in the space of an hour, the latest in a string of Sunday attacks that has threatened to ignite wider sectarian strife across the divided country.
Officials put the state -- which last year saw sectarian violence that left more than 600 people dead -- under curfew for 24 hours "to assess the situation", banning Kaduna's seven million inhabitants from leaving their homes for a full day.
Reliefweb, 17/06/12
Garden Court Chambers - Immigration Law Bulletin - Issue 279
Amnesty by any other Name Still Smells Sweet
"They are Americans in their heart, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper," President Obama said in announcing the new policy in the White House Rose Garden on Friday. He said he was taking "a temporary stopgap measure" that would "lift the shadow of deportation from these young people" and make immigration policy "more fair, more efficient and more just."
Obama to end deportation for young undocumented migrants
A major announcement by the Obama administration: by executive order, the president will end the deportation of certain young undocumented immigrants - making an estimated 800,000 young people now safe. The order will stop the deportation of undocumented immigrants under 30 years old who came to the US before their 16th birthdays.
To benefit from the protection, they must have lived in the US continuously for five years, have no criminal record or have graduated from high school or served in the military. They are eligible for two-year work permits, renewable indefinitely. The act does not provide a path to citizenship.
Read More: Guardian, 16/06/12
Iraq: 500,000 people live in squatter settlements
The 2006 bombing of Al-Askari Mosque in Samarra launched a wave of sectarian violence that precipitated the displacement of 1.6 million Iraqis. In the six years that have passed since the Sa-marra bombing, few of those IDPs have returned home, leading to a situation of prolonged displacement that has put pressure on host communities throughout the country. Lack of adequate shelter is one of the most pressing problems affecting displaced Iraqis and host communities alike.
Reliefweb, 15/06/12
ARC: Commentary on the UKBA May DR Congo OGN
This commentary identifies what the 'Still Human Still Here' coalition considers to be the main inconsistencies and omissions between the currently available country of origin information (COI) and case law on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the conclusions reached in the May 2012 DRC Operational Guidance Note (OGN). Where we believe inconsistencies have been identified, the relevant section of the OGN is highlighted in blue.
http://www.asylumresearchconsultancy.com/
Iraq: AI condemns killings of pilgrims during Shi'a festival
A wave of bombings and other attacks in several Iraqi provinces including a number of locations in Baghdad that reportedly killed at least 55 people and wounded dozens during a major Shi'a religious festival has been condemned by Amnesty International. At least 18 people were reportedly killed by several bombs across Baghdad as Shi'a pilgrims gathered to mark the anniversary of the death of the imam Moussa al-Kadhim, a great-grandson of the prophet Muhammad.
Violence in Iraq has increased considerably since the last US soldiers left the country in December 2011. In January 2012, at least 55 civilians were killed in suicide bombs and other attacks across the country. There has been a wave of attacks on the Shi'a community in recent days, including on Sunday when six people were killed in a mortar attack in a square filled with Shi'a pilgrims.
Reliefweb 13/06/12
India: Abuses, Killings, Torture by Border Force Increasing
The Border Security Force has reverted to its previous tactics of unilaterally punishing suspects, defying orders from Delhi issued last year to exercise restraint and protect the right to life. But the central government is also responsible, since it has failed to hold perpetrators accountable. Justice is the best deterrent against further violations.
Despite assurances to the Bangladesh government and public orders to exercise restraint and end unlawful killings and attacks on suspected smugglers, evidence documented and published by Indian and Bangladeshi nongovernmental organizations suggest that the BSF is once again committing abuses including extrajudicial killings, torture, and ill-treatment of both Indian and Bangladeshi border residents.
Read more: Human Rights Watch, 11th June 2012
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