24th November 2016
- Dianne Ngoza told she will be removed from the UK next Wednesday, November 30th – even though she has an outstanding human rights application pending
- Solicitor confirms the threatened removal will be challenged if the Home Office do not agree to suspend it
-Lucy Powell, MP for Manchester Central, has written to Immigration Minister Robert Goodwill expressing concerns about Dianne's case – and about her lack of access to sufficient food
The Home Office is making an unlawful attempt to deport Zambian nurse Dianne Ngoza who has lived in this country for 14 years and has an outstanding human rights application for leave to remain in the UK.
Her solicitor Mervyn Cross, of the firm Duncan Lewis, has confirmed that the attempt to remove Dianne will be legally challenged if the Home Office refuse to suspend it.
Dianne, who was detained at Dallas Court Home Office Reporting Centre, Salford, on Wednesday of last week, is in Yarl's Wood detention centre, Bedfordshire. The Home Office has received numerous letters from her supporters who have also contacted their own Members of Parliament about the case.
Dianne's MP Lucy Powell (Manchester Central) has had a number of letters from supporters and also letters from other Members of Parliament. The MP has written to Immigration Minister Robert Goodwill expressing concerns about the case – and the fact that Dianne is not being given sufficient food inside Yarl's Wood.
Dianne is a vegan and, since she was detained more than a week ago, she has been given mainly fruit to eat and has only had two proper meals, stir frys consisting of potatoes and vegetables. She has also had one meal of kidney beans, tomatoes and onions and another just of chick peas.
Hannah Bowler, aged 21, from Flixton, Bedfordshire, is a friend of one of Dianne's supporters in Manchester. She visited Dianne in Yarl's Wood last night and said that, although she had never met Dianne before, she looked exhausted and was talking constantly about food.
Hannah added: “She really wants fresh vegetables, fresh food. Denying her food and toiletries is completely unacceptable. She needs shea butter for her skin and she told me they won't let me or anyone else bring it in for her.”
Dianne has a wide network of friends in Manchester and the North West as a result of her work with charities and other organisations. One friend from Lancashire, who has been speaking to Dianne regularly and contacted her own MP Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley) about the food situation in Yarl's Wood, has now found she can no longer get through to Dianne on the phone.
Mervyn Cross, the solicitor representing Dianne, said she had been subjected to a long-standing and ongoing delay by the Home Office in the processing of her original application for leave to remain in the UK. She submitted subsequent applications in the summer which have been refused but, on the morning she was detained, she had sent further evidence in support of her application. The Home Office is legally obliged to consider this evidence before she is removed from the UK.
Mr Cross added: “We, as the instructing solicitors, were not served with a copy of these removal directions, despite the fact that the Home Office have confirmed by email that they are aware we are acting for her. We have attempted to contact the Home Office but have been informed we are not allowed to speak to the case owner.
“Clearly for the Home Office to issue removal directions when Dianne has an outstanding human rights application pending is unlawful. We will be challenging Dianne's removal if the Home Office do not confirm that they will suspend it.”
Yesterday, Mr Cross made an application for a temporary admission to the UK for Dianne which would allow time for her case to be looked at properly and for a bail application to be made. The Home Office received this application yet still issued her with removal directions today.
Speaking from Yarl's Wood this afternoon, Dianne herself said: “It is beyond my comprehension that the Home Office are doing this before looking at the evidence in my case. I am exceedingly grateful to all the people who are working for me and supporting me, without them I would be lost.”
Dianne, who came to this country on a work permit in 2002, has worked as a volunteer with a large number of church groups and refugee and community organisations. Mark Wiggin, Director of Caritas Salford, said: “Caritas Salford is very concerned about the time this lady, whom we know well, is being detained pending a decision on bail. We are also worried about the concerns expressed by people in touch with Dianne on the failure to meet her basic human rights on food and communication.”
Dr Rhetta Moran, of the Manchester human rights charity RAPAR where Dianne is a leading member, said:“Dianne’s rights are currently being violated by the Home Office - the right to access due legal process, the right to food, and the right to care for your own body, in this instance by moisturising your own skin. These rights exist because ordinary people stood together and demanded them. The time to defend those rights, and assert them for Dianne and every detained person, is here and now.”
For more information, contact RAPAR Press Officer Kath Grant on 07758386208 or Dr Rhetta Moran, of RAPAR, on 07776264646
11/15/2016
Supporters to gather at Dallas Court Home Office Reporting Centre, South Langworthy Road, Salford, tomorrow WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16th, 10am
Home Office admits Dianne has the right to appeal against their decision – but says she must appeal from OUTSIDE the country
From December 1st, new Home Office policy will mean that many more people seeking to stay in the UK will be denied the right to an in-country appeal
A Manchester-based community activist - whose anti destitution campaign work has attracted support from across the UK and Ireland - is in immediate danger of detention and deportation following the refusal of her application for leave to remain in this country.
Those supporting Dianne Ngoza include a wide range of individuals, church groups, refugee and community organisations, and trade unionists who have all signed a collective statement backing her right to stay in the UK.
Among the signatories on Dianne's petition are Irish psychiatrist Pat Bracken whose research on the positive effects community activism has on migrants' mental health is acknowledged internationally and Cllr Micheline Ngongo, the nationally respected Congolese refugee who has settled in Islington, London, and with whom Dianne shared a campaign platform last month.
Lucy Powell, MP for Manchester Central, is raising the case with the Home Office.
Large numbers of Dianne's supporters have agreed to be at Dallas Court Home Office Reporting Centre at 10am tomorrow (Wednesday 16th November) to ensure she is not detained. Today, she has submitted further evidence for her case to the Home Office.
Dianne, a Zambian national, applied for leave to remain in the UK on the basis of the right to family and private life. A qualified nurse, she came to this country from South Africa on a work permit in 2002 and was employed in the UK for some years before a series of errors by immigration lawyers meant that her permit was not renewed and she became destitute. The Home Office is trying to deport Dianne to Zambia where she has not lived for more than 20 years. She has no surviving relatives or friends there and her daughter lives in the UK.
Dianne's friends and contacts have supported her emotionally and practically during her six years of destitution. Her active community work means that she has remained positive and avoided the devastating effects on mental health experienced by the majority of people who become destitute as a result of the UK's immigration system.
Her supporters are particularly concerned that the Home Office has denied her the right to appeal in the UK. The Home Office agrees she is entitled to appeal against the decision but says she must do this from Zambia. She has no money and no relatives, friends or contacts in Zambia so she will find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to appeal from outside the UK. It will prevent her from achieving the justice she deserves.
From December 1st, a change in immigration law will enable the Home Office to remove many more people who are pursuing human rights appeals and force them to appeal from outside the country. A similar power was introduced in the Immigration Act 2014 but applied only to foreign criminals. It is now being extended to all migrants relying on human rights appeals.
Dianne's supporters include refugee-related organisations Revive, RAPAR, United for Change, City of Sanctuary and others.
Community and other groups supporting Dianne include the Gaskell Garden Project in Manchester, and Stand Up to Racism.
Dianne is a member of the Unite NW 389 Branch, the Branch is backing her and will be taking their Union banner to Dallas Court tomorrow. Other trade union branches supporting Dianne are Unison Salford City Branch and the Manchester & Salford Branch of the National Union of Journalists.
ENDS
For more information, contact RAPAR Press Officer Kath Grant on 07758386208 or Dr Rhetta Moran, of RAPAR, on 07776264646