Help Save Mrs. L and her Children!
Source: Plymouth Campaign Committee
http://bit.ly/dy9UfP
Mrs. L and her two children, age 17 and 14, came to the UK from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in December 2009 on a visitors visa. It was only shortly after that Mrs. L's husband contacted her by email telling her that rumours were circulating within the South African Development Community (SADC), where he was employed within Human Resources, that in the UK he was making contact with ex-Faz forces and that he should return to explain himself.
Almost a year later she received an email from her husband informing her that he was wanted by the DRC government and that she and her family should seek safety in the UK. The UKBA has denied Mrs. L and her family's claim to asylum, saying that it is fabricated and that more evidence is needed. She recently submitted a new claim with evidence that her husband and family had, since submitting her first claim, been arrested in the Congo. Despite this Mrs. L has been threatened with forced removal twice during the summer. Her church in Plymouth now stands by her in her campaign for protection in the UK.
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Source: Cardiff Campaign Committee, Congolese Community of Wales
http://bit.ly/aSlT45
Don't forget that this morning there is a demonstration in Cardiff for Ms Tete and against deportations to the DRC. Details are below.
Also a model letter is now available so that you can write to the Home Secretary Theresa May, asking for Ms Tete's removal directions on Tuesday, 28 September 2010 to be canceled.
If writing your own letter be sure to include her Home Office Ref No: T1104204
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MEDIA
Protest at judge's decision to deport 'Satanic Verses' family to Iran.
Manchester Evening News, Jonathan Macpherson, 23 September 2010
A high court judge has upheld a decision to deport a family back to Iran. Protesters held a vigil outside Manchester town hall after Judge Mark Pelling said the family’s asylum claim was ‘wholly unmerited’. http://bit.ly/aM9OAr
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Ministers face high court battle over cap on immigration
Exclusive: Immigrant welfare council and number of small businesses ask judges to declare cap unlawful
Guardian, Alan Travis, 23 September 2010
A high court battle is to be launched that threatens to deliver a fresh body-blow to the government's already troubled plans to introduce a cap on immigration.
A judicial review claim on behalf of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants and a number of small businesses asks judges to declare the government's temporary cap on migrants – imposed on 28 June – unlawful because ministers sidestepped proper parliamentary approval. http://bit.ly/9VbT6E
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'End the ban on asylum seekers volunteering in the public sector'
Third Sector Online, 23 September 2010
Volunteering England chief Justin Davis Smith says the existing regulations 'highlight the stupidity around some of these issues'
Justin Davis Smith, chief executive of Volunteering England, will ask government officials to remove regulations that prevent asylum seekers from volunteering in the public sector. http://bit.ly/cfULvq
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Crackdown continues on illegal immigration in Calais
UKBA, 23 September 2010
The UK Border Agency has reported a dramatic reduction in the number of illegal migrants trying to smuggle themselves into the UK from Calais. http://bit.ly/c7G4cU
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EUROPE
Teen asylum seekers take HSE to court in effort to return to Dublin schools
Irish Times, 24 September 2010
FOUR TEENAGE asylum seekers planning to sit the Leaving Certificate next June have taken High Court proceedings against the HSE aimed at allowing them to return to schools they had previously attended in Dublin. http://bit.ly/bq8ViZ
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INTERNATIONAL
Protesting detainees 'punished by Serco'
Sydney Morning Herald, AAP, 24 September 2010
Detainees who protested on the roof of a Sydney detention centre this week have been put in maximum security isolation as punishment, a refugee advocate says. http://bit.ly/b2WLTJ
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Congo's Civilians Need Protection
HRW, 23 September 2010
"We fled home in 2004 and we haven't been back," a 33-year-old woman I will call Solange told me. "We lived in Kiwanja: there was no assistance so we lived for two years in a church; then we lived for two years in a camp." After soldiers destroyed the camp, they fled to the outskirts of a UN peacekeepers' base. "Now the locals want us to leave. So where should we go?" http://wp.me/pK4QN-dy
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EVENTS
Click link to see complete event listings http://www.ncadc.org.uk/events.html
Action for Refugee and Migrant Rights Conference
Glasgow, Saturday October 9th
10am – 2pm
at STUC
333 Woodlands Road,
Glasgow G3 6NG
A networking and action-planning event, bringing together a wide range of groups working for asylum and migrant rights. With discussion groups, workshops, information stands, food.
A programme of meetings and workshops will be published
soon at www.ncadc.org.uk/october9
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No Borders Camp in Brussels – Sept 27th to Oct 3rd 2010
What is the no border camp?
>From September 27th until October 3rd 2010 a No Border camp will take place in Brussels.
The set-up of the camp will start on Sept 25th. There will be a lot of activities organised during the week and a big demonstration on October 2nd. The idea of the camp is to bring people together who support the demands of No Borders and who want to gather to debate, get informed, protest, view documentaries and party. The No Border movement struggles against the European and Belgian migrant policy, for freedom of movement and settlement and for the abolition of borders.
A multi-lingual website has been set up. This is the English language home page:
http://www.noborderbxl.eu.org/?lang=en
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London Detainee Support Group will be launching a new report on
indefinite detention at our AGM on 27 September 2010, at 6:45pm at the
Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre.
The report highlights that indefinite immigration detention is still an
urgent issue, 20 months on from our "Detained Lives" research. LDSG has
tracked the cases analysed in that report, and can reveal what
eventually happens to indefinite detainees. That only a small proportion
can ultimately be deported shows that indefinite detention is
unnecessary as well as harmful. Testimony and art from detainees give a
glimpse of the human impact of this uniquely British practice.
The event will also feature an exhibition, “Nowhere Road”, of art by
detainees on the theme of indefinite detention.
The event will be held at Amnesty International UK, 17-25 New Inn Yard,
London EC2A 3EA, see map at:
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=10151
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RESEARCH
ECRE and Amnesty International Joint Briefing on the Commission proposal to amending the Frontex Regulation
21 September 2010
Amnesty International and ECRE publish a joint briefing on the European Commission proposal amending the Frontex founding Regulation. The briefing outlines Amnesty and ECRE's views on the proposal and presents their recommendations for possible amendments. In particular, Amnesty International and ECRE stress that increased powers for the Agency should be accompanied with enhanced accountability, more transparency and independent monitoring and control of Member States and Frontex activities within the context of border control operations. http://bit.ly/cTinCm
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Caught between Two Persecutions: The Challenges Facing African Refugees in Africa
SSRN, Roger-Claude Liwanga, 7 September 2010
This paper highlights the challenges experienced by African refugees in their asylum country in Africa. The 1951 UN Convention on Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, as well as the 1969 OAU Refugee Convention define a refugee as a person who is outside his/her country owing to fear of persecution on account of his/her race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or whose life, physical safety or freedom is threatened by political or regional instability. http://bit.ly/ayyPrV
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The European Union’s Policy on Trafficking in Human Beings An Overview of the External Dimension
European Union, 23 August 2010
http://bit.ly/bncrNm