This Week's News

Here's a summary of the last week's refugee-related news, the good, the bad, and the ugly:

Another Daily Telegraph story proving their "guilty until proven innocent" approach when it comes to asylum seekers and refugees. According to their reporter, certain asylum seekers fabricated their ages in order to claim higher benefits from the UK. The Daily Telegraph, February 1st, 2012.

The Irish Times reveal that many LGBT asylum seekers often risk deportation as they are terrified of revealing their sexuality to border officials. Fleeing terrible persecution in their respective countries, many asylum seekers are unaware that they are able to claim asylum on the basis of their sexual orientation. The Irish Times, January 31st, 2012.

The Irish Examiner runs a story on recent criticism of the 'draconian' asylum and immigration system in Ireland. Responding to statements made by the Justice Minister Alan Shatter speaking in advance of the National Holocaust Memorial Day on Sunday, the reporter highlights the fact that rather than learning from the "inconvenient truth" that Ireland's doors were firmly closed to German Jewish families fleeing the Holocaust, Ireland's 21st century approach to asylum is little different. The Irish Examiner, February 1st, 2012.

The controversial deportation of Lydia Beesong, a highly acclaimed writer, and her husband has been delayed. High profile authors, such as Michael Morpugo, wrote to the Home Office in her defence. Speaking to the press, Morpugo stated:

"How this country treats asylum seekers is the measure of what kind of people we are. Lydia was oppressed in Cameroon. That there is a risk she will be imprisoned and abused again seems undeniable. Her stand against oppression is clear."

This is North Devon, January 31st, 2012.

The incredible stories of the Afghan boys who, seeking safety and sanctuary, walked to Europe. The Guardian, January 29th, 2012.

A school near Heathrow Airport bucks national trends with excellent exam results. Educating many asylum-seeking children, and with 66 different languages spoken between them, the rest of the country has a lot to learn from this school of sanctuary. The Independent, January 27th, 2012.

The Express, The Telegraph and MP Priti Patel

One of David Cameron's new ministers, Priti Patel, has received a large amount of attention from The Express and The Telegraph over the past few days.

Presenting a written question to the current Minister of State (Immigration), Damian Green, she demanded to know how much the running of Morton Hall immigration removal centre cost the "public purse" in the last financial year. These figures, coupled with the "revelation" that only 9% of people detained in the centre over the last 5 months have been deported, has sparked inflammatory articles from both The Express and The Telegraph bemoaning the "stranglehold" of the European Human Rights Act.

Quoting the Home Office, both papers revealed the heavily euro-sceptic and isolationist approach of the current Coalition towards the rights of migrants and asylum seekers. Claiming that "foreign offenders" are abusing the rights given to them by the Human Rights Act, a Home Office spokesperson stated that "we will shortly be changing the immigration rules to reflect the public interest in seeing the removal from the UK of those who should be removed."

Priti Patel, MP for Witham and one of the Conservative Party's 'bright young things', has already made a name for herself as a hard-line, quasi-Thatcherist. In one of her earliest TV appearances on BBC's Question Time, she stated her controversial support for the re-introduction of capital punishment as a "deterrent" in the UK's penal system. In a similarly brash approach to human rights, she revealed to The Express and The Telegraph that "[illegal immigrants] should be put on the first plane out of Britain with no additional costs to taxpayers."

Whilst this traditionalist Conservative Party view is hardly surprising, Patel's careless approach to the clear differences between illegal immigration, seeking sanctuary and criminality suggests a deeper cancer in the Conservative New Wave's approach to migration. Morton Hall is an all-male facility that houses foreign national prisoners, failed asylum seekers and migrants who no longer have 'right to remain' in the UK. Those incarcerated at Morton Hall, therefore, are under different charges and require very different legal approaches and support. To state that those detained at Morton Hall are all illegal immigrants and should be treated as such is both inflammatory and false.

This confusion is symptomatic of an underdeveloped asylum system in the UK that penalises, rather than supports, those seeking sanctuary. Asylum seekers ‘illegally’ enter this country because there is no legal way to travel to the UK specifically to seek asylum, something that was recognised in the 1951 Convention on the status of refugees. There is nothing illegal about filing a claim for asylum and it is impossible, in legal terms, to have an "illegal asylum seeker." Yet the Home Office’s Five Year Strategy for asylum and immigration published in 2005 revealed their pledge then was to “… move towards the point where it becomes the norm that those who fail can be detained”.

Considering that in the last quarter of 2011, 27% of appeals made by refused asylum seekers were granted, it would suggest that some of those refused asylum seekers incarcerated in Morton Hall have been unfairly denied sanctuary. With the recent revelation that many failed Congolese asylum seekers who had been returned to the Democratic Republic of Congo have either 'disappeared' or have reported instances of torture and intimidation, Priti Patel's approach to repatriation is shockingly ill-informed.

In an interview before the Conservative Party Conference in 2011, Iain Dale, a political commentator, said that Priti Patel was a hard-nosed member of the "hang 'em and flog 'em right." With a myopic protectionism defining her approach to the global question of migration, I can't help but agree. To dismantle a cross-country agreement on unified Human Rights sets a uncomfortable precedent for further erosion of the rights of vulnerable people in the UK and Europe.

Happy New Year!

Only slightly belatedly, Press Gang would like to wish you all a happy new year! As we trundle into the 31 overcast days of January, it's always good to remember that the days are getting longer, the nights are getting shorter, and it is gradually getting a little bit warmer in Yorkshire.

You may notice that our blog looks a little different... We've combined a few web-pages we had into a single site, hopefully making it all a lot easier to manage. Keep an eye on our News Page for a regularly updated selection of the best and worst articles on refugee related issues and our Events Page will let you know what's happening with Press Gang over the next few months.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 18th January at 6pm - check your emails for the location. For those of you new to Press Gang, please drop us an email and we'll get back to you.

Hope to see you all there,

PG x

LASSN at the Leeds International Film Festival

At the beginning of November, a total of around 100 people attended two events that had been organised between LASSN and the Leeds International Film Festival, to highlight some issues regarding refugees and asylum seekers and to provoke discussion about whether we do enough as communities to support asylum seekers and refugees.

The first event was the showing of the feature documentary Sierra Leone's Regfugee Allstars. A story of a band formed by refugees from Sierra Leone in Guinea and their return home.

The second event, attended by about 60 people was an evening of short film and discussion entitled 'Do We Do Enough?'. There were 3 short films and 2 talks from refugees who kindly shared their experiences of the asylum system with the crowd. The films we showed were the following and you can watch them here.

The Destitution Trap, by Refugee Action:


Sanctuary, by Lovejit K Dhaliwal: (this is not the full version)

Sanctuary from Lovejit Dhaliwal on Vimeo.

And 1000 Voices, by Tim Travers Hawkins:

Ctrl.Alt.Shift Film Competition Winner: 1000 Voices from Ctrl.Alt.Shift on Vimeo.

It sparked some interesting discussion in an almost full room and was successful in drawing in lots of new faces not already involved with refugees and asylum seekers in Leeds. Thanks to LIFF for facilitating our events at their festival this year.

Amnesty International

Amnesty International

by Judy Kessler

AI has been working for 50 years to promote Human Rights. It was started in response to a lawyer reading a newspaper article about two Portuguese students who had been arrested and imprisoned for making a toast, in public, to democracy.

Prisoners of Conscience are any person who has been imprisoned for making statement or performing actions which would lead to more justice for their group. They must never have used or advocated violence. PoC are adopted and supported by local Amnesty groups * by means of writing letters to the government, public officials who are concerned with the case, the prisoner themselves and their family. This can be a long term affair ! When PoC are eventually released they say how grateful they were to receive such support as they felt they were not alone. Knowing that the case has been recognized by Amnesty can, in many cases, improve the conditions of the PoC.

AI is a worldwide organization with a membership in excess of 3million people who work quietly and persistently for Human Rights and Justice.

Letter writing to governments is a key way of working. The letters are unfailingly polite and diplomatic but uncompromising in their demand for justice. When thousands of letters arrive asking for the same thing it can have a profound effect. It also means the plight of that PoC can no longer be hidden.

AI also demonstrates peacefully to raise awareness of issues. For instance each year, in Leeds, AI holds a public display to collect signatures to try and have all the countries of the UN recognize the rights of the child by banning the use of child soldiers. The Leeds group have also worked to promote awareness of violence against women and the irresponsible way in which oil has been extracted in West Africa leading to pollution of the environment.

A huge campaign was held to try to prevent the execution of Troy Davis in the USA recently. AI is very much against the death penalty. A group will be going to Strasbourg in October to lobby for specific Human Rights causes.
A key role of AI is to have international researchers to get to the truth of situations.

If you want to find out more please look up www.amnesty.org.uk and www.amnestyleeds.org for the local group.

* The Leeds group has adopted a prisoner of conscience from Indonesia called Johan Teterissa

Country Profiles - Eritrea

Our friends at RETAS have started this series of blog posts on the top 30 countries that asylum seekers come from to the U.K, beginning with the African country Eritrea. The original can be found HERE..

Imagine living in a country rated as having less freedom of the press than North Korea. A one party state holding a country in a continual repressive regime, using war as an excuse to rule by force.

The State of Eritrea split away from Ethiopia in 1993, though its border is still disputed, leaving the country in a perpetual state of war. Ruled by the ironically titled People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, the government that was created to set up a democracy have repeatedly postponed and cancelled national legislative elections. Over the last ten years President Isayas Afewerki’s leadership has overseen a steady erosion of human rights, fair justice and press freedom.

The population of Eritrea is the second most militarized in the world according to the International Institute of Strategic Studies, both men and women are required to undertake in a minimum of 18 months national service, however this is often extended indefinitely. There are reports of army labour being used to maintain property owned by generals or government employees, and the pay for military service is a pittance.

Most disturbingly of all, thousands of Eritreans are detained in known and secret detention centre’s, often without charge or trial, and no idea if they will ever be released.

People ‘disappear’ into these prisons for opposing the unelected leaders. Religion is also strictly controlled, people are only allowed to believe in approved faiths, and their place of worship must be registered and approved by the state.

No record is released giving the number of Eritreans incarcerated, and many detention facilities are in secret locations. Exiled citizens have spoken about being held in underground bunkers, regular beatings, even being tied up under the blazing sun or hung by their arms from trees. There is a shoot to kill policy if people are seen escaping across the border.

Leeds has a large Eritrean community, and various charities to help with asylum application, counseling and integrating into British life.

RETAS is based in Harehills and believes that every refugee that comes to West Yorkshire deserves help and support in finding training and employment, to begin a new life in the U.K

Article by Jake Davies, Journalism student and RETAS volunteer

For more information take a look at these sites

http://www.visiteritrea.org/intro.html

http://www.hrw.org/africa/eritrea