Month: August 2011

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ILPA updates on the UKBA system

Making Asylum Claims
15th August 2011
The Asylum Process Guidance on the UK Border Agency website states:
The Asylum Screening Unit [based in Croydon] will accept asylum applications on a walk-in basis, but to complement this service foreign nationals can also choose to make an appointment.

However, as explained below, this statement is misleading. It has been misleading for several months. This information sheet provides information about how the UK Border Agency is currently accepting asylum claims. The information about how to make an asylum claim given in previous information sheets on “Making Asylum Claims” (in October 2009) is no longer accurate, and should not be relied upon.

See ILPA: An archive of information sheets is available at www.ilpa.org.uk/infoservice.html. Continue reading “ILPA updates on the UKBA system”

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News roundup: OGNs, inspections, reports

Still Human’s new commentaries on three OGNs
Please find attached Still Human’s commentaries on the latest OGNs for Iran, Sri Lanka and Jamaica. The commentaries identify some inconsistencies and omissions between the available country of origin information and case law for these countries and the conclusions reached in the most recent OGNs. The commentaries are intended as a tool to assist legal practitioners and to help ensure that all relevant material is considered by decision-makers. All commentaries can be accessed at http://stillhumanstillhere.wordpress.com/resources Continue reading “News roundup: OGNs, inspections, reports”

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Court of Appeal test case on S21 of the National Assistance Act

The Court of Appeal delivered judgment this morning in a test case regarding access to community care: SL v Westminster City Council [2011] EWCA Civ 954 available at http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2011/954.html

Freedom from Torture intervened in the case with pro bono representation from Victoria Pogge von Strandmann at Maxwell Gillott solicitors and Adrian Berry at Garden Court Chambers. Mind also intervened in the case. Continue reading “Court of Appeal test case on S21 of the National Assistance Act”

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Report finds official distrust meaning young asylum seekers ‘left in limbo’

11 Aug 2011: MANY young asylum seekers in Wales are being left “in limbo” because their age is disputed by the agencies meant to be helping them, according to a critical report.

The Welsh Refugee Council’s (WRC) report, Young Lives In Limbo, claims there is a culture of disbelief in the authorities dealing with asylum seekers whose age is under question. Continue reading “Report finds official distrust meaning young asylum seekers ‘left in limbo’”

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Petition to retain the ban on Capital Punishment

 

Responsible department: Ministry of Justice

 

A petition to call on the government to retain its position regards the abolition of the Death Penalty for all offences. That the British people note that only 58 nations currently use capital punishment, as opposed to 95 which have abolished it, further notes the un-retractable nature of such a sentence in incidents of miscarriages of Justice, further notes the death penalty does not reduce crime or act as a deterrent and in US states which practice capital punishment incidents of homicide are higher than US states which do not, further notes the higher cost of capital punishment compared to life imprisonment, believes that British Justice should not be in the same league as China, Iran, North Korea, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Syria which do practice capital punishment on a routine basis and that the death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights and an affront to the values of British Justice.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/1090

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Suggested letter to send to your MP about indefinite detention

House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA

Dear

Re: End indefinite detention of people in immigration removal centres

I am writing to call for the end to the indefinite detention of people who
are in immigration removal centres across the UK.

Detention Action believes that the Home Office practice of indefinitely
detaining people who cannot be returned to their country of origin is a
waste of money and human lives. I encourage you to read Detention Action’s
report No Return, No Release, No Reason and the previous report Detained
Lives: The real cost of indefinite detention. These reports highlight that
indefinite detention simply does not work: as a means of deporting people,
it is ineffective and grossly inefficient, costing ÂŁ68,000 per detainee per
year. The testimony of detainees shows the terrible human cost, with many
experiencing mental health problems, self-harming or attempting suicide.

The UK government derogates from the EU Returns Directive which sets an 18
month maximum time limit for immigration detention. Detained Lives calls on
the government to end this inhumane and ineffective practice.

I would like to ask you to urge the Home Affairs Committee and the Joint
Committee of Human Rights to investigate the detention system.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely