January 2016

January 30, 2016October 2, 2023

Quaker Peace and Social Witness: Private Sponsorship of Refugees

Response invited to: A consultative paper for Meeting for Sufferings, 6 February 2016. Please discuss this with your MfS reps:

1 Summary

1.1 The clerks of Meeting for Sufferings have agreed to allow this additional item to be brought to the Meeting at short notice. At the end of February Quaker Peace & Social Witness Central Committee (QPSWCC) will be considering a paper of options for possible work to address the refugee crisis. Before then, the clerks of QPSWCC wish to consult Meeting for Sufferings on one very specific proposal, so that QPSWCC can take your response into account when they decide whether to proceed with it. If MfS Representatives are able to take some informal soundings locally, that might be helpful, but this is primarily a process of ‘taking the temperature’ of MfS as a wider and representative body of Friends. Continue reading “Quaker Peace and Social Witness: Private Sponsorship of Refugees”

January 29, 2016October 2, 2023

Immigration Bill continues

Amendments at Committee

Lord’s Committee takes place on 1 and 3 February next week and a number of amendments relating to asylum support have been tabled.

These include:

that clause 37 should not stand part of the Bill (which would mean that refused asylum seeking families with children would stay on S95 support);

that asylum seekers should have a right of appeal against a decision by the Home Office to refuse or discontinue s95A support;

and the move on period for those recognized as refugees before asylum support is cut off should be increased to 40 days.

In addition, important amendments have been tabled on

detention,

family reunion and

relocating 3,000 unaccompanied refugee children from European countries to the UK

– to name but a few! (the Government’s press release on this issue is attached). The full list of tabled amendments is available at: http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/immigration/documents.html Continue reading “Immigration Bill continues”

January 29, 2016

High-Tech Fortress Europe: FRONTEX and the Dronization of Border Management

European Public Affairs: 27 January 2016 | by Raluca Csernatoni

Irregular migration has become one of the top issues on the European Union’s (EU) security agenda in terms of securing external borders, protecting the cultural and ethnic identity of EU Member States, safeguarding their socio-economic welfare systems, and combating terrorism and organised crime. Continue reading

January 24, 2016October 2, 2023

Shaw: Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons

A very important report to the Home Office by Stephen Shaw: [before you press ‘print’ this is 349+ pages long]

The Shaw review makes over 60 recommendations, which … Courtesy of ein … are excerpted below:

Recommendation 1: I recommend that the Home Office prepare and publish a strategic plan for immigration detention.

Recommendation 2: The Home Office should consider how far it can encourage a more cohesive system through more joint training and planning, shared communications, and a recognition scheme.

Recommendation 3: Where weaknesses in particular policies have been identified in Mr Cheeseman’s audit, I recommend these be remedied at their next iteration. Continue reading “Shaw: Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons”

January 24, 2016

We as human beings have to reach out to fellow human beings

Independent: Refugee crisis: Jeremy Corbyn visits Calais Jungle and Grande-Synthe camps

‘These conditions are a disgrace anywhere. We as human beings have to reach out to fellow human beings’

January 18, 2016October 2, 2023

QCEA: Castle or community?

QCEA organises biennial weekend conferences together with Quaker Peace and Social Witness (QPSW) of Britain Yearly Meeting. Our conferences are intended to stimulate discussion of European issues raised by our advocacy.

2015 Conference: Castle or community? Quakers’ role in building the new Europe.

This conference took place from the 4-6 December 2015 in Brussels. Click here to read a summary of the conference.

Friends from all over Europe gathered in Brussels to reflect on what kind of Europe we want and how we can work together to build it. We considered how Quaker values and processes can contribute to effective advocacy and how our witness informs our advocacy and affects European policy.

Scroll down to find articles, photos and videos from the 2015 conference Continue reading “QCEA: Castle or community?”

January 15, 2016October 2, 2023

Committee stage of the Immigration Bill

Committee Stage of the Bill begins on Monday 18 January and will continue on 20 Jan, 1 Feb and 03 Feb. A number of amendments have already been tabled by the Labour front bench on issues of particular concern to Still Human Still Here.

These include, but are not limited to:

· Permission to work for asylum seekers (now in part I of the Bill, following Clause 12)

· Opposing the removal of support from refused asylum seeking families (clause 37 should not stand part of the Bill)

· A right of appeal against a Home Office decision to refuse or discontinue support (amending Schedule 8)

· Increasing the move on period for those granted protection to 40 days

The full list of amendments tabled so far can be found at: http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/immigration/documents.html

January 9, 2016October 2, 2023

Immigration Bill – Second Reading: That the Bill be now read a second time

The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Bates) (Con): My Lords, our country is diverse, democratic, peaceful and economically successful. We are all rightly proud of it. We want to protect it but it is also no surprise that we are a country experiencing positive net migration, attracting the brightest and the best, those seeking refuge and those in search of a better life. As more people seek to come here and as the global landscape continues to change, we must ensure that the UK remains a country with fair and safe workplaces, access to adequate housing, quality public services and security against changing threats. Continue reading “Immigration Bill – Second Reading: That the Bill be now read a second time”

January 7, 2016October 2, 2023

If we try to imagine – even just a little – what people have experienced

You or I would probably get on a plane if we had to flee our country. But airlines are held liable if they carry people without papers. Airline staff can’t decide whether or not someone is a refugee. Visas are hard to come by and cost money. Some people have to destroy their own papers in order to stay safe.

By insisting on papers to cross borders we criminalise refugees. Perhaps this is partly how we justify the use of detention – indefinite detention in Britain – and a punitive asylum system leading to poverty such as the nineteenth-century author Charles Dickens would have recognised. Continue reading “If we try to imagine – even just a little – what people have experienced”

January 7, 2016October 2, 2023

Information needed: People seeking asylum being refused NHS services

Do you have any information about the following:
(a) Any experience during 2015 of asylum seekers/refugees or other migrants being refused access to NHS services (either primary or secondary) that they are entitled to access for free; or
(b) Any experience during 2015 of asylum seekers/refugees or other migrants not accessing health services because they are concerned about being charged (rightly or wrongly).

If so, please email QARN – info@qarn.org.uk – with any information that can be passed on.

Many thanks