Proving Torture: Demanding the Impossible

Freedom from Torure report: November 2016: Report: Home Office Mistreating Evidence Of Torture – RightsInfohttp://rightsinfo.org/freedom-torture-home-office-mistreating-expert-evidence-torture/

Many who seek asylum in the UK do so because they have suffered torture in their home country. Often they are forced to flee immediately and do not have time to gather evidence for their claim to asylum. Expert medical evidence of torture is sometimes the only evidence they have.

The report makes several findings about how the Home Office handles these claims:

  • Expert medical evidence is often disregarded or mistreated.
  • The standard of certainty required for medical evidence of torture to be accepted is nearly impossible to meet.
  • Many caseworkers view medical evidence as an ‘obstacle’ that they have to overcome in order to reject the application.
  • Caseworkers without clinical qualifications often replace expert medical evidence with their own opinions.

Continue reading “Proving Torture: Demanding the Impossible”

Sanctuary in Parliament: 29 November 2016

Date: 29 Nov 2016       Time: 12:00 – 15:30

Venue: Committee Room 14 Westminster, London SW1A 0AA

Bookings are now open for the third Sanctuary in Parliament event which will be in Committee Room 14, Westminster on Tuesday 29th November from 12 to 15.30.  Arrival from 11.30. Our overarching theme is “Standing up for the Right to Asylum” and  we will cover Safe and Legal routes, A fair and just asylum system and Integration.

Committee Room 13 will also be available for constituents to meet with their MPs between 12.30 and 14.30. Continue reading “Sanctuary in Parliament: 29 November 2016”

Home Office block on Afghan and Eritrean teen refugees ‘a disgrace’

Guardian: ‘Dubs eligibility rules’ restricting child migrant entry to UK by age and nationality slammed by shadow home affairs minister.

The Home Office has come under attack over the publication of new, highly restrictive, eligibility criteria for child refugees hoping to be transferred from France to Britain, which will stop many Eritrean, Afghan and Yemeni teenagers aged 13 or 14 getting sanctuary in the UK. Continue reading “Home Office block on Afghan and Eritrean teen refugees ‘a disgrace’”

Migrant Detention in the European Union: A thriving Business

Conclusion: Under the guise of “mass” migration, the EU and its Member States are continuously strengthening their systems to deprive migrant populations of their liberty. Emblematic of European policy for the exclusion of foreign nationals, migrant detention facilities offer fertile ground for human rights violations. The acts of resistance and rebellion by detainees are a sign of the injustice and despair caused to those who find themselves trapped inside.

For over thirty years, the EU and Member States have pursued a policy of detaining migrants, despite its limited effectiveness in reaching targets. In terms of deportation – which is supposed to be the main purpose ofmigrant detention – the figures show that many people held in administrative detention are never removed from the country. As to the objective of “controlling” migration movements, the experience of the past 20 years has shown that mechanisms put in place to control migration merely help to create more obstacles for migrants, often putting their lives at risk. Detention has failed to discourage migrants from attempting to cross borders. Continue reading “Migrant Detention in the European Union: A thriving Business”

What does love call you to do?

Quakers questionnaire: You may like to use this document to find out what your Meeting is doing: asylum-questionnaire-oct-2016:

A survey of ** Friends’ and Attenders’ existing and possible future interest and engagement

If there isn’t enough space for your responses, please feel free to expand as necessary, with extra sheets if replying on paper.

Time and Energy: Continue reading “What does love call you to do?”