February 2022

February 22, 2022March 11, 2022

BID and Liberty call for an end to intrusive GPS monitoring

This has direct impact on time-served prisoners who are ‘released’ on immigration bail.

Read more: 22 February 2022: Freemovement, https://rb.gy/h3pxxv

QARN signed this letter:

14 June 2021: from BID and Liberty: Our letter, signed by 42 organisations, was covered in an article below in the Guardian

The most recent Home Office bail policy sets out its plan to transition from radio frequency
monitoring to GPS monitoring for people on immigration bail. Whereas radio frequency monitoring can verify whether a person is where they should be at a given time, GPS monitoring provides 24/7 real time location monitoring, tracking an individual’s every move: it tells you where someone has gone, where they have shopped, what GP’s practice they have been to, and much more. Those who are being monitored in this way do not know when the ordeal will end because there is no time limit for how long people will be tracked.

February 17, 2022February 17, 2022

EU’s response to situation in Mediterranean fails refugees and migrants, say NGOs

Updated 17 February 2022: Each Other: Does UK Respect Rights of Missing Migrants and Their Loved Ones?

The International Organization for Migration has conducted in-depth research to understand the challenges faced by families searching for loved ones who have gone missing during their migration journey, including people lost on their way to the UK.
The Missing Migrants Project began in 2014. Since then, over 47,000 migrant deaths and disappearances have been recorded by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) project, half of them in the Mediterranean Sea.

The vast majority of missing migrants have never been found. Among those that have been, few have been identified. The aim of the research is to give a voice to the family members of those lost in the course of their migration. According to records collected by IOM’s Missing Migrants Project and the Institute of Race Relations, nearly 300 deaths were recorded between 1999 and 2020 along the northern coasts of France, Belgium and the Netherlands, in the English Channel, or shortly after crossing into the UK. However, the number of migrants who have gone missing en route to the UK is likely to be significantly higher than the data collected suggests.

“Currently, a very small number of actors can be found in the UK that provide support services to families of missing migrants, and their work continues to be inhibited by several factors, not least the present friction in the UK between the need for humanitarian responses to migration matters and the push for more stringent immigration control approaches,” IOM’s UK country report reads. “There is still a lack of knowledge and understanding about the experiences of missing migrants and their families, within relevant sectors and the wider UK population.”

Read more: Hannah Shewan Stevens, Each Other, https://rb.gy/nhper6

February 13, 2022February 19, 2022

Plans to open ‘prison-style’ immigration camp on site of former Medomsley Detention Centre

Updated 13 February 2022: Event: Saturday 19 February at Hassockfield 12-2pm.

Daisy says: Let’s join in the movement of stopping women detention.

These are mothers, sisters, friends, wives, and they are deprived of their human rights by the system. Let’s stand for what is right by turning up and making noise until the government turns a ear to our plea. They need our support now more than ever, this hostility towards women is unacceptable. Let’s empower each other by showing solidarity. One voice for all….

February 4, 2022February 4, 2022

Letter: Remove Clause 9 of the Borders Bill

29 January 2022: Migrant Voice letter: QARN has signed this:

Today (27 January 2022), a coalition of community groups has sent an open letter signed by more than 100 organisations and individuals to the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, asking for the removal of Clause 9 from the Bill.

The letter was sent this morning to the Prime Minister and will also be copied to members of the House of Lords, who will be debating the Nationality and Borders Bill in Committee today.

Clause 9 extends the powers of the Home Secretary to remove Citizenship from British nationals. If the Bill passes with the clause still in place, the Home Secretary will not have to notify any individual whose British citizenship they may decide to revoke.

The coalition was convened by Nazek Ramadan, Executive Director of Migrant Voice and Councillor Khaled Noor, Chairperson, The Muslim Professionals Forum.