UKBA Guidance Manual – Handling of Complaints in detention & during escort – June 2011
The Immigration Advisory Service (IAS) has gone into administration, BBC News has learnt.
The IAS, which employs 300 people, has closed its 14 branches.
One employee told the BBC that staff had been told to clear their desks and that administrators were already in the central headquarters in London.
The free service is one of the leading charities giving legal advice and representation to immigrants and asylum seekers in England and Scotland. Continue reading “Immigration Advisory Service goes into administration”
Immigration: Children in Detention:
Lord Roberts of Llandudno:Ā To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many children were detained for immigration purposes in each month of 2011.[HL10595] [HL10595]
Baroness Browning: Monthly figures are not available. Information on the number of children in detention is collected on the last day of each quarter. The latest published information shows that as at the 31 March 2011 there were no children recorded as being in detention. The table below shows the number of children entering detention, held solely under Immigration Act powers, by month, January to May 2011. Continue reading “HoL Children in Detention; prison inspection reports”
Amnesty calls for complete overhaul of enforced removals by private security companies: Amnesty International: 07 July 2011
The UK Government must conduct a complete and radical overhaul of the current system of enforced removals from the UK, according to a new briefing and campaign launched today (7 July) by Amnesty International UK.
Private security companies, contracted by the UK Government, have reportedly used dangerous and improper control and restraint techniques. In the 2010 case of Jimmy Mubenga at least, these appear to have resulted in someoneās death. One such technique was nick-named by contractors āCarpet Karaokeā, as it involved forcing an individualās face down towards the carpet with such force that they were only able to scream inarticulately ālike a bad karaoke singerā. It involves the seated detainee being handcuffed, with a tight seatbelt through the cuffs and their head pushed down between their legs. There is a serious risk of death by positional asphyxia when this technique is used. Continue reading “UK: Ill-trained, dangerous and unaccountable”
Barnardo’s will pull out of a deal to run services at the government’s pre-departure accommodation (PDA) centre for failed asylum seekers if children and families are not treated properly, the charity’s chief has said.
http://www.cypnow.co.uk/Social_Care/article/1079058/Barnardos-affirms-commitment-failed-asylum-seekers-welfare/ Continue reading “Barnardo’s; 5 year old child frisked; Jimmy Mubenga’s death”
From Report to Court has been written to provide information and support to people who have experienced sexual violence, as well as to their families, friends and the organisations that support them. This handbook will explain the different stages of the legal process, from the point of deciding whether or not to report the incident to the police, through to the trial, verdict and sentence. From Report to Court also sets out the relevant law and what obligations the different agencies in the criminal justice system (for example, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service) have to survivors of sexual violence.
NEW! Rights of Women toolkit on violence against women here:
From Rights to Action: Using International rights and mechanisms on violence against women in the UK
House of Lords:Ā Written answers and statements, 7 June 2011.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to recommence normal procedures in dealing with asylum applications and returns to Greece if the decision of the European Court of Human Rights on returning asylum seekers there is that there is no breach of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights; and how they are addressing the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the matter.
Baroness Browning (Conservative)
…the European Court of Human Rights ruled … that Greece had violated Article three of the European Convention on Human Rights that prohibits inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment both because of …living conditions in Greece and the failure by the Greek authorities to properly consider his asylum claim. The Government accept that these findings prevent the return of asylum seekers to Greece under the Dublin Regulation until the situation there has improved.
On the afternoon of the 6th activists visited Barnado’s HQ in Barkingside Essex to protest against their involvement with the UK Border Agency. Campaigners gave out leaflets informing Barnado’s staff of the work that Barnado’s will be doing at the soon-to-be-opened “pre-departure accommodation facility” near Gatwick and urging them to express their concerns about this to Barnado’s management.
A pilot scheme to ‘manage the return of failed asylum seeking families who had exhausted all appeal rights without using detention’ has been evaluated and found to have failed. The project has now been phased out.
The evaluation report found that, unsurprisingly, families only accepted housing at the scheme because the alternative was detention. Almost all were still fighting for their right to stay, rather than engaging with a ‘voluntary’ return. Many had not actually exhausted their legal claims – meaning that children were being threatened with detention before being appeal rights exhausted. Those that had been fully refused did not accept the decisions. Again, this is hardly surprising, given the notorious decision-making process and cynical culture of disbelief at the Home Office.
A keynote address to the annual conference of the Churches’ Refugee Network by Frances Webber.
The political and media campaign against immigration and asylum seekers shows no signs of abating. It is seen by the Home Affairs Committee as a matter of shame that so many asylum seekers, stuck in the system without a decision for (in some cases) up to twenty years, are allowed to stay. Cameron speaks out against multiculturalism and the Labour Party is involved in a process of breast-beating, saying it was perhaps wrong to have allowed mass migration during its time in power.
click here:Ā Frances Webber, IRR, 9 June 2011
