AMDANI JUMA CAMPAIGN

Amdani's appeal has been turned down, he has been arrested and is due to be deported in the next few days. This has come as a bitter blow to all Amdani's friends and supporters in Nottingham. No refugee did more to integrate into the host community by working selflessly for others. So we wonder what exactly do refugees have to do to be accepted by home office officialdom? There has been so little on this web site about Amdani's campaign because representations were being made at quite high levels on his behalf and despite our anger at the way Amdani has been treated, we didn't want to put up anything that might jeopardize their successful outcome. But up to now these seem to have failed and demonstrations have been called which have attracted large numbers of people. Reports on Amdani's situation will be at the top of this page for the next few weeks.

About Amdani: you've probably seen him around, he is a worker at NNRF and also a volunteer, so he spends a lot of his time helping other people. But now he needs help himself because the Home Office have refused to grant him indefinite leave to remain. This despite the fact that he is no less in danger now than he was when he arrived here - the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office considers that ‘the human rights situation in Burundi remains poor’ (2007).

Amdani volunteered at the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Refugee Forum, joined the management committee, and has been employed by NNRF since 2005 as part of our integration support team. In addition he is involved in numerous local and national organisations and campaigns, including African Initiative Support, Nottingham Council Tenants Forum, the National Refugee Integration Forum, National African HIV Prevention Program, African HIV Policy Network, Refugee Action. He also advises Nottinghamshire Social Services and other East Midlands bodies on asylum issues.

At this year's AGM, a resolution was passed supporting Amdani's claim for ILR, deploring the decision of the Home Office and committing NNRF to do all it can to ensure that Amdani's appeal is successful. For full text of resolution,.click here.

The picture on the left shows Amdani with his supporters after his appeal hearing. He is looking cheerful despite having gone through a very harrowing day.

Click here for a page about Amdani's case on the Institute for Race Relations web site, and here for a good article in the Evening Post.

Outsourcing Abuse - what follows comes mostly from NCADC North West

"Outsourcing Abuse" by Birnberg Peirce & Partners, Medical Justice and NCADC, published today (July 14^th, 2008), describes an alarming number of injuries sustained by asylum deportees at the hand of private "escorts" contracted by the Home Office. It reveals evidence of widespread and seemingly systemic abuse of vulnerable people who have fled their own countries seeking safety and refuge, and that assault claims have largely been brushed off by the Home Office. It provoked the following comments (the painting above left is by Lucy Edkins):

"I have just read one of the most shocking reports about our immigration system that I have seen in 20 years as a Member of Parliament. The report "Outsourcing Abuse" catalogues the frightening state-sponsored violence that happens to asylum-seekers when they are being deported. This report suggests a complete failure [by the Home Office] to investigate many of the allegations. This report is distressing and upsetting for anyone to read. But for Ministers it is a damning verdict on their inability to inject even a shred of humanity into a flailing immigration system."

Diane Abbott, MP

Together with every right thinking person, those who read it will not want to believe what it contains. If the Home Office, Ministers and officials alike, is sensible it will pay due attention to the dossiers. They should recognise that our national reputation is not something to be treated lightly or wantonly, and that, if even one of the cases is substantiated, that amounts to something of a preventable national disgrace."

Lord David Ramsbotham, GCB, CBE

"I have seen many serious injuries with long lasting effects ; crushing of nerves at the wrist from forceful pulling on handcuffs, limitation of neck movement by patients whose heads were pushed under aircraft seats, numbness of the face after blows around the cheek and eye. I have also seen a dislocated wrist, giant bruises and swellings the size of my fist. I have seen far worse abuses but do not have the patient's permission to reveal confidential medical information. Our report includes evidence from 18 independent doctors. Some of these findings are worse still. They include dislocation to the knee requiring a plaster cast and several people rendered unable to walk for extended periods. Some were denied wheelchairs, pain relief and other essential treatment although in state custody."

Dr Frank Arnold, independent doctor, Medical Justice

"This report reveals the extent of lawless disregard for basic rules in the application of force, combined with a wholly inadequate system for investigating often extremely serious criminal allegations. As a lawyer with experience of dealing with misconduct allegations against the police and the prison service I have been shocked to discover the extent of casual racism and inhumanity from officers employed by the Home Office and its subcontracted private companies - think the police as portrayed in 'Life on Mars' - and you have a picture of where the immigration service is now."

Harriet Wistrich, Birnberg Peirce & Partners

"The Home Office uses charter flights and military planes to deport to places like Afghanistan and Iraq, and have even arranged a private jet to deport one suicidal 14-year old girl and her mother. Asylum applications are at a 14-year low, yet the proportional use of detention has increased 7-fold. The government is driven by seemingly arbitrary targets on deportation and plans a near doubling of detention centre capacity. We feel this all may lead to further abuse. One shudders to think what will happen if they fulfill their announcement to deal with 450,000 unresolved cases within 5 years. A third of the cases we documented were regarding alleged assaults against women and a significant number were cases of children who witnessed their parent being assaulted. This report is just the "tip of the iceberg" of horrific violence, for which the Home Office is ultimately responsible. Lord Ramsbotham has sent the 48 cases from our dossier that are highlighted in this report to Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, for investigation."

Emma Ginn, the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC)

Click here to download a copy of the report.

Demand a fair hearing for refugee women today

Four years after Home Office guidelines were written to make sure women’s asylum claims were fairly heard, they’re still not being followed. In March 2004, in response to campaigning by the Refugee Women’s Resource Project, Refugee Action and others, the Home Office introduced Gender Guidelines to help Home Office asylum caseworkers recognise some of the specific issues which can lead women to claim asylum, including sexual violence.

But caseworkers don’t still receive enough training on the issue, and as a result, some women’s claims for protection are still being wrongly dismissed. Denied protection in the UK, vulnerable women, and often their children too, are being detained having committed no crime.

We want to see gender guidelines fully implemented, and to ensure that vulnerable women and children aren’t detained in the asylum process.

Support refugee women by signing up to our campaign statement at http://www.refugee-action.org.uk/campaigns/Women.aspx#Help.

Amanda

Children in detention

"That this House is concerned that the Government persists in detaining children and their families in immigration removal centres; notes that recent work by Save the Children, Bail for Immigration Detainees, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Legal Action for Women, Refugee Council and the Children's Commissioner of England among others have found that detention centres are not suitable places for children to live; further notes that despite these objections children continue to be held in detention centres, at times for over 28 days; believes that holding children and families who are extremely vulnerable and in need of social and psychological help contravenes a plethora of human rights principles and laws; and calls on the Government to bring an end to the appalling practice of detaining children and vulnerable people."

Click here for the text of Ms Abbott's Commons speech in which she describes the appalling treatment of asylum seeker children by the immigration authorities, and the following exchanges. Click here for a list of MPs who signed up to EDM 634.

In her speech, Ms Abbott referred to a government report entitled "Review of UKIS Family Removals Processes":

"Obviously, the people who wrote it have read the same things as I have about how frightened and traumatised the children are by the process of being dragged away to detention, so they have thought very hard about what can be done about the psychological impact on children and proposed that the uniform of immigration officers be changed. They seem to be saying that what is frightening the children is the fact that the uniforms are navy blue or black and suggesting that they should be a pale colour - maybe pink or lilac!

You thought the official attitude to asylum seekers was inhumane - but did you know it could also be wacky?

Asylum seeker health care under threat

The home office and the Department of Health are considering excluding refused asylum seekers from access to all but emergency health care. If you would like to protest about this, please download this letter, amend and edit it as you see fit, and add your name and address. Then send it to your MP. If you read the letter, you will find out more.

The cost of getting the numbers down by one

Fatma, 54, is from Turkey and was a volunteer with the Food Group earlier this year. Many of us knew her from parties, Women’s Group activities, etc. She is suffering from many serious health problems. Among these, Fatma's consultant stated that she is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and psychosis, which is in keeping with her accounts of being tortured, raped and imprisoned in her country. These outrages were committed by the Turkish authorities for her political actions in support of working people in Turkey and Kurds in particular. The home office have chosen not to believe Fatma or her consultant, and detained her in Yarlswood. The account of what happened next is from Miriam:

"...She rang at 1.40 a.m. and we stayed in contact for about forty minutes. Fatma had refused to dress and was clearly doing her best to delay or inhibit removal. The banging on her door as the Yarlswood officers came for her was chilling. Given that only two women were in the room in a secure institution, the banging on the door was too loud, too insistent and unecessary for anyone, let alone someone suffering from trauma and other conditions. Fatma was distraught. She was shouted at repeatedly by a number of female officers, who warned her regularly and urgently that "the men are coming" which served to terrify her more. Fatma demanded over and over to be told where she was going and was answered with a "we don't know". When we became disconnected I continued to redial the number and Fatma answered even if she was not directly speaking with me. When "the men came" there were men and womens voices shouting at Fatma in a cacophony of mixed shouted instructions and demands as she became more terrified and began to scream continuously.

I am still trying to pursue any avenue I can think of to try and trace Fatma and hope that perhaps she will turn up in the next few days. I have had an assurance from someone who seems very reliable in the domestic violence field in Istanbul, that Fatma has not been detained by the police - this may be more to do with her using a different surname."

That's how you get the asylum seeker numbers down by one.

Will we ever hear about Fatma again?

Firm but humane?

The photo above shows what happens to a Kurdish refugee when he arrives back in Kurdistan after being forcibly deported. This is the individual human cost of the UK government's asylum policy which a spokesperson recently called "firm but humane". Click here to download International Federation of Iraq Refugees (IFIR) press release.

Events

Small World Kitchen is on the 2nd and 4th Friday of every month at the Sumac Centre, 245 Gladstone St, Forest Fields. Hmmm, nice. But this yummy cooking is getting popular, so you'd best get down there before 7.30pm BECAUSE THEY MIGHT RUN OUT OF FOOD!!!!

The Centre

The Centre is open on Monday, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 am till noon for anyone to come in and use the facilities (eg computers/internet) or meet friends. There are also regular social evenings and training courses. We have a playroom for children. Interpreters are available in most refugee community languages.

There are drop in advice sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays from 1 pm till 4 pm. Here you can find information about or help with:

• the asylum process,
• NASS support or accommodation problems,
• Section 4 issues,
• how to obtain a solicitor.
• interpreting letters and documents,
• applications and form filling,
• contacting organizations, eg City Council, Job Centre, MPs, employers &c,
• making appointments,
• contacting NASS, your solicitor or the Home Office,
• advice if you are destitute,
• advice if you have reached the end of the official asylum process,
• advice if you have just been granted refugee status or leave to remain,
• travel document, naturalisation and passport applications.

You can arrange an appointment to see a benefits advisor, who can give you help with:

• information about benefits,
• applying for benefits, eg Job Seekers Allowance, Income Support, Disability living Allowance, Housing Benefit, Child Benefit, Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit, Social Fund Loans &c,
• backdated payments, benefits problems and appeals.

You can also arrange an appointment to see our "One Stop Shop Adviser", who can give you help with:

• health,
• education and services for children,
• housing,
• accesssing other local services.

There are regular sessions to help with:

• help with finding training and jobs,
• tracing family members ( Red Cross),
• looking for accommodation on the City Homes website.

The Anti-destitution Group

The Anti-destitution Group provides limited support to refused asylum seekers who find themselves without support, destitute or homeless.

The Destitution fund is very short of money so that anti-destitution work may have to shut down unless more can be found. Please make a donation.

To download a combined standing order and gift aid declaration form, click here.

If you don't have Acrobat Reader, which you need to open these files, hit the Downloads button on the left. To find out more about the Anti-destitution Group hit the Destitution project button on the left.

Are your dear offspring butchering your favourite tunes?

Long Journey Home helps out musicians in exile, who arrive in the UK without their own instruments or the money to buy new ones. So they can make good use of unwanted musical instruments, either on a short or long term loan or donated to Long Journey Home or Leicester-based Farside Music's Instrument Library. If you can help please contact:  Stuart Brown, Long Journey Home Co-ordinator, mobile: 07891 701133, e-mail: stuartbrown@gn.apc.org.  See also www.longjourneyhome.org.uk.

The Music Workshop which happens twice monthly at the Centre, is also looking for all kinds of musical instruments. So if you would like to give Amanda's trombone to them, 'phone Frank on 07905 322813.

Who are asylum seekers?