"All of us are immigrants or descended from immigrants, it just depends how far back you go".

...19 Princelet Street.

Nottingham and Notts Refugee Forum (NNRF) is an independent, voluntary organisation set up to work with and for asylum seekers and refugees in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. For a copy of our Statment of Values and Aims, click here.

The Refugee Forum is a volunteer led organization, run by a volunteer management committee. The Centre has a number of paid staff, but relies heavily on the time, dedication and enthusiasm of volunteers from refugee, asylum seeking and host community backgrounds (Click here to find out more about the Centre).

We offer advice, practical assitance and friendship to all refugees and asylum seekers regardless of race, religion or political opinion.

Don't forget that you can shop at NNRF to raise money for the Destitution Fund. Use this search box to find what you want to buy or see below right for more details:

- and here's a new way of raising money for the Destitution fund:

Buy your shopping vouchers for Sainsbury, Asda, John Lewis, Comet, Dixons &c, &c, from vouchers4charity, and 3% of what you spend can be donated to NNRF who will put the money in the Destitution Fund. When filling in the forms at checkout, remember to nominate "Nottingham & Notts. Refugee Forum" (in those words) as your chosen charity.

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.

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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 Anti-destitution group button on the left.

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Petitions and action

In this section, you can find details of action that needs to be taken. This will be very urgent if it is to prevent someone being deported. There will be links to electronic petitions, pro-forma letters or faxes to send to Ministers, MPs, Airlines &c. There will also be news of other action you could take in support of refugees and asylum seekers.

End detention of asylum seeker's children - new E-petition

"What sort of country sends a dozen uniformed officers to haul innocent sleeping children out of their beds; gives them just a few minutes to pack what belongings they can grab; pushes them into stinking caged vans; drives them for hours while refusing them the chance to go to the lavatory so that they wet themselves and locks them up sometimes for weeks or months without the prospect of release and without adequate health services?"

- so asks the BBC's Mark Eastern. No prizes for guessing that the country he is talking about is - to its eternal shame - this country. Innocent children who have already suffered terrifying experiences which have forced them and their family to flee their homeland in the hope that they will be safe in the UK, only find that the nightmare continues in a British detention centre. Click here to read Mark Eastern's full report.

Earlier this year, Children's Commissioner, Sir Al Aynsley-Green, stated his concerns about children in detention in his report "The Arrest and Detention of Children Subject to Immigration Control" (April, 2009). Here is a short extract summarising interviews with children detained in Yarl's Wood detention centre:

"Children reported in the forums that they had been restrained unnecessarily. One child said that an officer grabbed him by the wrists while still in the house and another that his arms were held firmly while being taken to the van. One child did not understand why he had been “grabbed and restrained by the wrists” while trying to pack his things as he said he was not trying to run away. Another child stated that two officers had held his arms and manhandled him when he had done nothing. Another reported being “dragged” out of home in front of neighbours, and another that he had been “held” by officers, making him feel frightened and degraded."

"One of the most frequent complaints from both children and their parents was not being given sufficient or, in some cases, any time to pack and being prevented from bringing their belongings with them. We are concerned that the instructions are either being widely ignored or arrest staff are routinely utilising the clause that allows them to curtail time for packing. Hardly any of the children or the families we spoke to told us that they had sufficient time to pack. Limiting the time to pack and preventing property from being taken causes considerable distress to both adults and children."

The rest of Sir Al's report you'll find equally upsetting. Some of you will also remember the New Statesman's No Place for Children campaign of 2008 against child detention.

A new petition has been submitted by the End Child Detention campaign. The deadline for signing is September 29^th, 2010. Signatures as of 13.11.2009: 2123, so the campaign has surpassed its initial (modest?) target.

Anyway, I'm not going to sit here composing vitriolic denunciations of the government and those who run detention centres - if you glance at any of the above links, you will want to do that yourself. You'll also want to click here to go to the E-petition and sign.

No Forced Returns to Zimbabwe E-petition

Forcible returns to Zimbabwe have been suspended since September 2006, when high court judges ruled that those who could not demonstrate their loyalty to Robert Mugabe’s regime would face persecution on their return. The UK government has now announced that they will be resuming returns of people to Zimbabwe. The Home Office say that there have been improvements in Zimbabwe since the formation of the unity government, with Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), as prime minister under President Mugabe. But as we have seen so many times, the home office will say anything if it thinks it can get rid of some asylum seekers.

In fact, in the past few days, allegations of arrest, intimidation and harassment of supporters of the MDC and of human rights defenders have been widely reported. The UN’s monitor on torture was forcibly expelled from the capital, Harare, at the end of October and Amnesty International has warned that Zimbabwe is "on the brink of sliding back into violence". Despite the UK government’s claims that Zimbabwe is stable, events on the ground show that Zimbabweans that are returned will be at risk.

We demand that no-one is sent back to Zimbabwe against their will. Please sign the E-petition.

They take photos of us - why can't we take photos of them?

A new law could mean that you can be arrested for photographing a policeman. Under section 76 of the 'counter terrorism' act that could potentially lead to arrest and imprisonment of anybody who takes a photograph of the intelligence services, the armed forces or police officers. Click here to see a copy of the law as made available by the office of public sector information. Click here also for contents page of whole act.

The way we read 76 (2), once you've been charged - which can happen for filming at a demonstration, "looking suspicious" or "wearing a loud shirt in a built up area" - it is up to the defendant to prove that they had an innocent reason for photographing/filming. We don't see why you should be treated as guilty until proven innocent. We thought it was the other way round, or were we being hopelessly naive?

As recent events have shown, taking photos and videos of police at demonstrations is the only way they can be called to account. The cynical might think that this is why they're not keen on being photographed. Legal and peaceful demonstrations against UK's unjust and brutal asylum laws are now routinely subject to the attention of police photographers. See Full Circle page. Frighteningly, some police photographers are even dressed as canaries... So, if they can take photos of us, why can't we take photos of them?

Well, maybe we can. For the government response to the petition, click here. If you like to take photos at demos like we do, you might want to print it off and take it with you. But as you can see, the police still have the option of causing trouble for you by claiming they "reasonably suspect" that you are "...preparing an act of terrorism".

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

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.

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Issues and news

Border staff humiliate asylum seekers

This isn't news to all those working to gain justice for asylum seekers, who will be familiar with the incompetence, indifference and endless procrastination of the UK Border Agency beaurocracy. But did you know it was this bad? Several staff have been so disgusted with the inner workings of the UKBA, that they have left and blown the gaff, among them Louise Perrett, who according to an article in the Guardian of February 2^nd, 2010:

'..."I witnessed general hostility, rudeness and indifference towards clients. It was completely horrific. I highlighted my concerns to senior managers but I was just laughed at. I decided to speak out because nobody else was saying anything and major changes are needed at senior management level."

One of her cases involved a Congolese woman who had the right to remain in the UK. Perrett says a superior nevertheless decided the woman and her children should be removed, and asked officials whether there were any grounds to remove them. Frustrated, she approached a member of the legal department. His reply, according to Perrett, was: "Umbongo, umbongo, they kill them in the Congo."'

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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.

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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?

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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?

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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.

The following reports come from the The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR) and the Coalition to Stop Deportations to Iraq.

10^th December, 2008: fifty Iraqis being deported today. The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees has been informed that fifty Iraqis are currently being moved from Dover and Colnbrook detention centres to be sent back to Iraqi Kurdistan by charter flight today. Two of the people being deported, Ahmed Ali (held in Dover) and Jabar Aziz Ahmed (Colnbrook), informed us that they were being taken in vans from the detention centres to Stanstead to be removed tonight.

All the people we are in contact with (the majority of deportees) fled Iraq due to political or social persecution. Kurdistan, in northern Iraq, has been classified as safe by the Home Office and so acceptable to send people back to. Recent deportees have committed suicide, been kidnapped and killed in a car bomb. Jabar Aziz Ahmed left to flee political persecution. He returned in 2006 but was forced to flee again after being tortured. The Medical Foundation has confirmed that he has been tortured and testified to this in court. In spite of this, he has been held in Orpington detention centre for a year. He says:

˜If I go back I'll be tortured again and my life will be in danger. I have made a life here and campaigned for the human rights of other Iraqi refugees in the UK. I've tried to appeal my case again but I can't afford the fees my solicitors charge. I can see the vans coming to take us. My life's over if I go back."

Dashty Jamal from the IFIR says:

˜Kurdistan is not 'safe', as the Home Office describes it: human rights and freedoms are violated on a daily basis, often by the political parties that run the state. It is madness that people who fled their persecution are being sent back to the mercy of the very people who were persecuting them before. We call on all concerned people to take a stand against the Home Office's increasingly inhumane stance and to help us campaign against these deportations which are putting people's lives at risk."

11^th December, 2008: deportation flight to Iraq forced to come back to the UK. IFIR has heard that the Kurdish authorities have refused to accept the forty nine people deported from the UK by charter flight last night. They arrived back in the UK at approximately 19.30. They are currently being held in Colnbrook detention centre. Hassan Mohammed Kochar, one of the deportees, says:

"We were taken to Erbil, the plane was circling in the air. None of us knew what was going on. After three circles the plane turned round and landed in Turkey. We waited there for an hour and a half. The guards said they'd take us to Kurdistan but they didn't. Then we went to Romania. They told us again that they'd send us back but they didn't. They said it was because of the weather but, like the whole situation, that doesn't make any sense."

"I'm distraught. I don't know where my husband is – I feel like he has been kidnapped. The Home Office has lost him. This is disgraceful behaviour by them."

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Upcoming events

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The beautiful game(s)

If you thought that the ludicrous display on last night's Match of the Day was... ludicrous, why not have a go yourself? The Tuesday Night Project are making not only football available but also hockey (hockey is the one where you get to thwack your opponents round the ankle with a bent stick). Transport leaves the Centre on Friday, February 26^th at 11 am for Nottingham Trent University campus. Details from Bill on bill.walton@nottsrefugeeforum.org.uk.

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Recent events

EXLIBRIS book sale

Over the weekend September 19^th/20^th, there was another book sale by EXLibris, the Masked Booksellers, which raised £400! This is over twice the proceeds from last year's sale and will be split equally between the Stroke Association and the NNRF Destitution Fund. The donation to the Stroke Association is in memory of Keith Leonard, whose wonderful book collection formed a major part of our stock. This year, we gathered a crew of volunteers so our aches and pains are much reduced compared to last year and we couldn't have done it without them. We would like to thank Azad (known as "3 boxes", because of his cheerful disregard of HSE's "Lifting and Handling Guidelines"),Geoff, Dave, Adam, Ranjan, Meirion, Pip and Paul for book handling &c, cake maestro Margaret, chutney guru Lesley and Chris of The Stroke Association, for balloons, posters and support. Also, all those who bought books, cakes, chutney, made donations or brought books for us to sell. Finally, thanks to Keith's daughter, Anna, for donating her father's collection to us.

Happy reading and watch out for us about this time next year! Here are some photos - more on Indymedia.

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Open Day on April 20^th

The photos below by Azad, show the enormous amount of work Vera put into making the day a great success. More of Azad's Open Day photos can be found on that new-fangled young people's internet thing "flickr".

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The Garden...

What Garden? Surely you can't mean that bit out the back of the Center that's ankle deep in cat shit, empty beer cans, fag ends, stinking carpets and other things too foul to describe even on this web site?? Oh but we do! A determined team have transformed this area from a foetid expanse of loathsome theurrrrgh to a useful and pleasant garden where people can eat their sandwiches, have a bit of a sit down, a bit of a think or a quiet chat. Also useful for summer parties, the Volunteers' bash on June 9^th, 2009 is the first one we know of to be held there. Some photos by Azad below, more on that "flickr" thing of his.

Eewww! Then...

...after lots of this type of thing...

...outstanding.

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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.

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Who are asylum seekers?