An End To The Internment Of Children In The UK?

An eight-year-old Iranian boy, known only as Child M for legal reasons, who

has been locked up at Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre with his
family since July 15, was released from custody on Thursday in response
to the launching of High Court proceedings against the Home Office
challenging the legality of his detention. His lawyers are currently seeking
a judicial review,arguing that his detention was unlawful under English
common law and under the Human Rights Act.

The child came to the UK in 2007 with his mother and other members of his
family on holiday to recover from the death of his father. Whilst in the UK, a
photocopy of The Satanic Verses was found in their house and reported to
the Iranian authorities, who issued an arrest warrant for his mother. The
family then claimed asylum, but the Home Office subsequently refused
them leave to stay and issued a order for their deportation back to Iran.

If successful, this court case would result in a landmark decision that could
see the end of the routine detention of minors, and hence their families, in
UK immigration centres in future.

No Place For Children

Throughout its years in government - from Tony Blair's famous "Education,
education, education" speech to the  more recent "Every Child Matters"
programme - Labour has claimed to champion the needs of the younger
generation. For the 2,000 children who are sent to UK immigration detention
centres every year, however, these claims ring hollow.

These children are torn from their homes, their communities and their friends,
locked up for an indeterminate length of time, and denied adequate education
and health care. Their only crime is to have parents who have applied for
asylum in the UK.

This week the New Statesman launches a major campaign, No Place for
Children, which calls for an end to the practice of detaining children for
immigration reasons. Together with its backers - the Children's Commissioner
for England, the Children's Society, Bail for Immigration Detainees and Women
for Refugee Women - they believe the current situation reflects shamefully on a
government that prioritises appearing "tough on immigration" over the welfare of
innocent young people. [part of a NS press release]

Camsfield Hunger Strike Follow Ups

Following the recent hunger strike at Campsfield Immigration Internment Camp by 13 Iraqi Kurds, the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR) and the Coalition to Stop Deportations to Iraq (CSDIraq) have called for lobby at Campsfield on Saturday 30 August from mid-day and a lunchtime lobby of the Home Office, 2 Marsham St, London on Thursday 11 September.

For more information please contact:
Dashty Jamal, Secretary, International Federation of Iraqi Refugees, tel: 07856032991, e-mail: l, d.jamal@ntlworld.com
Sarah Parker from csdiraq. on 0208-809-0633, email: sarahp107@hotmail.com

www.csdiraq.com . IFIR:PO.BOX1575,ILFOD, IG1 3BZ, LONDON UK Tel:0044 7856032991

Manchester Demo in Support of Italian Roma

There will be a demonstration on Friday 19th Sept in Manchester outside the Italian Consulate (111 Piccadilly Manchester, M1 2HY) at 11.30am.

The demo follows serious attacks on Roma people in Italy including physical attacks on camps, threats of fingerprinting of the Roma population (including children) and right-wing/fascist manipulations by Italian politicians & press that are linking Roma people to 'crime' and 'illegal immigration' which is increasing popularist calls for their expultion from Roma and destruction of camps. [see 14th August post]

Manchester No Borders and Roma groups in the north-west have already confirmed they will participate.

Please come & bring placards & banners!

Campsfield Detainees End Hunger Strike

The 13 Kurdish refugees held at Campsfield Detention Centre in Oxfordshire ended their hunger strike on Sunday 17th August, following a visit from International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR) representatives. They had been on hunger strike since Saturday 9th demanding an end to forcible deportations to Iraq and the release of all Iraqi Kurdish asylum seekers from detention. Other detainees in Campsfield from countries such as Iran, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and the Congo had also joined the hunger strike in solidarity with the actions of the 13.

Faxes and letter of protest against the forced repatriation of Iraqi asylum seekers can be sent to:
Jacqui Smith
Home Secretary
2 Marsham St
London SW1P
Fax: 020 7035 4745.

Italian Migrant Policy and the 'State of Emergency'

In recent months the persecution of Roma migrants in the Napoli area has received some press coverage when a Roma settlement was attacked and set on fire. However, the widespread police raids across the country the same week where nearly 300 migrants were detained received scant coverage. As has the declaration of a 'state of emergency' in 3 Italian regions - Sicily, Apulia and Calabria - in July in response to a so-called 'refugee crisis'. This 'state of emergency' has now been extended across the whole of Italy.

Italian troops now carry out joint patrols with the Carabinieri outside "sensitive sites", which of course include immigration detention centres and administrative offices such as those responsible for migrants' documentation.

Even the Council of Europe are taken aback by the newly declared war against migrants in Italy and the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, has issued a strongly worded report criticising the Italian government's actions. He publicly criticised the decision to criminalise migrants’ entry and irregular stay, saying that he saw it as a worrying departure from established international law principles. “These measures may make it more difficult for refugees to ask for asylum and is likely to result in a further social stigmatisation and marginalisation of all migrants - including Roma” . "Commissioner Hammarberg also noted with grave concern that Italy had forcibly returned migrants to certain countries with proven records of torture."

No Border Patras

Greece has long been one of the frontier states of the Fortress Europe war against migrants. It is one of the countries where migrants suffer some of the harshest detention conditions. Medicins Sans Frontiers recently declared a number of humanitarian crises at the detention centres on Lesbos and Mytilini.

Many of the migrants in Greece are refugees from war-torn Afghanistan. In the Greek city of Patras a temporary settlement of migrants, originally set up by Iraqi Kurdish refugees and that has been in existence for about 13 years, is home to around 3000 migrants, mainly Afghans. The settlement has been subjected to constant police harassment for a number of years and is effectively under a state of siege.

In February this year police attempted to dismantle the settlement, causing what the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees also labelled "a humanitarian crisis" when the settlement's 400 children were forced onto the streets of Patras. Most ended up sleeping rough znd having to fend for themselves.

No Border Patras have called for 3 days of actions and events on August 29th - 31st to highlight the situation in Patras. The english language call-out can be found at: No Border Patras.