Louis Michel, the EU's development commissioner, has opened the new Migration Management Centre in Bamako, the capital of Mali. Mali is the world's fifth poorest country and an estimated 4m of its 12m population are abroad.
The Migration Management Centre is part of a pilot scheme allegedly to try to dissuade Africans from taking the hazardous routes to Europe. Mali was chosen as a venue as it is a hub for tens of thousands of Africans who try to get to Europe every year via boat to Spain's Canary Islands from the west coast of Africa. Last week, for example, Spanish coastguards intercepted a group of 230 Africans, the largest single boat load detained so far.
The aim of the centre in the eyes of the European countries that financed it is to offer seasonal work for temporary legal migrants as part of a network of European migration centres across west Africa.
The Association of Malian Deportees however, which operates as an aid organisation for returned immigrants, claims that the new centre was being established simply to strengthen the EU borders against so-called 'illegal' immigration and to facilitate the more efficient expulsion of immigrants from Europe.
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
Sunday, 5 October 2008
3 Days of Anti-Racist Iniatives in Italy
Yesterday (4 October) saw the first of three days of anti-racist actions in Italy against the increasing attacks on the migrant communities in Italy [Link in Italian]. In Rome thousands of people demonstrated against racism near the Coliseum in the wake of a series of violent assaults on immigrants in Italy. Hundreds of Chinese immigrants were among those who took part in the demonstration, two days after a 36-year-old Chinese man was beaten up by a group of teenagers in the Italian capital. Demonstrators also held pictures of six African migrants who were killed by mafia gunmen on September 18 in the southern town of Castel Volturno.
Meanwhile, another 15,000 people demonstrated against racism in Caserta (a southern town near Naples) close to Castel Volturno where the murders took place. The Italian police claim that the deaths were a result of the local Camorra attempting to protect their lucrative drugs trade. Meanwhile, the Italian government responded by sending in 500 troops to the area as part of the 'state of emergency' [see 14 August post below]
At the Rome demo, placards were also held up in memory of Abdul Salam Guibre, a 19-year-old Italian of Burkina Faso origin, who was beaten to death with a metal bar on 14 September in Milan by two bar managers who accused their victim of stealing some biscuits. [Link]
One of the most recent racist attacks was on a 22-year old Ghanaian student who was beaten up by local traffic police in Parma. He was arrested by plain clothes cops who failed to identify themselves but did manage to kick and brutally assault him, leaving him with a black eye. [Link]
Meanwhile, another 15,000 people demonstrated against racism in Caserta (a southern town near Naples) close to Castel Volturno where the murders took place. The Italian police claim that the deaths were a result of the local Camorra attempting to protect their lucrative drugs trade. Meanwhile, the Italian government responded by sending in 500 troops to the area as part of the 'state of emergency' [see 14 August post below]
At the Rome demo, placards were also held up in memory of Abdul Salam Guibre, a 19-year-old Italian of Burkina Faso origin, who was beaten to death with a metal bar on 14 September in Milan by two bar managers who accused their victim of stealing some biscuits. [Link]
One of the most recent racist attacks was on a 22-year old Ghanaian student who was beaten up by local traffic police in Parma. He was arrested by plain clothes cops who failed to identify themselves but did manage to kick and brutally assault him, leaving him with a black eye. [Link]
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
Stop Racist Government Attacks on Roma People in Italy
2 Noon Friday 3rd October 2008
Demonstrate at the Italian Tourist Board
1 Princes Street, London W1B 2AY (near Oxford Circus)
Roma people in Italy are facing the worst persecution since the Fascist era and the Italian state is complicit in these attacks. The state’s lies encourage Italians to view Roma as illegal immigrants, as part of a generalized right-wing response to migration into Italy.
Whilst we believe anyone should be able to settle wherever they want, it is important to point out the deliberate lies of the Italian government. Roma are not recent arrivals. Many have settled in Italy for 40 years and are Italian citizens. Those who have recently arrived have done so as part of the wider process of perfectly legal and natural economic migration within the EU. Some wish to travel, others wish to settle. They should have the same legal protection as other EU citizens.
Read the full callout here
Demonstrate at the Italian Tourist Board
1 Princes Street, London W1B 2AY (near Oxford Circus)
Roma people in Italy are facing the worst persecution since the Fascist era and the Italian state is complicit in these attacks. The state’s lies encourage Italians to view Roma as illegal immigrants, as part of a generalized right-wing response to migration into Italy.
Whilst we believe anyone should be able to settle wherever they want, it is important to point out the deliberate lies of the Italian government. Roma are not recent arrivals. Many have settled in Italy for 40 years and are Italian citizens. Those who have recently arrived have done so as part of the wider process of perfectly legal and natural economic migration within the EU. Some wish to travel, others wish to settle. They should have the same legal protection as other EU citizens.
Read the full callout here
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Campsfield Detainees Exploited as Cheap Labour
Detainees at the Campsfield House immigration prison in Oxfordshire are being "exploited for cheap labour" due to staff cuts, the Oxford and District Trades Union Council has revealed. The rejected asylum seekers, who are locked up for lengthy periods pending their deportation, are being paid £5 for six-hour shifts of cleaning and kitchen work.
Campsfield is run by Global Expertise in Outsourcing (GEO), formerly known as Wackenhut, a company notorious for being at the centre of all manner of inmate-abuse scandals in the States. GEO are one of the many US companies that have spread their tentacles around the world running prisons for profit in a number of countries.
As part of their project to screw as much profit out of Campsfield as possible, the company has cut back on both staffing levels and educational, recreational and other provisions at the centre. Over the past year, GEO has sacked education workers, nursing staff have departed, staff turnover has increased, the welfare officer has left and in September, the chaplain was suspended. This is just another attempt to that last drop of blood from the same stone.
For the full story see Corporate Watch's latest news
Campsfield is run by Global Expertise in Outsourcing (GEO), formerly known as Wackenhut, a company notorious for being at the centre of all manner of inmate-abuse scandals in the States. GEO are one of the many US companies that have spread their tentacles around the world running prisons for profit in a number of countries.
As part of their project to screw as much profit out of Campsfield as possible, the company has cut back on both staffing levels and educational, recreational and other provisions at the centre. Over the past year, GEO has sacked education workers, nursing staff have departed, staff turnover has increased, the welfare officer has left and in September, the chaplain was suspended. This is just another attempt to that last drop of blood from the same stone.
For the full story see Corporate Watch's latest news
IOM Introduces New Bribe For Refugees to Return Home
The well known anti-migration front organisation International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has launched a new programme called 'Return and Rebuild', providing extra 'support' for refugees returning to war-torn Afghanistan and Iraq under its so-called Voluntary Return and Reintegration Programme (VARRP). [see Corporate Watch's Latest News]
The IOM originated as a 'tough love' alternative to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and is at the forefront of western government's efforts to stem the tide of their unwanted economic migrants. IOM runs a number of what are effectively concentration camps around the world to hold some of these migrants until they can be returned to their countries of origin. One of these was the notorious detention centre on the Pacific island of Nauru mentioned in the post of Tuesday, 29 July 2008.
The VARRP scheme is open to any asylum seeker with a pending application as well as those whose applications have failed and who have already lost there appeals or who are awaiting a decision. The applicant must agree to sign a waiver stating "“the IOM has no responsibility for me and my dependents once I return [country of origin] and I hereby release IOM from any liability in this respect" and agree not to return to the UK for atleast 5 years. In return they are provided with "targeted payments" to help provide them with equipment for starting up a small business or to start an educational course. As such, IOM are just another deportation agency, except this one has carrots as well as the usual sticks.
The IOM originated as a 'tough love' alternative to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and is at the forefront of western government's efforts to stem the tide of their unwanted economic migrants. IOM runs a number of what are effectively concentration camps around the world to hold some of these migrants until they can be returned to their countries of origin. One of these was the notorious detention centre on the Pacific island of Nauru mentioned in the post of Tuesday, 29 July 2008.
The VARRP scheme is open to any asylum seeker with a pending application as well as those whose applications have failed and who have already lost there appeals or who are awaiting a decision. The applicant must agree to sign a waiver stating "“the IOM has no responsibility for me and my dependents once I return [country of origin] and I hereby release IOM from any liability in this respect" and agree not to return to the UK for atleast 5 years. In return they are provided with "targeted payments" to help provide them with equipment for starting up a small business or to start an educational course. As such, IOM are just another deportation agency, except this one has carrots as well as the usual sticks.
Monday, 22 September 2008
Gambia Refuses to Accept Deportees
Everyday around the world thousands of so-called 'illegal' immigrants are forcibly repatriated. Many are carried on regular charter flights next to holiday makers [XL was one such company, the loss of which will not be mourned in some quarters], others are carried on special one off charters used for mass deportations. One such flight on Friday 18th from Spain to Banjul in Gambia carrying 103 migrants was forced to return to Spanish territory in the Canaries as “(t)he Gambian authorities were not ready to receive the migrants in that short time,” according to Kebba Touray, Gambia’s ambassador to Spain.
Gambia, a former British colony whose thin sliver of territory juts into French-speaking Senegal, is one of a string of West African states which have signed immigration accords with Spain allowing the repatriation of illegal migrants. The carrot used by Spain, which is in the front line of European Union efforts to stem a tide of African job-seekers trying to reach Europe to seek a better life, to secure these agreements [part of the Fortress Europe project] is a pledge of future development aid for the West African governments who sign up.
Madrid repatriated several thousand West African migrants last year, with the returning migrants escorted by police to try and prevent protests from the forcibly returned migrants. These agreements also allow for European Union planes and warships to regularly patrol in West African countries' territorial waters to intercept the migrants trying to reach European shores. Hundreds drown in these risky voyages in flimsy, open boats as they try to avoid these military patrols.
Gambia, a former British colony whose thin sliver of territory juts into French-speaking Senegal, is one of a string of West African states which have signed immigration accords with Spain allowing the repatriation of illegal migrants. The carrot used by Spain, which is in the front line of European Union efforts to stem a tide of African job-seekers trying to reach Europe to seek a better life, to secure these agreements [part of the Fortress Europe project] is a pledge of future development aid for the West African governments who sign up.
Madrid repatriated several thousand West African migrants last year, with the returning migrants escorted by police to try and prevent protests from the forcibly returned migrants. These agreements also allow for European Union planes and warships to regularly patrol in West African countries' territorial waters to intercept the migrants trying to reach European shores. Hundreds drown in these risky voyages in flimsy, open boats as they try to avoid these military patrols.
Friday, 19 September 2008
Council of Europe Question UK 'Fast Track' Deportation Policy
Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, in a new report has claimed that changes in Britain's asylum and immigration controls could breach human rights legislation. And that “(i)mprovements must be introduced to strengthen effective respect for the rights of asylum-seekers and immigrants in the United Kingdom.” It also recommended "drastically limiting" the policy of "administrative detention" (internment to you and me) of migrants, and proposed a maximum time limit for detentions.
The report added that "(t)he UK authorities should consider regulating the so-called 'Detained Fast Track' by introducing special legislation fully in compliance with the standards laid down by the European Convention on Human Rights", and that "(t)his type of detention should in particular be forbidden for vulnerable persons, such as unaccompanied minors, for whom alternative measures should be provided."
The Home Office have of course rejected the criticism. Their response, which was included in the report said that "(t)he government has no wish to detain people any longer than is required and this is particularly true in the cases of families with children. However, there are occasions where detention is prolonged as a consequence of attempts to frustrate the removal process."
So that means there will not be any change in UK detention policy any time soon despite the Council of Europe's criticisms.
The report added that "(t)he UK authorities should consider regulating the so-called 'Detained Fast Track' by introducing special legislation fully in compliance with the standards laid down by the European Convention on Human Rights", and that "(t)his type of detention should in particular be forbidden for vulnerable persons, such as unaccompanied minors, for whom alternative measures should be provided."
The Home Office have of course rejected the criticism. Their response, which was included in the report said that "(t)he government has no wish to detain people any longer than is required and this is particularly true in the cases of families with children. However, there are occasions where detention is prolonged as a consequence of attempts to frustrate the removal process."
So that means there will not be any change in UK detention policy any time soon despite the Council of Europe's criticisms.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)