Following a programme of inspection visits to immigration centres across Europe, the European Committee on Civil Liberties has released a report labelling the conditions in the detention centres for asylum seekers and refugees as "intolerable".
The report found that existing directives were being poorly applied, or were not being applied at all, by some Member States. In particular, the principles of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the ECHR, such as the right to live in dignity, the protection of family life, access to health care and the right of effective recourse against detention, should be applied at all times and regardless of the status of the third-country national involved.
It also calls for priority to be given to the reception of asylum seekers and immigrants in open reception centres rather than in closed units. Also that basic reception conditions, such as food, housing and emergency heath care should never be withheld, since their withdrawal may violate the fundamental rights of asylum seekers.
The Committee found that legal aid often amounts to no more than a list of lawyers' names. That, together with the frequent lack of adequately trained interpreters and the fact that information about procedures was largely in writing and the deadlines are very short, this "constitutes an obstacle to asylum seekers effectively exercising their rights when they submit an application."
In most of the detention centres visited there were also problems with "insufficient and inadequate medical care...consulting or communicating with doctors and the lack of specific care (in particular, for pregnant women and victims of torture) and of appropriate medicines."
The report also expressed concerns about "the prison conditions in which irregular migrants and asylum seekers are detained even though they have committed no crime," and called for the detention of minors "to be prohibited in principle."
Also highlighted was the increase in the number of people being detained under the Dublin System and the near-routine use of detention measures by certain Member States, and the report called for people not to be placed in detention if the Member State has not demonstrated a real risk of their absconding.
The report was adopted by the European Parliament by 483 votes to 39, with 45 abstentions.
Monday, 9 February 2009
17,000 Asylum Seekers' Files Lost
Last month it was revealed that the backlog of asylum cases had more than doubled by 8,700 over the year leading up to mid-2008, despite the introduction of the so-called New Asylum Model (Nam), designed to speed up and improve decision making.
The National Audit Office report criticised a second backlog of unresolved asylum applications under the old system, that totalled up to 450,000 in June 2006 but which had been reduced via 'fast-tracking' to 245,000 by last summer.
Now we know why atleast some of these applicants are having to wait in bureaucratic limbo for years. It's all down to the usual government inefficiency i.e. 'lost files' which has, according to the Guardian, "plunged the asylum system into chaos."
According to immigration caseworkers, the number of lost files, which include the names, dates of birth, passport numbers and addresses of people applying to stay in Britain as well as details of their children, has escalated because more casework is being done by regional offices, instead of offices in central London. As a result, more paper files are being transported across the country and being lost in transit.
According to a UK Border Agency statement, on 10 November 2008 there were 17,208 principal files officially recorded as lost. And as a direct result the affected applicants have had to begin the process again, while still being unable to work or claim benefits.
The National Audit Office report criticised a second backlog of unresolved asylum applications under the old system, that totalled up to 450,000 in June 2006 but which had been reduced via 'fast-tracking' to 245,000 by last summer.
Now we know why atleast some of these applicants are having to wait in bureaucratic limbo for years. It's all down to the usual government inefficiency i.e. 'lost files' which has, according to the Guardian, "plunged the asylum system into chaos."
According to immigration caseworkers, the number of lost files, which include the names, dates of birth, passport numbers and addresses of people applying to stay in Britain as well as details of their children, has escalated because more casework is being done by regional offices, instead of offices in central London. As a result, more paper files are being transported across the country and being lost in transit.
According to a UK Border Agency statement, on 10 November 2008 there were 17,208 principal files officially recorded as lost. And as a direct result the affected applicants have had to begin the process again, while still being unable to work or claim benefits.
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Uprising In US Detention Prison
On January 31 there was an uprising amongst the immigration detainees at the Reeves County Detention Centre in Pecos, Texas. Details are still sketchy but it is understood that, after complaints of poor medical treatment were ignored by the prison authorities, inmates rioted setting fires and are said to have seized guards’ radio communication equipment.
The uprising, which lasted for 2 days and resulted in at least three inmates being injured and hospitalized, was the second time detainees had staged violent protests at the prison in the past two months. 700 of the Pecos prisoners have now been moved to another detention centre in Sierra Blanca, Texas, because sleeping areas were destroyed during Saturday’s rebellion.
The Pecos detention facility, with a capacity of 2,400 inmates, is the largest of the many immigrant detention centres in the United States currently run by private companies. It is managed by the Geo (Global Expertise in Outsourcing) Group, formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, who also run the 200 place Campsfield House IRC in Oxfordshire.
Campsfield itself has been the scene of a number of disturbances over the years. There was an uprising there in March 2007, following the brutalisation of a detainee during an attempted removal. Police and prison staff took several hours to quell the riot, which left nine detainees and staff in hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.
In August of that year, there was a mass break-out following a fire, with 26 men going on the run. Most were quickly recaptured, although eight are believed to have disappeared without trace. More than 120 detainees rioted in December 2007, smashing CCTV systems and other equipment during another removal. In June 2008 further fires were set, the 'Tornado Team' riot squads were sent in and the camp was locked down again. Later that month, 7 detainees also escaped, with only 4 being recaptured, and the latest of a long line of hunger strike took place amongst Iraqi Kurds in August of last year.
The uprising, which lasted for 2 days and resulted in at least three inmates being injured and hospitalized, was the second time detainees had staged violent protests at the prison in the past two months. 700 of the Pecos prisoners have now been moved to another detention centre in Sierra Blanca, Texas, because sleeping areas were destroyed during Saturday’s rebellion.
The Pecos detention facility, with a capacity of 2,400 inmates, is the largest of the many immigrant detention centres in the United States currently run by private companies. It is managed by the Geo (Global Expertise in Outsourcing) Group, formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, who also run the 200 place Campsfield House IRC in Oxfordshire.
Campsfield itself has been the scene of a number of disturbances over the years. There was an uprising there in March 2007, following the brutalisation of a detainee during an attempted removal. Police and prison staff took several hours to quell the riot, which left nine detainees and staff in hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.
In August of that year, there was a mass break-out following a fire, with 26 men going on the run. Most were quickly recaptured, although eight are believed to have disappeared without trace. More than 120 detainees rioted in December 2007, smashing CCTV systems and other equipment during another removal. In June 2008 further fires were set, the 'Tornado Team' riot squads were sent in and the camp was locked down again. Later that month, 7 detainees also escaped, with only 4 being recaptured, and the latest of a long line of hunger strike took place amongst Iraqi Kurds in August of last year.
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
The Situation In Calais
The situation for migrants in Calais is reaching crisis point. Since the agreement between the UK and French governments to close the Red Cross ran Sangatte camp in 2002 conditions have gone from bad to worse.
The Sangatte camp was housed in an old Eurotunnel building close to the tunnel entrance 3 miles from the main port. Designed to hold 900 migrants, it held 2,000 at its peak, most coming from the near and middle east but all heading for the UK.
The agreement itself was designed to reinforce the Dublin convention, under which asylum seekers are meant to apply for asylum in the first 'safe' country they enter. The practical consequences were the extension of UK border controls to the French side of the channel, a rapid increase in the UK detention estate together with joint UK-French deportation flights.
For migrants the channel became an even narrower bottle neck. So-called 'illegal immigrants' detected entering Kent from Calais fell by 88% from more than 10,000 in 2002 to 1,500 in 2006. The conditions they have to endure have also deteriorated significantly, with the French government upping their repression of migrants in the north east of the country. It was already against the law to aid 'illegal immigrants' in France, but it became policy to send newly recruited police and CRS officers to the Calais area to 'blood' them.
According to the French 'humanitarian' groups (local ad hoc associations that organise in defiance of the law to help feed and aid the migrants) there are around 800 migrants in Calais itself, mostly staying in the makeshift camp called the 'Jungle'. There are also many more in the surrounding area and in the towns along the coast that have crossing points to England, such as Dunkuerque.
At the weekend a group of UK No Borders activists visited Calais on our way to a meeting in Lille to organise a trans-national No Borders Camp in Calais planned for June this year . We visited the only 2 groups, Belle Etoile & Salam, still providing, food for the migrants in the town in defiance of the authorities. And in the jungle we found a Kurdish family with a 3 year old child having to survive in the freezing cold. Such desperate conditions have lead to a renewed call for the opening of a new centre to provide shelter for these people having to survive there.
Yet the new French immigration minister, Eric Besson, can breeze into town a couple of days ago, in what was a national media event, with news crews fighting for the best space, to announce that he wants to see an "exclusion zone" for immigrants in this region of France.
This will be greeted with a sigh of relief by UK ministers as they had lobbied hard for the French government to not reopen humanitarian shelters in the Calais area. No doubt when Besson meets his British counterpart, Phil Woolas, in the UK in February they will get on like a house on fire. That is until the French ask the UK tax-payers to help pay for the increased costs of the new regime.
The Sangatte camp was housed in an old Eurotunnel building close to the tunnel entrance 3 miles from the main port. Designed to hold 900 migrants, it held 2,000 at its peak, most coming from the near and middle east but all heading for the UK.
The agreement itself was designed to reinforce the Dublin convention, under which asylum seekers are meant to apply for asylum in the first 'safe' country they enter. The practical consequences were the extension of UK border controls to the French side of the channel, a rapid increase in the UK detention estate together with joint UK-French deportation flights.
For migrants the channel became an even narrower bottle neck. So-called 'illegal immigrants' detected entering Kent from Calais fell by 88% from more than 10,000 in 2002 to 1,500 in 2006. The conditions they have to endure have also deteriorated significantly, with the French government upping their repression of migrants in the north east of the country. It was already against the law to aid 'illegal immigrants' in France, but it became policy to send newly recruited police and CRS officers to the Calais area to 'blood' them.
According to the French 'humanitarian' groups (local ad hoc associations that organise in defiance of the law to help feed and aid the migrants) there are around 800 migrants in Calais itself, mostly staying in the makeshift camp called the 'Jungle'. There are also many more in the surrounding area and in the towns along the coast that have crossing points to England, such as Dunkuerque.
At the weekend a group of UK No Borders activists visited Calais on our way to a meeting in Lille to organise a trans-national No Borders Camp in Calais planned for June this year . We visited the only 2 groups, Belle Etoile & Salam, still providing, food for the migrants in the town in defiance of the authorities. And in the jungle we found a Kurdish family with a 3 year old child having to survive in the freezing cold. Such desperate conditions have lead to a renewed call for the opening of a new centre to provide shelter for these people having to survive there.
Yet the new French immigration minister, Eric Besson, can breeze into town a couple of days ago, in what was a national media event, with news crews fighting for the best space, to announce that he wants to see an "exclusion zone" for immigrants in this region of France.
This will be greeted with a sigh of relief by UK ministers as they had lobbied hard for the French government to not reopen humanitarian shelters in the Calais area. No doubt when Besson meets his British counterpart, Phil Woolas, in the UK in February they will get on like a house on fire. That is until the French ask the UK tax-payers to help pay for the increased costs of the new regime.
Lampedusa Update
Of the 78 women who have already been transferred to the new Cie ('centre of identification and expulsion') camp under construction at the ex- NATO Loran base on Lampedusa, 16 (12 from Tunisia and four from Morocco) have gone on hunger strike against their possible expulsion.
In Lampedusa itself, there was a general strike on Tuesday 27th and around 50 migrants, who have not returned to the 'reception' centre, are still sheltering on the island and the locals are feeding them. The Italian government also launched a public attack on Lampedusa's mayor, saying that he was guilt of leading the protests!
Meanwhile, in Massa, Tuscany police and carabinieri in riot gear attacked a demonstration of refugees, mainly from Somalia and Eritrea. Some refugees were injured and others were forcibly taken by the police back to the Red Cross centre where they were housed. About 50 people, many of them women, were protesting about delays in processing applications for refugee status and permits to remain. They occupied the centre of the town, blocking traffic and refused to move, asking to see a representative from the UN. Meanwhile they declared they were starting a hunger strike. Many of these refugees were part of a group of 104 persons transferred in August from Lampedusa.
In Lampedusa itself, there was a general strike on Tuesday 27th and around 50 migrants, who have not returned to the 'reception' centre, are still sheltering on the island and the locals are feeding them. The Italian government also launched a public attack on Lampedusa's mayor, saying that he was guilt of leading the protests!
Meanwhile, in Massa, Tuscany police and carabinieri in riot gear attacked a demonstration of refugees, mainly from Somalia and Eritrea. Some refugees were injured and others were forcibly taken by the police back to the Red Cross centre where they were housed. About 50 people, many of them women, were protesting about delays in processing applications for refugee status and permits to remain. They occupied the centre of the town, blocking traffic and refused to move, asking to see a representative from the UN. Meanwhile they declared they were starting a hunger strike. Many of these refugees were part of a group of 104 persons transferred in August from Lampedusa.
Monday, 26 January 2009
Migrants Escape Detention Camp in Lampedusa
The blatantly racist and truly appalling treatment of migrants in Italy continues a pace in Italy in places such as Lampedusa, a small island south of Sicily which houses a 'Centre of First Reception' (Cpa), that also functions as a 'Centre of Identification and Expulsion' (Cie).
Nearly 2000 persons are crammed in the centre, which can barely contain 850, after a series of arrivals of boats from the African coast. Many are sleeping out in the rain because of the overcrowding (see video for an example of the conditions in the camp). The Interior Minister Roberto Maroni has refused to move them to other centres operating in Italy, insisting they must be processed and eventually deported directly from Lampedusa, which is the first point of arrival for many migrants, especially since increased immigration controls at the Spansh border have changed the migration routes.
Amnesty International, Save The Children, Cir, Asgi, Medicines Sans Frontieres have all denounced the situation in Lampedusa and the possibility of serious human rights violations. The UNHCR had also expressed their concern, since many of the men women and children confined in Lampedusa are refugees.
The situation reached breaking point on Saturday 24th, when approximately 1300 migrants forced open the entrance gates and got past police controls. They then proceeded to form a demonstartion, marching towards the square in front of the Town Hall shouting slogans: 'Freedom, Freedom' and 'Help us'.
The day before the break-out, local residents had stopped a bus with 110 migrants enroute to the new camp and held a demonstration against a new Cie camp being built at the Loran ex-NATO base on the island and against conditions inside the Lampedusa camp, with some 4000 people taking part. The local Mayor, Bernardino de Rubeis was quoted as saying, "The people of Lampedusa are out on the streets to say to Minister Maroni that we are against the creation of an open air prison."
The most striking fact is that the local residents and the migrants have come together in solidarity and on Saturday, when the residents went on general strike, the locals and migrants held a joint demonstration. They have been eating and drinking together, with locals feeding the migrants after their mass escape. Things have been peaceful and the days of protest have gone without incidents, apart from on Saturday, when the police attacked demonstrators. In one incident an ambulance drove into the crowd and a cop also kicked a local resident for no apparent reasons. In both cases the people reacted and the police charged the crowd. A 16 years old local boy was also injured during the demonstration.
The Italian interior ministry, trying to hide their embarrassment at the situation, said there had been "no escape of illegal immigrants" because it was a camp for assistance rather than expulsion, "so there is no obligation to stay there". Italian PM Berlusconi, who is largely to blame for the conditions created by the new laws that seek to speed-up expulsions, also had the bare-faced cheek to try and reassure locals by saying "The situation in Lampedusa is absolutely a contingency. The residents of Lampedusa need to remain calm and tranquil and know the situation is under control but that, above all, we will do something to compensate them for this inconvenience."
Nearly 2000 persons are crammed in the centre, which can barely contain 850, after a series of arrivals of boats from the African coast. Many are sleeping out in the rain because of the overcrowding (see video for an example of the conditions in the camp). The Interior Minister Roberto Maroni has refused to move them to other centres operating in Italy, insisting they must be processed and eventually deported directly from Lampedusa, which is the first point of arrival for many migrants, especially since increased immigration controls at the Spansh border have changed the migration routes.
Amnesty International, Save The Children, Cir, Asgi, Medicines Sans Frontieres have all denounced the situation in Lampedusa and the possibility of serious human rights violations. The UNHCR had also expressed their concern, since many of the men women and children confined in Lampedusa are refugees.
The situation reached breaking point on Saturday 24th, when approximately 1300 migrants forced open the entrance gates and got past police controls. They then proceeded to form a demonstartion, marching towards the square in front of the Town Hall shouting slogans: 'Freedom, Freedom' and 'Help us'.
The day before the break-out, local residents had stopped a bus with 110 migrants enroute to the new camp and held a demonstration against a new Cie camp being built at the Loran ex-NATO base on the island and against conditions inside the Lampedusa camp, with some 4000 people taking part. The local Mayor, Bernardino de Rubeis was quoted as saying, "The people of Lampedusa are out on the streets to say to Minister Maroni that we are against the creation of an open air prison."
The most striking fact is that the local residents and the migrants have come together in solidarity and on Saturday, when the residents went on general strike, the locals and migrants held a joint demonstration. They have been eating and drinking together, with locals feeding the migrants after their mass escape. Things have been peaceful and the days of protest have gone without incidents, apart from on Saturday, when the police attacked demonstrators. In one incident an ambulance drove into the crowd and a cop also kicked a local resident for no apparent reasons. In both cases the people reacted and the police charged the crowd. A 16 years old local boy was also injured during the demonstration.
The Italian interior ministry, trying to hide their embarrassment at the situation, said there had been "no escape of illegal immigrants" because it was a camp for assistance rather than expulsion, "so there is no obligation to stay there". Italian PM Berlusconi, who is largely to blame for the conditions created by the new laws that seek to speed-up expulsions, also had the bare-faced cheek to try and reassure locals by saying "The situation in Lampedusa is absolutely a contingency. The residents of Lampedusa need to remain calm and tranquil and know the situation is under control but that, above all, we will do something to compensate them for this inconvenience."
Thursday, 15 January 2009
News Round-Up
Immigration Minister Calls For Changes In 'Outdated' Geneva Convention.
Yes our old friend Phil Woolas, the immigration minister, has been at it again. He has called for the Geneva Convention to be scraped, as he claims that "a significant number of people who claim asylum" are abusing the 58-year-old convention, which enshrines individuals' rights to asylum from state persecution. His proposals closely mirror those of that other fine upholder of liberal democracy the French president Nicholas Sarkozy. [See: Guardian 10 Jan]
From Belsen To Zimbabwe: Sorry Minister, But To Call The Geneva Conventions Outdated Traduces 60 Years Of Torture And Abuse.
In an article in the same paper 3 days later Helen Bamber, founder of the Helen Bamber Foundation, a UK-based human rights organisation that works with survivors of genocide, torture, trafficking and rape who seek safety and refuge, attacked Woolas' ignorance of the "documented fact that patterns of migration mirror patterns of global conflict." [See: Guardian 13 Jan]
Campsfield: 'Staff Ignored Suicide Threat'.
Detainees at Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre claim wardens repeatedly ignored warnings an inmate was going to commit suicide.
Brice Mabonga, a 33-year-old detainee from Congo, tried unsuccessfully to kill himself on New Year’s Day, after spending more than a week on hunger strike.
It is believed Mr Mabonga, who had been in the Blue Wing of the Kidlington facility, attempted to slit his throat with a sharpened plastic knife in order to avoid deportation on January 2. [More on this story: Oxford Mail 13 Jan]
Lack Of Accountability Is At Heart Of The Mistreatment Of Asylum-Seeker.
In an article in the Independent, the paper's Law Editor, Robert Verkaik, argues that "a disturbing feature of Britain's record on immigration is the treatment of failed asylum-seekers (sic). Successive governments have overseen the establishment of a system that is best suited to meeting deportation targets, rather than the care of some of the most vulnerable members of our society. Immigrants who have committed no criminal offence can be locked up for as long as three years. Failed asylum-seekers have few rights and often know very little about the legal system in which they are held. In such a climate, it is easy to see how those employed to guard them are in a position to abuse their power." [See: Independant 14 Jan]
[Courtesy of NCADC]
Yes our old friend Phil Woolas, the immigration minister, has been at it again. He has called for the Geneva Convention to be scraped, as he claims that "a significant number of people who claim asylum" are abusing the 58-year-old convention, which enshrines individuals' rights to asylum from state persecution. His proposals closely mirror those of that other fine upholder of liberal democracy the French president Nicholas Sarkozy. [See: Guardian 10 Jan]
From Belsen To Zimbabwe: Sorry Minister, But To Call The Geneva Conventions Outdated Traduces 60 Years Of Torture And Abuse.
In an article in the same paper 3 days later Helen Bamber, founder of the Helen Bamber Foundation, a UK-based human rights organisation that works with survivors of genocide, torture, trafficking and rape who seek safety and refuge, attacked Woolas' ignorance of the "documented fact that patterns of migration mirror patterns of global conflict." [See: Guardian 13 Jan]
Campsfield: 'Staff Ignored Suicide Threat'.
Detainees at Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre claim wardens repeatedly ignored warnings an inmate was going to commit suicide.
Brice Mabonga, a 33-year-old detainee from Congo, tried unsuccessfully to kill himself on New Year’s Day, after spending more than a week on hunger strike.
It is believed Mr Mabonga, who had been in the Blue Wing of the Kidlington facility, attempted to slit his throat with a sharpened plastic knife in order to avoid deportation on January 2. [More on this story: Oxford Mail 13 Jan]
Lack Of Accountability Is At Heart Of The Mistreatment Of Asylum-Seeker.
In an article in the Independent, the paper's Law Editor, Robert Verkaik, argues that "a disturbing feature of Britain's record on immigration is the treatment of failed asylum-seekers (sic). Successive governments have overseen the establishment of a system that is best suited to meeting deportation targets, rather than the care of some of the most vulnerable members of our society. Immigrants who have committed no criminal offence can be locked up for as long as three years. Failed asylum-seekers have few rights and often know very little about the legal system in which they are held. In such a climate, it is easy to see how those employed to guard them are in a position to abuse their power." [See: Independant 14 Jan]
[Courtesy of NCADC]
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