...But 'Failed' Asylum Seekers Are Still Not Entitled To Free NHS Treatment.
The Court of Appeal has ruled that Department of Health guidance which forbids hospitals from providing temporary healthcare to destitute migrants with chronic illnesses is unlawful.
The court case brought by a Palestinian man, Mr. A, with chronic liver disease, who had had his asylum claim refused and, prevented from travelling back to the West Bank by Israeli travel restrictions despite having agreed to return, was refused treatment by West Middlesex University Hospital.
Dept. of Health guidance states that hospitals should not provide treatment to such patients unless they pay for it in advance, ignoring the fact that many of these patients are destitute, many cannot return home, so they are not treated until they require life-saving treatment.
The hospital eventually agreed to treat Mr. A after he started an urgent High Court action. However, he continued the case, arguing that the guidance was unlawful and it was preventing thousands of other refused asylum-seekers from accessing urgent treatment. The High Court ruled that refused asylum-seekers could be entitled to free treatment if they had been here long enough and were following the rules, but the government appealed the decision.
The Court of Appeal, whilst rejecting the High Court’s ruling that refused asylum-seekers could be classed as being legally resident in the country, upheld the decision that the guidance was unlawful as it did not make it clear enough that hospitals must consider providing treatment where a patient cannot return home and cannot pay for the treatment in advance.
However, this still leaves a situation where there is no automatic right to health care for failed' asylum seekers who are unable to return to their country of origin and that it up to individual hospitals to make decisions about treatment on a case by case basis. (See: 1, 2)
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Tinsley House Blockaders Sentenced
Seven of the anti-deportation campaigners who blockaded Tinsley House immigration detention centre at Gatwick airport earlier this month (see 18 March post) pleaded guilty to the charge of 'aggravated trespass' at Crawley Magistrates Court yesterday. Six of them locked and glued themselves to the gate of Tinsley House on 17th March in an attempt to prevent Iraqi refugees being taken to Stansted airport to be forcibly deported on a special charter flight to northern Iraq later that day. All seven were released on conditional discharge and ordered to pay the court fees. Two other protesters, who were also arrested on the action, pleaded not guilty and are due in court again soon.
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Guantanamo-Sur-Mer?
If a news story in yesterday's Independent is to be believed, it now appears that the new detention centre 'planned' for Calais and currently under discussion by the French & UK governments, will be sited within the UK 'control zone' within the port area. This proposal attempts to exploit the ambiguous legal status of the 'control zone', allowing the UK & French authorities to bypass both their own and the EU's legal strictures that currently prevent them from expelling detained migrants as easily as they would wish.[1]
In February 2004 Home Office immigration controls moved to the so-called 'juxtaposed control zones' within the Calais, Boulogne and Dunkerque dock areas established under the 2003 Le Touquet treaty. Since then immigration officers have operated on 'French soil' and are allowed, under the reciprocal provisions of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum [NIA] Act 2002 (Juxtaposed Controls) Order 2003, to search ships and vehicles and detain 'illegal' immigrants.
When the Home Office was reorganised and the UK Border Agency created, a second version of the legislation was passed, the NIA Act 2002 (Juxtaposed Controls) Order 2006, which "authorise persons other than immigration officers to search a ship, aircraft or vehicle or other thing for the purpose of satisfying himself whether there are individuals whom an immigration officer might wish to examine for the purposes of considering whether the person should enter the UK."[2]
Now this may create a little bit of Blighty in France but UK control ends at the fence around the port.[3] And there is still the small problem of where the deportaion flights for the detainees, from what would potentially be the UK's very own Guantanamo, would fly from. Calais Marck Airport is far too small to take international flights and that means that the deportees would either have to be transported by boat to England, for a flight from there, or they would have to travel via French soil to a French Airport, which would cause legal problems for the French and defeat the whole object of the exercise. Of course they could always put them on a slow boat to Aghanistan or Iraq!
Another interesting recent development have been the reports from migrant support workers in Calais of what appear to be either UK police or UKBA officers on patrol with the French Border Police. If true, this is significant in that it indicates that the UK influence on French soil seems to be expanding even further and beyond the legal limits of the Calais port fence.
[1] France had already fallen foul of the European Declaration on Human Rights when they tried to hold a mass deportation back to Afghanistan last November, and most migrants detained in the North West of France have no papers and their countries of origin cannot accurately be ascertained.
[2] This Act also enables these "persons other than immigration officer", the UKBA's equivalent of Police Community Support Officers, to detain people up to a maximum of three hours in order to escort them to an immigration officer. It also provides for the taking and retention of fingerprints under Sections 141 and 143 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.
[3] Not strictly true as the UKBA operate visa controls at Paris, Brussels, Lille and Calais Frethun rail stations, as well as on Eurostar trains.
In February 2004 Home Office immigration controls moved to the so-called 'juxtaposed control zones' within the Calais, Boulogne and Dunkerque dock areas established under the 2003 Le Touquet treaty. Since then immigration officers have operated on 'French soil' and are allowed, under the reciprocal provisions of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum [NIA] Act 2002 (Juxtaposed Controls) Order 2003, to search ships and vehicles and detain 'illegal' immigrants.
When the Home Office was reorganised and the UK Border Agency created, a second version of the legislation was passed, the NIA Act 2002 (Juxtaposed Controls) Order 2006, which "authorise persons other than immigration officers to search a ship, aircraft or vehicle or other thing for the purpose of satisfying himself whether there are individuals whom an immigration officer might wish to examine for the purposes of considering whether the person should enter the UK."[2]
Now this may create a little bit of Blighty in France but UK control ends at the fence around the port.[3] And there is still the small problem of where the deportaion flights for the detainees, from what would potentially be the UK's very own Guantanamo, would fly from. Calais Marck Airport is far too small to take international flights and that means that the deportees would either have to be transported by boat to England, for a flight from there, or they would have to travel via French soil to a French Airport, which would cause legal problems for the French and defeat the whole object of the exercise. Of course they could always put them on a slow boat to Aghanistan or Iraq!
Another interesting recent development have been the reports from migrant support workers in Calais of what appear to be either UK police or UKBA officers on patrol with the French Border Police. If true, this is significant in that it indicates that the UK influence on French soil seems to be expanding even further and beyond the legal limits of the Calais port fence.
[1] France had already fallen foul of the European Declaration on Human Rights when they tried to hold a mass deportation back to Afghanistan last November, and most migrants detained in the North West of France have no papers and their countries of origin cannot accurately be ascertained.
[2] This Act also enables these "persons other than immigration officer", the UKBA's equivalent of Police Community Support Officers, to detain people up to a maximum of three hours in order to escort them to an immigration officer. It also provides for the taking and retention of fingerprints under Sections 141 and 143 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.
[3] Not strictly true as the UKBA operate visa controls at Paris, Brussels, Lille and Calais Frethun rail stations, as well as on Eurostar trains.
Friday, 20 March 2009
Entente Not So Cordiale
It seems that Phil Woolas has put his foot in in/run off at the mouth/jumped the gun/got hold of the wrong end of the stick/spilt the beans/made a fopar/made a faux pas* yet again when he announced the 'plans' for the building of a internment camp for migrants in the Calais area. (see Wednesday's post)
In response to his pronouncements, there have been what can only be politely labelled as mixed signals coming from France. These range from a rather strange version of 'No Comment' from Eric Besson, where he denied that they were plans to build a new Sangatte(!), to an out right "Not in my backyard" by an unnamed French official.
It seems that, despite courting publicity in the first days after his appointment (see 28 January post), Besson now wants to avoid being associated with the controversy that Woolas' comments have sparked in France.
Of course some of this new reticence may be linked to the publicity surrounding Besson's reaction to the release of Philippe Lioret's film 'Welcome', which makes a direct comparison between the ordeal experienced by many migrants in France and the plight of Jews in Nazi-occupied France during the Second World War. Besson claimed that Lioret has "crossed a red line" using such a comparison, which he claimed was used only in an effort to generate publicity for the film. However the French public don't seem to see it that way, and the film itself has sparked a country-wide debate over the fate of the Calais migrants, as well as being a box-office hit.
*delete as non-applicable.
In response to his pronouncements, there have been what can only be politely labelled as mixed signals coming from France. These range from a rather strange version of 'No Comment' from Eric Besson, where he denied that they were plans to build a new Sangatte(!), to an out right "Not in my backyard" by an unnamed French official.
It seems that, despite courting publicity in the first days after his appointment (see 28 January post), Besson now wants to avoid being associated with the controversy that Woolas' comments have sparked in France.
Of course some of this new reticence may be linked to the publicity surrounding Besson's reaction to the release of Philippe Lioret's film 'Welcome', which makes a direct comparison between the ordeal experienced by many migrants in France and the plight of Jews in Nazi-occupied France during the Second World War. Besson claimed that Lioret has "crossed a red line" using such a comparison, which he claimed was used only in an effort to generate publicity for the film. However the French public don't seem to see it that way, and the film itself has sparked a country-wide debate over the fate of the Calais migrants, as well as being a box-office hit.
*delete as non-applicable.
Thursday, 19 March 2009
Brook House Opens As Tinsley House Goes On Hunger Strike
Yesterday Jacqui Smith ceremonially opened Brook House, the latest privately run (G4S in this case) Immigration Prison to be built in the UK. The 426 bed Category B style building brings the UK detention estate up to 3,038 places, with a further 1300 in the pipeline.
Yet all is not going smoothly in G4S's latest venture. All the inmates at Tinsley House, 750m up the South Perimeter Road at Gatwick Airport, have been on hunger strike for 2 days due to changes in the meal system introduced since Brook House became operational. Their meals are now cooked in the kitchens of Brook House to save G4S a few quid and help maximise their profits.
This has resulted in the Tinsley inmates having to order their meals 48 hours in advance and the food is cold and they receive much smaller portions than they had previously (more cost cutting?). Still, atleast Jacqui Smith can sleep happier in her nice comfortable bed (see BBC news clip for a look inside a Brook House cell - sorry 'room' as the UKBA newspeak labels them) knowing that all those 'foreign criminals' will be getting reduced portions of their just desserts.
Yet all is not going smoothly in G4S's latest venture. All the inmates at Tinsley House, 750m up the South Perimeter Road at Gatwick Airport, have been on hunger strike for 2 days due to changes in the meal system introduced since Brook House became operational. Their meals are now cooked in the kitchens of Brook House to save G4S a few quid and help maximise their profits.
This has resulted in the Tinsley inmates having to order their meals 48 hours in advance and the food is cold and they receive much smaller portions than they had previously (more cost cutting?). Still, atleast Jacqui Smith can sleep happier in her nice comfortable bed (see BBC news clip for a look inside a Brook House cell - sorry 'room' as the UKBA newspeak labels them) knowing that all those 'foreign criminals' will be getting reduced portions of their just desserts.
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
New UK-Funded Detention Centre For Calais?
Calais is back in the news with the British government's latest attempt to externalise it's migration controls. Plans are afoot to try and rush through a new agreement to build a new large sized detention centre in the Calais area to supplement the Croquelles CRE, ahead of a planned UK-French immigration summit at the end of next month.
Having already won a major victory over the poor deluded Rosbifs with the closure of Sangatte in 2002*, Sarkozy is planning on stiffing les Rosbifs with the majority of the bill for the new detention centre. This detention centre would also be a staging point for mass deportation flights back to Iraq and Afghanistan, this is despite the UK being left standing at the altar the last time that they tried to organise a joint deportation flight back to Afghanistan with the French**
The Labour Party's own junior Enoch Powell, Phil Woolas, broke the news at Monday's session of the Home Affairs Select Committee, "We want to increase the profile of the deportations because we have to get the message back to Afghanistan and Iraq that Britain is not the Promised Land." Clearly the Labour Party no longer plan to build Jerusalem in England's green and pleasant land. Well atleast not for Johnnie Foreigner anyway.
This may also explain the strange 'humanitarian' noises that we reported on 13 March as emanating from Eric Besson. He was obviously trying to sugar in advance a particularly bitter pill for the migrants and the support groups in Calais.
*Basically Sarkozy, who was the French immigration minister at the time, managed to not only get the UK to take the lion's share of the migrants in Sangatte at the time of it's closure, to pay for most of the £4.9M fence around the SNCF depot at Frethum at the same time and to greatly tighten the UK's immigration policy, but he also managed to set a right-wing agenda for the French immigration debate and ultimately landed himself the French presidency.
**see: the 18 Nov 2008 post
Having already won a major victory over the poor deluded Rosbifs with the closure of Sangatte in 2002*, Sarkozy is planning on stiffing les Rosbifs with the majority of the bill for the new detention centre. This detention centre would also be a staging point for mass deportation flights back to Iraq and Afghanistan, this is despite the UK being left standing at the altar the last time that they tried to organise a joint deportation flight back to Afghanistan with the French**
The Labour Party's own junior Enoch Powell, Phil Woolas, broke the news at Monday's session of the Home Affairs Select Committee, "We want to increase the profile of the deportations because we have to get the message back to Afghanistan and Iraq that Britain is not the Promised Land." Clearly the Labour Party no longer plan to build Jerusalem in England's green and pleasant land. Well atleast not for Johnnie Foreigner anyway.
This may also explain the strange 'humanitarian' noises that we reported on 13 March as emanating from Eric Besson. He was obviously trying to sugar in advance a particularly bitter pill for the migrants and the support groups in Calais.
*Basically Sarkozy, who was the French immigration minister at the time, managed to not only get the UK to take the lion's share of the migrants in Sangatte at the time of it's closure, to pay for most of the £4.9M fence around the SNCF depot at Frethum at the same time and to greatly tighten the UK's immigration policy, but he also managed to set a right-wing agenda for the French immigration debate and ultimately landed himself the French presidency.
**see: the 18 Nov 2008 post
9 Arrested After Tinsley Blockade
9 anti-deportation campaigners from the group 'Stop Deportation' were arrested yesterday during the blockade of Tinsley House IRC at Gatwick Airport. 6 of the activists had either locked or super-glued themselves on to the gates at Tinsley to try and prevent the removal of deportees scheduled to be flown back to Iraqi Kurdistan.
The blockade, which managed to stop a number G4S vans from leaving, was ended by police after approximately 6 hours and this unfortunately left enough time for the deportees to be taken to Stanstead for the removal flight.
For more details, see the London No Borders website
The blockade, which managed to stop a number G4S vans from leaving, was ended by police after approximately 6 hours and this unfortunately left enough time for the deportees to be taken to Stanstead for the removal flight.
For more details, see the London No Borders website
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