NOTIFICATION OF SUSPENSION OF HUNGER STRIKE IN YARL’S WOOD IRC
This is to inform the authorities and the public that the on-going hunger strike is to be suspended on the 19 March 2010 at 9.00 am. We are giving the authorities and immigration the chance to look at all the issues raised before and during the strike. We are hoping that management at Serco will review problems at Yarl’s Wood. Also, we expect immigration to carefully look at the cases of women held at the detention centre.
The suspension will last for three weeks until something is done to all the issues that had been raised. Our position will be reviewed on suspension of the hunger strike if there are no changes to the problems and issues. Nobody wants to go on hunger strike, but if the authorities and immigration do not listen to us then we can resume the hunger strike on the 9 April 2010. This letter will be sent with a copy of the problems that we face at Yarl’s Wood.
We are demanding the following actions:
*There should be a full investigation into what happened during the peaceful protest on 8 February 2010.
*Any travel arrangement for the women who were involved with the protest should be suspended until after the investigation.
*End the frustrations, physical and mental torture at the centre.
*Allow enough time and make resources available to residents who need to fully present their cases.
*To end all false allegations and misrepresentations by the UKBA regarding detainees in order to refuse bail or temporary admissions.
*Access to appropriate medical treatment and care as in the community, access to edible and well cooked food, cancel weekly mobile phones charges and allow phone connections, with camera and recording facilities to back up cases.
*To stop the forceful removal and degrading system of deportation of detainees.
*To put law into practice, European rules governing standard of conditions of detention for migrants and asylum seekers and the length of time in detention.
*Detention should be by a standard procedure prescribed by law, authorized by judicial authority and be subjected to periodic judicial reviews.
*To end the detention of children and their mothers, rape survivors and other torture victims, to end the detention of physically, mentally sick people and pregnant women for long period of time.
* Stop the fingerprinting and taking photograph of our visitors (Even real prisons don’t do this to visitors)
*To end the separation of children from their mothers being detained whether in detention or by destitution.
*There should be an interpreter for non English speaking women in the wings to help them with their queries.
*To end the detention of women after serving time in prison. Women served their sentence they should not be punished again by detention or deportation.
* The extortion of Yarl’s Wood shop must end. The shop charges us extra 20p per item, even though the centre knows we have no money.
* To abolish the fast track system, in order to give asylum seekers a fair chance with their application, while understanding the particular needs of victims of torture, and access to reliable legal representation which the fast track system denies.
*There should be more female offices and black offices. The centre is 80 percent black detainee and only female offices should search our rooms.
*There are very little activities in the centre. There are 12 computer (which is very slow to use), 10 chairs in the arts room with small material to work with. This is suppose to cater for more than 400 women. The library have no popular books and all the books are very old. We are not allowed to order books from other library.
*To end the repeat detention of women granted temporary admission while reporting or signing after a short period out of detention.
*To a set period of time allowed to detain women, which should be no longer than one month, while waiting decision either from UKBA or court proceedings.
*Finally instead of detention of foreign nationals, there are alternatives to detention as stated by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in 'The detention of asylum seekers and irregular migrants in Europe ', adopted on the 28th January 2010 [extracts below]:
9.1.1. detention of asylum seekers and irregular migrants shall be exceptional and only used after first reviewing all other alternatives and finding that there is no effective alternative;
9.3.4.1. placement in special establishments (open or semi-open);
9.3.4.2. registration and reporting;
9.3.4.3. release on bail/surety;
9.3.4.4. controlled release to individuals, family members, NGOs, religious organizations, or others;
9.3.4.5. handover of travel and other documents, release combined with appointment of a special worker;
For full text see:
Council of Europe - Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 1707 (2010) - The detention of asylum seekers and irregular migrants in Europe.
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Don't Trust Tabloid Translations...
...Or For Them To Tell You The Whole Truth.
This is getting so boring that we are finding it both hard to keep up and hard to be bothered by the rampant xenophobia displayed daily in the Express. Yes, we know it has always been a vile racist rag but since the turn of the year and the beginning of the phoney election race, they have excelled even their own previously gutter-level lows. The also have even exceeded the Mail's attempts to become an election stalking horse for the BNP, whilst of course, in a show of hypocrisy and cant, declaring how vile the BNP really are. Honest.
The latest piece of racist stupidity also pushes the anti-women, anti-abortion, anti-EU and health tourism buttons, whilst sticking the boot into all things Polish. The article is headed by the usual tabloid style fabrication that passes for a headline - 'Now Poles Get Free Abortions On NHS', as though this were some new policy requirement. Of course, Poles or anyone else not legally resident in the EU cannot get free treatment except in special, often emergency, situations, something that has been the case for decades under various international agreements since the UK joined the EU.
Yet that doesn't stop that Andrew Green idiot from MigrationBotch chipping in his two-peneth about the NHS being "in danger of becoming an “international health service” and called for NHS clinics to make sure that those who turn up for free treatment are entitled to it." What planet does he live on? Surely someone who constantly touts himself as an 'expert' on immigration (sic) issues knows full well the rules and regulations that operate within the NHS to restrict treatment to those officially deemed legally entitled to it? But of course that doesn't suit his own particular brand of intolerance.
And what is this all about? It turns out that the paper's ire was stimulated by the appearance in Poland of a rather clever spoof of a Mastercard ad campaign by Polish feminist group SROM. Their poster campaign highlights the lack of abortion rights in Poland and the dangers of underground abortions. The paper helpfully translates the bits of the poster that suit their biased interpretation (and hence their story): "Air ticket to England in the promotion: 300 zł, accommodation: 240 zł, abortion clinics in public: 0 zł, relief after surgery in good condition - is priceless."
What they fail to translate is the text at the bottom of the poster: "For everything else you will pay less than (for) an underground abortion in Poland."*
Needless to say the Mail also has a version of this non-story and they add their own little extra bit of hypocrisy by talking about "a poster campaign which features a semi-naked woman", a paper that loves to fill its on-line content with as much titillating naked flesh as possible without actually showing any 'naughty bits'. They also wheel out Ann Widdecombe and her well-known opinions on abortion (as opposed to a straight forward anti-abortion group like LIFE in the Express) and a new right-wing fruit-loop group Patients Concern ("our core principle is complete consumer independence")**
* They also fail to mention that srom is Polish for vulva (surely not in a family paper!).
** Obviously the Taxpayers' Alliance rent-a-quote must have had their mobile switched of when the Express and the Mail rang as we were happily deprived of suffering any more of their reactionary drivel.
This is getting so boring that we are finding it both hard to keep up and hard to be bothered by the rampant xenophobia displayed daily in the Express. Yes, we know it has always been a vile racist rag but since the turn of the year and the beginning of the phoney election race, they have excelled even their own previously gutter-level lows. The also have even exceeded the Mail's attempts to become an election stalking horse for the BNP, whilst of course, in a show of hypocrisy and cant, declaring how vile the BNP really are. Honest.
The latest piece of racist stupidity also pushes the anti-women, anti-abortion, anti-EU and health tourism buttons, whilst sticking the boot into all things Polish. The article is headed by the usual tabloid style fabrication that passes for a headline - 'Now Poles Get Free Abortions On NHS', as though this were some new policy requirement. Of course, Poles or anyone else not legally resident in the EU cannot get free treatment except in special, often emergency, situations, something that has been the case for decades under various international agreements since the UK joined the EU.
Yet that doesn't stop that Andrew Green idiot from MigrationBotch chipping in his two-peneth about the NHS being "in danger of becoming an “international health service” and called for NHS clinics to make sure that those who turn up for free treatment are entitled to it." What planet does he live on? Surely someone who constantly touts himself as an 'expert' on immigration (sic) issues knows full well the rules and regulations that operate within the NHS to restrict treatment to those officially deemed legally entitled to it? But of course that doesn't suit his own particular brand of intolerance.
And what is this all about? It turns out that the paper's ire was stimulated by the appearance in Poland of a rather clever spoof of a Mastercard ad campaign by Polish feminist group SROM. Their poster campaign highlights the lack of abortion rights in Poland and the dangers of underground abortions. The paper helpfully translates the bits of the poster that suit their biased interpretation (and hence their story): "Air ticket to England in the promotion: 300 zł, accommodation: 240 zł, abortion clinics in public: 0 zł, relief after surgery in good condition - is priceless."
What they fail to translate is the text at the bottom of the poster: "For everything else you will pay less than (for) an underground abortion in Poland."*
Needless to say the Mail also has a version of this non-story and they add their own little extra bit of hypocrisy by talking about "a poster campaign which features a semi-naked woman", a paper that loves to fill its on-line content with as much titillating naked flesh as possible without actually showing any 'naughty bits'. They also wheel out Ann Widdecombe and her well-known opinions on abortion (as opposed to a straight forward anti-abortion group like LIFE in the Express) and a new right-wing fruit-loop group Patients Concern ("our core principle is complete consumer independence")**
* They also fail to mention that srom is Polish for vulva (surely not in a family paper!).
** Obviously the Taxpayers' Alliance rent-a-quote must have had their mobile switched of when the Express and the Mail rang as we were happily deprived of suffering any more of their reactionary drivel.
Stop Dangerous Drivers!
No More WH Deportation Tours!
Public demo at WH Tours offices, Kelvin Way, Manor Royal, Crawley
Saturday, 27th March 2010
Meet at 11am @ Crawley train station. Bring banners and instruments.
WH Tours is a coach company based in Crawley, near Gatwick airport. Part of the company's business is leisure: coach excursions, sightseeing tours and so on. Another part, however, is much more sinister: the company provides coaches for transporting detained migrants facing deportation from immigration prisons to airports to be deported on commercial or specially charted flights.
Forcible deportations tear apart people's lives as they are split from their families and communities and their right to freedom of movement is denied. On top of this, the vast majority of deportations have been to countries devastated by wars and armed conflicts (often caused by western colonial interests) such as Afghanistan, Iraq, DR Congo, Nigeria, Jamaica, Sri Lanka and so on. After being forcibly deported, many have been kidnapped, imprisoned, tortured and killed. Others have had to change their identities or move again to avoid persecution.
By providing coaches to transport deportees to the airport, WH Tours is complicit in the human tragedies that forcible deportations cause.
Deportees, including families and children, are also treated as criminals. They are typically handcuffed and accompanied by two private security guards each. There have been many reports of racial and violent abuse suffered by deportees at the hands of private 'escorts'. WH Tours is complicit in these illegal acts too.
London NoBorders is calling for WH Tours to immediately end its contracts with G4S, the UKBA and any other other private or government body involved in the
deportation machine.
We are calling for all individuals, schools and companies that use WH Tours to boycott them until the company ends its involvement in deportation.
London NoBorders is also calling for a public demo outside WH Tours (The Kelvin Centre, Kelvin Way, Crawley RH10 9SF) on Saturday, 27th March, to express our disgust at its shameful involvement in this inhumane industry.
Public demo at WH Tours offices, Kelvin Way, Manor Royal, Crawley
Saturday, 27th March 2010
Meet at 11am @ Crawley train station. Bring banners and instruments.
WH Tours is a coach company based in Crawley, near Gatwick airport. Part of the company's business is leisure: coach excursions, sightseeing tours and so on. Another part, however, is much more sinister: the company provides coaches for transporting detained migrants facing deportation from immigration prisons to airports to be deported on commercial or specially charted flights.
Forcible deportations tear apart people's lives as they are split from their families and communities and their right to freedom of movement is denied. On top of this, the vast majority of deportations have been to countries devastated by wars and armed conflicts (often caused by western colonial interests) such as Afghanistan, Iraq, DR Congo, Nigeria, Jamaica, Sri Lanka and so on. After being forcibly deported, many have been kidnapped, imprisoned, tortured and killed. Others have had to change their identities or move again to avoid persecution.
By providing coaches to transport deportees to the airport, WH Tours is complicit in the human tragedies that forcible deportations cause.
Deportees, including families and children, are also treated as criminals. They are typically handcuffed and accompanied by two private security guards each. There have been many reports of racial and violent abuse suffered by deportees at the hands of private 'escorts'. WH Tours is complicit in these illegal acts too.
London NoBorders is calling for WH Tours to immediately end its contracts with G4S, the UKBA and any other other private or government body involved in the
deportation machine.
We are calling for all individuals, schools and companies that use WH Tours to boycott them until the company ends its involvement in deportation.
London NoBorders is also calling for a public demo outside WH Tours (The Kelvin Centre, Kelvin Way, Crawley RH10 9SF) on Saturday, 27th March, to express our disgust at its shameful involvement in this inhumane industry.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Tabloid Readers Shamed
It is not often that we reprint verbatim pieces from other sources but we couldn't resist this one from The Spoof for the obvious reasons:
Editors of the British tabloid press united today to speak-out against those who buy their newspapers.
'They're only interested in sleaze and scandal,' angrily accused one editor. 'For too long they've blackmailed us into harassing celebrities and other public figures, and then compelled us to print pernicious lies about them.'
Another editor, who was too frightened to be identified, tearfully told of how he feared for the safety of his family. 'If I didn't print what those lascivious, sadistic, bigoted bastards demanded,' he sobbed, 'they'd stop buying the paper, and my wife and children would starve.'
Others underlined the courage it had taken to finally stand-up to their readers. 'I couldn't have done it alone,' said the boss of a leading national tabloid. 'The Tabloid Editors' Support Group helped me to realise I wasn't alone. In therapy, we spoke of how we had all come to hate ourselves for dispensing with truth. We had all lain awake at nights mortified at the interest we had generated in celebrities for no purpose other than to later vilify them.'
There is also huge guilt among tabloid journalists about the way their readers have forced them to portray immigrants and young people. 'There are not millions of asylum seekers freely entering Britain, and they are not committing all crime,' protested one reporter, 'but if we even implied this, circulation figures would plummet.'
The same reporter recalled the apology that his newspaper had been compelled to issue when it had inadvertently suggested that not all young people were drunk 24/7 and that not all fourteen-year old girls were pregnant. 'The article had commended the dedication and hard work of young people and the credit they were to Britain,' he revealed. 'My editor had feared that it might lead to violent protests by readers.'
A spokesperson for British tabloid editors confirmed that they were no longer prepared to be the passive and helpless victims of their readerships. She stated that the newspapers had unanimously resolved to gradually move towards a radical new policy of publishing stories that were balanced and factually accurate. She also confirmed that they would be running a series of articles, ruthlessly exposing their readers. 'The reports,' she promised, 'will unflinchingly reveal the truth about how these conscienceless psychopaths have mercilessly driven tabloid journalism to the unsavoury depths that it now plumbs.'
Editors of the British tabloid press united today to speak-out against those who buy their newspapers.
'They're only interested in sleaze and scandal,' angrily accused one editor. 'For too long they've blackmailed us into harassing celebrities and other public figures, and then compelled us to print pernicious lies about them.'
Another editor, who was too frightened to be identified, tearfully told of how he feared for the safety of his family. 'If I didn't print what those lascivious, sadistic, bigoted bastards demanded,' he sobbed, 'they'd stop buying the paper, and my wife and children would starve.'
Others underlined the courage it had taken to finally stand-up to their readers. 'I couldn't have done it alone,' said the boss of a leading national tabloid. 'The Tabloid Editors' Support Group helped me to realise I wasn't alone. In therapy, we spoke of how we had all come to hate ourselves for dispensing with truth. We had all lain awake at nights mortified at the interest we had generated in celebrities for no purpose other than to later vilify them.'
There is also huge guilt among tabloid journalists about the way their readers have forced them to portray immigrants and young people. 'There are not millions of asylum seekers freely entering Britain, and they are not committing all crime,' protested one reporter, 'but if we even implied this, circulation figures would plummet.'
The same reporter recalled the apology that his newspaper had been compelled to issue when it had inadvertently suggested that not all young people were drunk 24/7 and that not all fourteen-year old girls were pregnant. 'The article had commended the dedication and hard work of young people and the credit they were to Britain,' he revealed. 'My editor had feared that it might lead to violent protests by readers.'
A spokesperson for British tabloid editors confirmed that they were no longer prepared to be the passive and helpless victims of their readerships. She stated that the newspapers had unanimously resolved to gradually move towards a radical new policy of publishing stories that were balanced and factually accurate. She also confirmed that they would be running a series of articles, ruthlessly exposing their readers. 'The reports,' she promised, 'will unflinchingly reveal the truth about how these conscienceless psychopaths have mercilessly driven tabloid journalism to the unsavoury depths that it now plumbs.'
New Yarl's Wood Video
The latest news about the 11 women in Yarl's Wood detention centre currently in their sixth week of refusing food.
Friday, 12 March 2010
Re: Sourcing Abuse
Nuala O'Loan, the former Northern Ireland police ombudsman, has finally issued her review of the report 'Outsourcing Abuse' published by Birnberg Peirce & Partners, Medical Justice and the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns almost two and a half years ago. In Ms O'Loan's review for the UK Borders Agency, whilst she found no evidence of the "systematic abuse" alleged in 'Outsourcing Abuse', she did however find that in nearly two-thirds of the 29 complaints she looked into that were either inadequately investigated or no investigation actually took place. In some cases escort staff had not even considered whether the force used was "proportionate and necessary" as required to do by law.
The original report was compiled in response to Home Office criticism of allegations published in the Independent about 200 documented incidences of racist and physical abuse perpetrated against immigration detainees by escort staff. 'Outsourcing Abuse' was in turn based upon a dossier of nearly 300 such cases (pgs 2, 6 & 20) and did not, as has been stated by Ms O'Loan, UKBA (in the guise of Lin Horner*) and the mainstream media(the few that actually chose to cover the story), claim to contain details of all 289 dossier cases, merely that the statistical analysis contained in the report was based on them. Obviously it would be difficult to itemise all 289 cases in a 72 page report, and only 48 case reports were subsequently passed on to the Home Office, with many victims understandably wanting to maintain their anonymity.
Interestingly, one of the reasons why some of those 48 cases could not be examined properly because they had been left in a rat-infested area and had become so contaminated they were a health risk, something that no one in the media has picked up on. Certainly not the UKBA, who in their bizarre and of course bland response state that "some of the earlier (!?!) cases [O'Loan] considered there was a failure to have proper processes in place for dealing with allegations of mistreatment. We have now addressed this.** Her review reflects improvements over the years as to how complaints are investigated, and the additional safeguards that have been built into our processes."
Apparently not, given the denials issued over the brutalisation of the Yarl's Wood hunger strikers and the refusal to consider an inquiry into those allegations either by UKBA itself or the Prisons Inspectorate. Now 11 of the women who have been on hunger strike have been forced to take the government and Serco, the company that runs Yarl's Wood, to court. They allege that their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and their rights not to be tortured, suffer inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment have all been breached by Serco guards. The damages claim specifically refers to an incident on 11 February when the women were locked in a corridor and refused water, access to toilets and medication.
* It should also be noted that Lin Horner, the Chief Executive of UKBA, claims in her foreword to the review that the motivation of Medical Justice et al in publishing the allegations of abuse was to "damage the reputation of our contractors", rather than publicising the abuse suffered by its clients.
8* O'Loan's review makes 22 recommendations and it would be interesting to hear from the UKBA exactly how all 22 had been anticipated and addressed.
The original report was compiled in response to Home Office criticism of allegations published in the Independent about 200 documented incidences of racist and physical abuse perpetrated against immigration detainees by escort staff. 'Outsourcing Abuse' was in turn based upon a dossier of nearly 300 such cases (pgs 2, 6 & 20) and did not, as has been stated by Ms O'Loan, UKBA (in the guise of Lin Horner*) and the mainstream media(the few that actually chose to cover the story), claim to contain details of all 289 dossier cases, merely that the statistical analysis contained in the report was based on them. Obviously it would be difficult to itemise all 289 cases in a 72 page report, and only 48 case reports were subsequently passed on to the Home Office, with many victims understandably wanting to maintain their anonymity.
Interestingly, one of the reasons why some of those 48 cases could not be examined properly because they had been left in a rat-infested area and had become so contaminated they were a health risk, something that no one in the media has picked up on. Certainly not the UKBA, who in their bizarre and of course bland response state that "some of the earlier (!?!) cases [O'Loan] considered there was a failure to have proper processes in place for dealing with allegations of mistreatment. We have now addressed this.** Her review reflects improvements over the years as to how complaints are investigated, and the additional safeguards that have been built into our processes."
Apparently not, given the denials issued over the brutalisation of the Yarl's Wood hunger strikers and the refusal to consider an inquiry into those allegations either by UKBA itself or the Prisons Inspectorate. Now 11 of the women who have been on hunger strike have been forced to take the government and Serco, the company that runs Yarl's Wood, to court. They allege that their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and their rights not to be tortured, suffer inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment have all been breached by Serco guards. The damages claim specifically refers to an incident on 11 February when the women were locked in a corridor and refused water, access to toilets and medication.
* It should also be noted that Lin Horner, the Chief Executive of UKBA, claims in her foreword to the review that the motivation of Medical Justice et al in publishing the allegations of abuse was to "damage the reputation of our contractors", rather than publicising the abuse suffered by its clients.
8* O'Loan's review makes 22 recommendations and it would be interesting to hear from the UKBA exactly how all 22 had been anticipated and addressed.
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Yarl's Wood Mother's Day Demonstration
We are calling a demonstration at 12pm on Sunday, 14 March in solidarity with the women on hunger strike in Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre. We join these women in their protest against the detention of migrants. We support their bravery and we oppose immigration laws that restrict the freedom of movement of those in need.
We have chosen to act on Mother’s Day to highlight the cruel way that migrant women, many of whom have come to the UK to seek respite from violence and torture, have been separated from their families for no good reason and at little notice. They have since been subjected to further violence and humiliation within the immigration centre.
We support the hunger strikers at Yarl’s Wood in all of the demands that they have issued. We support the hunger strikers at Harmondsworth Immigration Centre and in immigration centres in Italy. We are acting to express our disgust at immigration laws and to re-affirm the belief that freedom of movement is a human right. We are outraged by the fact that Serco are controlling the Yarl’s Wood Immigration Centre in the interest of private profit. We oppose the idea of national borders and nation-states as a whole and we do not believe that there is any such thing as an illegal human being.
We invite those who share in our beliefs, and anyone who opposes the detention of migrants, the abuse of women and the separation of families, to join us at 12 pm on Sunday, 14 March. Bring voices, whistles, drums and anything else that makes a noise: we want the hunger strikers to know that we are with them, and that they are not alone on Mother’s Day.
Hope to see you there...
Yarl's Wood Migrant Solidarity
yarlswoodsolidarity@hushmail.com
Map of the location of Yarl's Wood.
We have chosen to act on Mother’s Day to highlight the cruel way that migrant women, many of whom have come to the UK to seek respite from violence and torture, have been separated from their families for no good reason and at little notice. They have since been subjected to further violence and humiliation within the immigration centre.
We support the hunger strikers at Yarl’s Wood in all of the demands that they have issued. We support the hunger strikers at Harmondsworth Immigration Centre and in immigration centres in Italy. We are acting to express our disgust at immigration laws and to re-affirm the belief that freedom of movement is a human right. We are outraged by the fact that Serco are controlling the Yarl’s Wood Immigration Centre in the interest of private profit. We oppose the idea of national borders and nation-states as a whole and we do not believe that there is any such thing as an illegal human being.
We invite those who share in our beliefs, and anyone who opposes the detention of migrants, the abuse of women and the separation of families, to join us at 12 pm on Sunday, 14 March. Bring voices, whistles, drums and anything else that makes a noise: we want the hunger strikers to know that we are with them, and that they are not alone on Mother’s Day.
Hope to see you there...
Yarl's Wood Migrant Solidarity
yarlswoodsolidarity@hushmail.com
Map of the location of Yarl's Wood.
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