In Every Back Garden A Heartache

We have been trying very hard to wean ourselves off commenting about the daily tidal-wave of racist vitriol washing over us courtesy of the likes of the Mail and the Express. However, the Mail's latest* outburst of Colonel Blimpishness outrage was just begging to be lampooned.

'Residents powerless to remove illegal immigrants from their gardens' - except the paper then goes on to say that they "are mostly from Eastern Europe" and the only actual country of origin it identifies is the Czech Republic, which held the presidency of the EU for the first six months of last year, so they can hardly be 'illegal' as they are EU citizens! The paper even claims that the 'trespassers' "have no passports", so the paper is even further from being able to affirm that the people in question have no legal right to be in the UK. But when has that ever stopped the Mail from spreading its racist vitriol in one of these type of stories?

Given that the paper spends so much of its turnover employing squads of lawyers to try and protect their libellous output, one would have thought they could have asked one of them to explain the difference between trespass and squatting (except one wouldn't want a libel lawyer trying to explain the ins and outs of property law, would one?). Doesn't fit in the the simulated outrage does it?

Even when an ex-cop helpfully fills the Mail's readers in on the difference between the two, he gets heavily slapped down by the rest of the BNP?UKIP voting idiots that buy the rag.
Of course, the Mail trots out a local Tory MP, Stewart Jackson, who claimed that Labour had failed to deal with immigration problems that have led to jobless migrants camping in British gardens. "The Labour government was warned that uncontrolled immigration would cause these sorts of problems." We bet you did. A quick search of Hansard has not revealed any Tories warning the government of the potential problem of foreigners squatting in people's gardens "leaving a trail of cider bottles, bags of human waste and drugs needles behind them."

Yes, the paper makes great play of the drugs and drug paraphernalia littering the area but also claim that the "police are powerless to step in." They even print a photo of the interior of a rather next outbuilding with a mattress, blanket, cardboard and milk bottle with the subtitle 'Disgrace: Drugs and rubbish litter the area, but the local council and police are powerless to step in'. Pure fantasy. There's even a photo of an incredibly rickety 'treehouse' with the caption 'Some of the immigrants are believed to have slept in this treehouse in someone's garden.' [Note the believed, a typical Mailism.]**

However, the real reason why we wanted to highlight this article was because of a quote by one of the Peterborough residents whose shed was being squatted. "I caught him [his squatter, no doubt squatting at the time] defecating on my lawn, where my dog plays. I had to build a fence to keep him out of that part of the garden so my dog doesn't get ill playing in his mess." As if his dog doesn't shit on the lawn too.


* Yes we know the Express also covered it but the Mail's was the most Blimpish.
** The Daily Star takes this and conflates it into 'Migrants found living in family tree house.'

We Say: "No More WH Deportation Tours!"

London NoBorders and No Borders Brighton are calling for a week of action against WH Tours, a coach company in Crawley that is responsible for transporting immigration detainees to airports to be forcibly deported.

From Monday 22nd March to Friday 26rd March we are asking people to write letters and send faxes to WH Tours in protest. See a model letter below.

On Friday 26th March between 11am-1pm we are asking people to phone WH Tours to tell the company what we think of their practices.

And finally on Saturday 27th March we are calling for a noise demo outside the WH Tours office. We are meeting at 11am at Crawley train station or 11.30am outside the WH Tours office, The Kelvin Centre, Kelvin Way, Crawley RH10 9SF.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WH TOURS CONTACT DETAILS:

WH Tours
The Kelvin Centre, Kelvin Way
Crawley, Sussex
RH10 9SF
Email: coach@wandhgroup.co.uk
Tel: 01293 510220
Fax: 01293 513263
Web contact form.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MODEL LETTER:

Dear WH Tours,

I understand that WH Tours is subcontracted by G4S to provide coaches for transporting detained migrants from immigration detention centres to airports to be deported on commercial or specially charted flights. I am writing to you to express my disgust at your involvement in this inhumane business.

As you must be aware, the vast majority of deportations have been to countries devastated by wars and armed conflicts 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. Forcible deportations also tear apart people's lives as they are split from their families and communities and their right to freedom of movement is denied.

By providing coaches to transport deportees to the airport, WH Tours is complicit in the human tragedies that forcible deportations cause.

Furthermore, there is mounting evidence that deportees, including families and children, have been repeatedly subjected to racial and violent abuse at the hands of G4S security (see, for example, this report: http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/411/88/). By providing coaches where some of this abuse takes place, WH Tours is complicit in these illegal acts too.

In the light of this information, I am hereby asking you to cease providing coaches for G4S and the UKBA for the purpose of forcible deportations as this will have a negative impact on your company's image and your other business.

Yours sincerely,

**** ******

Yarl's Wood Women Take Serco To Court

A High Court judge has granted an application by the Public Interest Lawyers (PIL) practice on behalf of the Yarl's Wood women hunger strikers for an urgent judicial review into their allegations of inhumane treatment at the hands of Serco guards in the detention centre. The allegations centre on a incident during a peaceful protest on 8 February when they were attacked by guards, who locked them into a corridor without access to the toilet, water or medication. Serco's position on the incident is that its guards did not attack protesting inmates. Instead, its "staff intervened to prevent four women from continuing to bully other residents into missing meals."

The legal actions will also examine the general racist abuse and the squalid, prison-like conditions the the women and their children have to endure, often for months on end, without any indication as to when they might be released. And in the words of PIL solicitor Jim Duffy: "Serco and the Home Office will now be forced to explain in open court how the abuse and despair that these women and children have been forced to endure squares with national and international human rights standards. Given the evidence of a systematic disregard for human dignity, it will be a tall order." The human rights organisation Liberty has also been given permission to look into the allegations.

For those of you who have never heard of Serco, they are a private outsourcing company with a turnover of around £4bn and with their thumbs in a number of government pies, mainly in the criminal justice sphere. The company's chief executive is one Chris Hyman, a zealous Indian Pentecostal Christian from South Africa who tithes 10% of his income to his church. He also apparently survived the World Trade Centre attacks, an event which he claims reinforced his faith.

He claims that his company is run on ethical lines fully in accordance with his Christian beliefs and goes for contracts where "we can make a difference and make money." "This may not go down very well but I put people first, then customers, then shareholders. If [our] people are happy, everyone else is happy." So the company will obviously be defending their uniformed goons to the hilt. Just as it did staff members involved in the 2004 death of 14-year-old Adam Rickwood killed himself after suffering painful physical restraint at the Hassockfield Secure Training Centre it runs in County Durham. Or the HMP Kilmarnock staff who allowed a prisoner to die of meningitis in 2008 despite repeated pleas for medical assistance. Or the staff at HMP Doncaster that had prisoners routinely sleeping in toilets in conditions described as “squalid” in a 2008 report by the UK Prisons Inspectorate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Public Interest Lawyers Press Release:

On 1 March, Public Interest Lawyers (PIL) issued an unprecedented human rights case in the High Court challenging the indeterminate and inhumane detention of women and children at Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre and at Holloway Prison. The case confronts the policy and practice of the Home Office and the private company, Serco.

Earlier today, the High Court confirmed that the case would proceed to a full hearing on an urgent basis. The Judge, Mrs Justice Davies, also granted permission to Liberty, a leading human rights organisation, to intervene in what will be an extremely important case in terms of holding the Government to account for the way it treats immigrants.

The allegations include the following:

That women and children have been held in squalid, prison-like conditions for between two weeks and one year without any indication as to when they might be released;

That detainees have been subjected to racist slurs by Serco staff who called them "black monkeys" and "Chinese monkeys";

That over 70 women were locked for several hours in a hot, airless corridor during a peaceful protest and forced to urinate and vomit where they stood. Several women collapsed but received no medical assistance, and a window was slammed on one detainee's finger, ripping her nail off. One of PIL's clients was beaten by guards using riot shields as she and 18 other women were detained outside in the snow for over four hours;

That terrified children were not treated for diarrhoea and locked in their cells for long periods, having been arrested during dawn raids and moved to Yarl's Wood in secured vans;

That one woman was held in solitary confinement for almost four weeks following a peaceful protest; and

That detainees have routinely had their legal correspondence opened and read by guards.

Today, Jim Duffy, a solicitor at PIL, welcomed the Court's decision:

"Serco and the Home Office will now be forced to explain in open court how the abuse and despair that these women and children have been forced to endure squares with national and international human rights standards. Given the evidence of a systematic disregard for human dignity, it will be a tall order."


For further information, please contact:

Jim Duffy or Phil Shiner on 0121 515 5069.

info@publicinterestlawyers.co.uk

The Indifference Of Immigration Bureaucracy

It is not only in Glasgow that migrants are driven by the indifference of immigration officialdom to desperation and to killing themselves, it happens wherever their is some pettifogging bureaucrat pursuing a government's racist agenda of 'sending them back', whoever 'they' might be.

Yesterday,* an Afghan asylum seeker tried to set light to himself in an Innsbruch petrol station. The 21-year-old entered the petrol station and purchased a lighter. He then went to the forecourt umps and started to douse himself in petrol, but a pump attendant and two other men managed to prevent the self-immolation. Police arrested him and took him to a psychiatric hospital.

That man's reasons for the suicide attempt are unknown but those for David M., a young Georgian who hung himself earlier this month, appear self-evident. He had been in the Hamburg immigration detention centre since the beginning of February after having stopped a police car and asked to apply for asylum. Having no papers and claiming to be only 17 years old he should not have been detained, but as he had already made and been refused applications in Poland and Switzerland, under Dublin II he was to be deported back to Poland and therefore detained.

He began a hunger strike on 7 February. Two weeks later he was transferred to the detention centre hospital, where he was told that he was to be deported to Poland on 9 March. On 6 March, he started to accept solid food, but one day later, he tore up his bedsheets and hung himself.


* Also yesterday evening, a 29-year-old Nigerian died during an attempted deportation at Zurich airport. The man collapsed as he was being 'escorted' on board the deportation flight. He had been on hunger strike for a number of days prior to the flight, had been forcibly handcuffed and was resisting his deportation. The Swiss Federal Office of Migration has suspended further flights pending an autopsy and investigation into the cause of the death.

Shock Horror: UKBA Refuse To Lock People Up!

Its a bizarre story but becoming all the more common for all that. Migrant enters the country 'illegally', is exploited and abused (in his case being robbed of all his possessions, including his passport) and left destitute. More often or not, this would either lead to them being picked up by the police and result in a swift journey to the nearest immigration detention centre or, if more fortunate, they would survive their plight due to the intervention and the kindness of strangers.

In this case we have 32-year-old Sarbjit Singh, who freely admits he is an 'illegal' immigrant and wishes to be deported back to the Punjab. However, as he has no money or a passport he cannot catch a flight home and the UK Borders Agency refuse to detain him, even though he has been living on the street for the last four months kept alive by handouts from local residents and the warmth from a factory hot air vent during the freezing weather.

The UKBA's excuse is that, whilst they continue to try and secure a passport for him from the Indian authorities, (now don't laugh) they only lock people up in detention centres as a "last resort".

Mr Singh and a 40-year-old man named Ashok Masah, who he shares his pavement 'home' with and who refuses to co-operate with the authorities in any way, have been arrested by the police on two occasions over their immigration status but were released both times when immigration officials declined to take them into custody.

Interestingly, the MP for the area is Keith Vaz, chair of the Home Affairs Committee and he has written to Phil Woolas to ask him to get the Border Agency involved: "There is absolutely no reason or justification for the UK Border Agency to allow these men to remain on the streets while their applications are resolved. These living conditions put their lives in serious danger."* One wonders if Woolas will pay any more attention to him than he has done on numerous occasions in the past.


* At least Vaz's concerns are primarily for the welfare of the two men and not, like the Leicester Mercury "the long-suffering residents of this area have to put up with this atrocious state of affairs" and the "Leicestershire police and the city council have been left to pick up the pieces and the bill". Exactly what bill this is they fail to enumerate.

Statement From The Yarl's Wood Hunger Strikers

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.

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.