A 36-year-old Fijian detainee, Josefa Rauluni, in Sydney's Villawood Immigration Detention Centre has died after throwing himself from a roof in order to avoid deportation today. Witnesses say that he jumped when immigration officials arrived with handcuffs to take him and a younger relative to the airport. A protest by detainees have broken out in response to Rauluni's death, whilst sixteen Iranian and Kurdish refugees at Villawood have entered their third day of a food and liquids hunger strike. Refugee advocates say that their condition is deteriorating rapidly in the hot conditions and one hunger striker has already been taken to hospital.
This is just the latest in a series of incidents [1, 2] as the Australian detention estate reaches breaking point and, with something like 5000 people currently in immigration detention, the authorities desperate to find further detention space following the suspension of the processing of asylum claims for Afghan and Sri Lankan refugees.* Sites on the Australian mainland under examination to take an estimated 900 male asylum seekers include more isolated sites such as the Scherger Air Force base in northern Queensland and further expansion of the already overcrowded Curtin Detention Centre in Western Australia. Until the decision to suspend asylum applications is reversed, the situation can only get worse and the government holding out the 'hope' of further off-shore processing of refugees is mere pie-in-the-sky thinking.
* Recently released Australian government figures show that just 75 of the more than six thousand refugees to arrive in Australia in the past two years have had their asylum applications rejected and returned to their country of origin.
Monday, 20 September 2010
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Recommended:
more stories that you might have missed (an on-going service designed to cover up the fact that we have either been too busy or too lazy to cover certain news):
France: Amend Immigration Bill to Protect Asylum Seekers - a Human Right Watch article about an attempt to restrict the right of the French government deport asylum applicants before they have fully exhausted their legal rights under French law. The proposed amendment to a new immigration bill seeks to reform the so-called priority procedure and legislate to allow for an in-country appeal.
France's deportation of Roma shown to be illegal in leaked memo, say critics - coverage of a leaked internal order, circulated to police chiefs last month, that states that:
"Three hundred camps or illegal settlements must be cleared within three months, Roma camps are a priority. It is down to the préfect in each department to begin a systematic dismantling of the illegal camps, particularly those of the Roma."
Also covered by the BBC and Telegraph.
French Gypsies recall forgotten wartime internment - the current coverage has dredged up more stories about France's 'forgotten' wartime Gypsy internments and deportations.
Phil Woolas accused of stirring racial division to hold on to seat, Phil Woolas 'tried to foment racial divisions in election campaign' & Phil Woolas 'sought to make white folk angry' in general election campaign - Woolas squirms under legal challenge under his election publicity previous highlighted by this blog.
Illegal immigrants held in isolated jails struggle for legal help, survey finds - the results of a survey by the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center, published in Isolated in Detention, reveals details of the cruel, inhumane and degrading regime routinely operated by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in the U.S.A..
35 foreign minors held in jail for over 60 days - like the UK, Israel routinely detains minors.
EU agency demands more coherent asylum procedures - a new report by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency claims that asylum seekers are getting unfair and inconsistent treatment across the EU.
"A lifer is better than a detainee" - revealing figures about detention in the UK in an article flagging up the imminent release of 'No Return No Release No Reason', a report by the London Detainee Support Group.
France: Amend Immigration Bill to Protect Asylum Seekers - a Human Right Watch article about an attempt to restrict the right of the French government deport asylum applicants before they have fully exhausted their legal rights under French law. The proposed amendment to a new immigration bill seeks to reform the so-called priority procedure and legislate to allow for an in-country appeal.
France's deportation of Roma shown to be illegal in leaked memo, say critics - coverage of a leaked internal order, circulated to police chiefs last month, that states that:
"Three hundred camps or illegal settlements must be cleared within three months, Roma camps are a priority. It is down to the préfect in each department to begin a systematic dismantling of the illegal camps, particularly those of the Roma."
Also covered by the BBC and Telegraph.
French Gypsies recall forgotten wartime internment - the current coverage has dredged up more stories about France's 'forgotten' wartime Gypsy internments and deportations.
Phil Woolas accused of stirring racial division to hold on to seat, Phil Woolas 'tried to foment racial divisions in election campaign' & Phil Woolas 'sought to make white folk angry' in general election campaign - Woolas squirms under legal challenge under his election publicity previous highlighted by this blog.
Illegal immigrants held in isolated jails struggle for legal help, survey finds - the results of a survey by the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center, published in Isolated in Detention, reveals details of the cruel, inhumane and degrading regime routinely operated by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in the U.S.A..
35 foreign minors held in jail for over 60 days - like the UK, Israel routinely detains minors.
EU agency demands more coherent asylum procedures - a new report by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency claims that asylum seekers are getting unfair and inconsistent treatment across the EU.
"A lifer is better than a detainee" - revealing figures about detention in the UK in an article flagging up the imminent release of 'No Return No Release No Reason', a report by the London Detainee Support Group.
Intrepid Reporting Or Merely Pointless?
Damon Embling, intrepid BBC South reporter, is in Greece and one hopes for the poor licence-payers' sakes he's there on vacation and has just decided to turn it into a bit of a busman's holiday rather than being paid to tag along with a Frontex naval patrol on the Greece-Turkey border. The reason we say this is his article entitled 'On immigration sea patrol with EU border team' seems to only have a very tentative link with the South of England:
"The south of England is particularly vulnerable to illegal immigration - the vast coastline provides a target for those wanting to slip into the UK. The region is also home to busy airports and ports. But where are illegal immigrants coming from right now and how do they get here? European border officials say the biggest flow is from places like Afghanistan, Somalia and West Africa. The current illegal gateway of choice into Europe is the Greek-Turkish border. Britain is often the favourite destination, where people have the chance of a better life."
Really, is this news? And what real relevance has it to the Channel Coast? Maybe Damon is suggesting that Frontex should patrol off the Sussex coast?
"The south of England is particularly vulnerable to illegal immigration - the vast coastline provides a target for those wanting to slip into the UK. The region is also home to busy airports and ports. But where are illegal immigrants coming from right now and how do they get here? European border officials say the biggest flow is from places like Afghanistan, Somalia and West Africa. The current illegal gateway of choice into Europe is the Greek-Turkish border. Britain is often the favourite destination, where people have the chance of a better life."
Really, is this news? And what real relevance has it to the Channel Coast? Maybe Damon is suggesting that Frontex should patrol off the Sussex coast?
Friday, 10 September 2010
Brussels No Border Camp Programme
The programme for the Brussels No Border Camp from September 25 to October 3 is now available for download:
Thursday, 9 September 2010
EU: Stop Deporting Roma
The European Parliament has just passed a motion 337 to 245, with 51 abstentions, calling on France to suspend the expulsion of Roma at the same time as 2 French ministers are in Romania to try and negotiate an emergency plan with the Bucharest government to help get France out of the corner its patently racist policy has gotten it into.
Amusingly, the Romanian President Traian Basescu warned the French ministers that: "If they come to lecture us, it (the visit) will not be productive... France is not handling this like a European state." Less amusing was his totally disingenuous claim that "The greatest responsibility lies with the Roma themselves though. In a civilised Europe, everyone is responsible for their own fate. No one is stopping them from sending their children to school and not begging."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Video: Inside Story - The fate of the Roma in Europe [an Al Jazeera report]
Amusingly, the Romanian President Traian Basescu warned the French ministers that: "If they come to lecture us, it (the visit) will not be productive... France is not handling this like a European state." Less amusing was his totally disingenuous claim that "The greatest responsibility lies with the Roma themselves though. In a civilised Europe, everyone is responsible for their own fate. No one is stopping them from sending their children to school and not begging."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Video: Inside Story - The fate of the Roma in Europe [an Al Jazeera report]
Child Detention Australian Style
Maybe the LibCon government could take a leaf out of the way Australia treats it's children detainees. Unlike adult migrants, they are not dumped on Christmas Island to endure the overcrowding there, instead they are held on the mainland in so-called Alternative Places of Detention (APOD). These include the Leonora Mining Camp slap-bang in the middle of Western Australia and four motels in Darwin and Brisbane. Apparent luxury one would think but not according to Pamela Curr, campaign co-ordinator of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.
The APODs are all run by Serco and, whilst the motels aren't surrounded by razor wire-topped fences, life inside is far from cozy. Families are crammed into single rooms and daily head counts are carried out by the numerous Serco guards at 5:30 in the morning. There is almost nothing for the children to do and at the Asti Motel in Darwin the children still have no access to schooling after being moved there three months ago. Volunteers vetted by Serco are allowed to bring toys and games into the motel for a couple of hours a day but take the toys away with them when they leave. Even the motel pool has been out of bounds till very recently, and the children are still only allowed one hour, three times a week as Serco can only afford to employ the outside lifeguard to come in and supervise for 3 hours a week. Can't have health and safety regulations interfering with the maximisation of profits after all.
And how about this? "Children get 30 points and adults 50 each week to spend in the store. Thirty points will buy them a can of soft drink, a packet of chips and maybe some nuts." Serco should definitely try persuading Ministers that this is the sort of regime they should be allowed to run at Yarl's Wood.
The APODs are all run by Serco and, whilst the motels aren't surrounded by razor wire-topped fences, life inside is far from cozy. Families are crammed into single rooms and daily head counts are carried out by the numerous Serco guards at 5:30 in the morning. There is almost nothing for the children to do and at the Asti Motel in Darwin the children still have no access to schooling after being moved there three months ago. Volunteers vetted by Serco are allowed to bring toys and games into the motel for a couple of hours a day but take the toys away with them when they leave. Even the motel pool has been out of bounds till very recently, and the children are still only allowed one hour, three times a week as Serco can only afford to employ the outside lifeguard to come in and supervise for 3 hours a week. Can't have health and safety regulations interfering with the maximisation of profits after all.
And how about this? "Children get 30 points and adults 50 each week to spend in the store. Thirty points will buy them a can of soft drink, a packet of chips and maybe some nuts." Serco should definitely try persuading Ministers that this is the sort of regime they should be allowed to run at Yarl's Wood.
No End To State Sponsored Cruelty
So, Damian 'The Omen' Green has confirmed what many of us had assumed all along, that the government's promise to end the internment of migrant children was a lie. There was never any real desire to end the barbaric practice and it was merely a PR exercise aimed at keeping the likes of the LibDems tied to the coalition.*
The whole way the supposed initiative was announced, it's piecemeal application first in Scotland and then with the emptying of the families unit at Yarl's Wood, all without any apparent form of comprehensive plan** stank of prevarication and spin. This government is desperate to maintain its anti-immigration profile and anything that will contribute to that will be embraced even if it does mean state sponsored cruelty.
Ironically this revelation by Green, in the answer to a parliamentary question about the future of Yarl's Wood, comes on the same day as the charity Medical Justice published their 84-page report ‘State Sponsored Cruelty’, which details "the key findings from the UK’s first large scale investigation into the harms caused by detaining children for immigration purposes."
The report examines "141 cases... from 87 different families, involving children detained between 2004 and April 2010. These children spent a mean average of 26 days each in immigration detention. One child had spent 166 days in detention, over numerous separate periods, before her third birthday." And sober reading it makes.
'State Sponsored Cruelty' 16-page summary report
'State Sponsored Cruelty' 84-page full report
* And no doubt this will be just the first of many chippings away at the LibDem parts of the ConDem coalition agreement.
** Never a mention of Tinsley House.
The whole way the supposed initiative was announced, it's piecemeal application first in Scotland and then with the emptying of the families unit at Yarl's Wood, all without any apparent form of comprehensive plan** stank of prevarication and spin. This government is desperate to maintain its anti-immigration profile and anything that will contribute to that will be embraced even if it does mean state sponsored cruelty.
Ironically this revelation by Green, in the answer to a parliamentary question about the future of Yarl's Wood, comes on the same day as the charity Medical Justice published their 84-page report ‘State Sponsored Cruelty’, which details "the key findings from the UK’s first large scale investigation into the harms caused by detaining children for immigration purposes."
The report examines "141 cases... from 87 different families, involving children detained between 2004 and April 2010. These children spent a mean average of 26 days each in immigration detention. One child had spent 166 days in detention, over numerous separate periods, before her third birthday." And sober reading it makes.
'State Sponsored Cruelty' 16-page summary report'State Sponsored Cruelty' 84-page full report
* And no doubt this will be just the first of many chippings away at the LibDem parts of the ConDem coalition agreement.
** Never a mention of Tinsley House.
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