TEMPLATE LETTER TO MPs RE LEGAL AID, SENTENCING AND PUNISHMENT OF OFFENDERS BILL

This template is designed to help you write to your MP drawing attention to why immigration is a special case.  The rules about the regulation of advisors mean that general advisors will be committing a criminal offence if they advise on immigration.  Immigration has been held not to fall within the scope of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and thus immigration cases are not eligible for exceptional funding under the Bill.  In short, those refused legal aid for immigration will have nowhere else to go. You can augment the template, which is also available on the ILPA website at http://www.ilpa.org.uk/resources.php/14177/template-letter-to-mps-re-legal-aid-sentencing-and-punishment-of-offenders-bill-10-february-2012 , to create a letter expressing your particular concerns.

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Crunch time for Legal Aid Bill

The House of Lords will have their last chance to block devastating cuts to legal aid advice in just a fortnight, as the final ‘Report stage’ of the Legal Aid Bill starts on 5 March.

Although the Government may be able to over-turn any votes later on, if Lords don’t vote to save legal aid there is no chance! You can campaign in these crucial stages of the Legal Aid Bill by:

• Asking Liberal Democrats Lords to support welfare advice Read more

Your asylum procedure is too fast and not fair, UNHCR tells UK government

Today, the chief inspector of the UK Border Agency John Vine releases his report into the Detained Fast Track (DFT) ^↑ , a procedure whereby asylum seekers are detained if the government considers their claim “can be decided quickly”. My organisation, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), has also been auditing the Detained Fast Track – at the government’s invitation – since 2008. Whilst John Vine’s report considers the efficiency and cost of the process, the concerns identified by UNHCR lie rather with the humanitarian impact of detaining asylum seekers and whether those who need international protection are identified properly. Read more

‘How Long is Indefinite?’ documentary

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Medical Justice speak out on the treatment suffered by migrants at the hands of UK Border Agency
http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/news/articles/1923-bbc-radio-4-today-programme-qprivate-border-staff-out-of-controlq-interview-with-emma-ginn-260112.html

Petition calls for suspension of removals to DR Congo

HM Government e-petition. Responsible department: Home Office

Refused asylum seekers at risk on return to the Democratic Republic of Congo

Stop the torture of vulnerable Congolese asylum seekers now. The report ‘Unsafe return’ has documented that refused asylum seekers removed to the DRC are at risk of: – interrogation at the airport – arbitrary detention – being denied access to lawyers – torture and rape in detention It also documents the detention and ill treatment of children removed with parents and cases where returnees have successfully left the airport without harm but have been arrested at home later or been forced into hiding or exile. The Petition seeks to question: a)The adequacy of systems in place to monitor what happens to refused asylum seekers; b)The Home Office evidence for maintaining that the refused asylum seekers are not at risk. This petition calls for the suspension of removals until there has been a full inquiry into the safety of failed asylum seekers on return, in order to prevent future ill-treatment of vulnerable Congolese asylum seekers.

What are e-petitions?

e-petitions is an easy way for you to influence government policy in the UK. You can create an e-petition about anything that the government is responsible for and if it gets at least 100,000 signatures, it will be eligible for debate in the House of Commons.

International: Children deported to Kabul will face ‘horrible risks’ and more news

Gladys Mabvira finally released from Yarls Wood 

 Gladys Mabvira is an opposition activist from Zimbabwe. Despite the enormous risks she would face if returned to Zimbabwe, she has time and again been issued with removal directions by the Home Office. Only her strength in adversity and last minute legal actions kept Gladys with us here in the UK. She has this morning been released from Yarls Wood IRC on temporary admission, after spending six months detained there. Gladys has been an inspiration throughout – frequently asking after other individuals for whom NCADC is campaigning – and never giving up her fight for freedom. Just days before she was released, she wrote a damning statement on the conditions in Yarls Wood. Read more

17 Children in detention: Clegg falls short on promise and other news

Urgent Action Appeal: Please help Ashot to stay in the UK

Ashot is a truly remarkable and courageous, as well as a kind and generous man. He has been living in my house for the last 9 months, so I have got to know him very well. His courageous act may well cost him his life, unless we can save him from deportation. :

Urgent Action Appeal

Please help Ashot to stay in the UK

39-year-old Ashot Aghababyan from Armenia is currently being held in detention and is due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Sunday 5th February Flight number BD 933 to Yerevan, 15:05 (Home Office Ref: A1435279) Read more

Enforced removal contracts: the abusive end-point of a broken immigration system

NCADC welcomes today’s report from the Home Affairs Select Committee, which raises concerns that the potentially lethal ‘head-down’ restraint technique is used during enforced removals, that racist language is used by escort staff, that there are too many escorts used in operations, and that risk assessments focus on the risk to escort staff rather the individual being removed.

We agree with its recommendations of better recording of medical conditions, an independent monitoring procedure, the need for urgent guidance to be issued to escort staff about restraint methods and research into appropriate restrain on aircraft, and the need to abolish the ‘reserve’ system during removals. Read more

BID: unlawful detention cases

A number of cases of former BID clients, which had been referred for unlawful detention claims in the Administrative Court reached judgment.  In all three cases summarised here, their detention was ruled unlawful.

In October 2011, the High Court found that the detention of Mounir Raki, a client of BID’s, for over four years was ‘self-evidently unreasonable’. BID referred Mounir to Leigh Day & Co Solicitors, who represented him in this case. The Judge found that there was medical evidence that Mounir’s mental health was deteriorating because of his detention and he was seriously self-harming. The case was covered in the Guardian. Read more

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