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

Vulnerable Children will lose access to justice with cuts to legal aid

If you believe in access to justice, please join the campaign and take action now. For more information on what you can do, go to: Save Legal Aid, Justice For All and Sound Off for Justice.

On 13^th December, the rights of children were centre stage at a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Legal Aid in Westminster. Speakers including Baroness King and the Children’s Commissioner for England, Dr Atkinson, discussed how children and young people will be affected by Government plans to cut free legal advice and representation. This debate was perfectly timed as the bill setting out the cuts should enter the Lords committee stage on 20^th December. If it becomes law, children will lose out on a massive scale: 6,000 children under 18 would go without legal advice and representation, and 140,000 children would be affected because their parents could not get legal aid support. 2,500 children will lose direct legal assistance each year for immigration cases. Read more

G4S, Serco and Reliance shortlisted to manage housing for asylum seekers

On 12 December 2012, the UK Border Agency announced the ‘preferred bidders’ to provide accommodation and transport for people seeking sanctuary in the UK.
Three providers have been chosen for the six regions, with the public and voluntary sector being replaced by private providers:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/workingwithus/workingwithasylum/compassprogramme

COMPASS

Working with migrants from outside the EU

This page contains information about the commercial and operational managers procuring asylum support services (COMPASS) project.

The overall aim of the COMPASS project is to provide ongoing contract provision for asylum support services, in accordance with government policy, beyond the current arrangements which are due to expire during 2012. The following services are currently within the scope of COMPASS: Read more

QARN: Statement about destitution

  Why many asylum seekers are destitute:  Minimal support  – and none

For those seeking asylum the money allowance historically has been set at 70 per cent of normal income support. Most people now receive less, and at the best an asylum seeker receiving financial support will be living on £5 per day.[i]

Asylum seekers whose claim has been refused lose their financial support and accommodation after 3 weeks unless they appeal. They are expected to leave the UK immediately. If they agree to return or they appeal they may qualify for even lower ‘hard case’ Section 4 support’,[ii] provided only in around 3% of cases. Because they are terrified of return, or for other reasons frightened of bringing themselves to the attention of a system they already know to be harsh, many do not apply. The remainder are not allowed to work and receive nothing. Women who are homeless because of domestic violence also end up destitute as do victims of trafficking. Tens of thousands of people are in this situation. The parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights[iii] said in 2007:

We have been persuaded … that the Government has indeed been practising a deliberate policy of destitution… We have seen instances in all cases where the Government’s treatment of asylum seekers and refused asylum seekers falls below the requirements of the common law of humanity and of international human rights law.

Four years later with a different government things are just the same.

Why are refused asylum seekers still here? 

• They are afraid to go back: Most destitute asylum seekers are from countries considered extremely turbulent[iv] like Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Zimbabwe and Iran.

• The numbers allowed to remain have fallen: The number of people given permission to stay has fallen significantly in recent years[v]. 

• They believe they have a case: Even if a person is correctly refused asylum, it does not automatically follow that their claim is unjustified[vi]. If the government accepts you were persecuted, you may be refused asylum unless you can prove it will happen again.

• The system makes mistakes: Experts have long expressed concerns about whether some asylum seekers receive a full and fair hearing of their claim[vii].

• Because they cannot go back: The Government cannot return people to countries at war, with uncooperative governments or unreliable means of travel.

Once the Government stops supporting an asylum seeker it may lose track of their whereabouts, which makes their removal near to impossible. The policy of making people destitute is therefore ultimately self-defeating.

December 2011

…

Footnotes and additional information

Proposal for an inspection of the UKBA’s administration of the asylum support system

From: Mike Kaye, Still Human Still Here, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA

Att: Inspection Plan Consultation,

To: Independent Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency, 5^th Floor, Globe House, 89 Eccleston Square, London, SW1V 1PN

25 November 2012

RE: Proposal for an inspection of the UKBA’s administration of the asylum support system

Dear Chief Inspector

I am writing to you on behalf of the Still Human Still Here coalition in response to your invitation for stakeholders to provide views on areas of the UK Border Agency’s work that could be considered for inclusion in your inspection plan for 2012-13. Read more

Glasgow: POSITIVE ACTION IN HOUSING WINTER APPEAL 2011

What do we do? Network members own experiences

QARN members are all Quakers, some are members and others are attenders.

We have wide experience that we bring to the Network, and have identified the following as examples of what we as individuals and with our Meetings have been involved in:

• I worked 22 yrs in European Commission. Last 5 yrs i.c. anti-racism action development, and welfare questions for extra-European migrants in the E Union.
• Founded Brussels Q meeting, and founder member and some-time treasurer of Quaker Council for European Affairs [QCEA].
• Since retirement, some 12 yrs visiting detainees in Dover Immigration Removal Centre as member of Dover Detainees Visitor Group, and standing as bail security for detainees at release request hearings.
• Some lobbying of MPs.
• My main activity over the past 18 months has been the Bail Observation Project of the Close Campsfield Campaign and that is likely to continue as we intend to do another study, and I have offered to work on the analysis of the data as I did for our first report.
• I now attend the Detention Forum meetings for QARN.
• I am on Quaker United Nations Committe, Geneva [QUNC], and I am part of the reference group – Refugees and Human Rights.
• My local meeting contributes food for destitute asylum seekers and I collect it and ensure that it goes to Asylum Welcome
• Founder and coordinator of Merseyside Churches’ ecumenical fund for destitute asylum seekers
• Chair of charity giving psychotherapeutic support through horticulture to traumatised asylum seeking families
• Former Chair (10 years) of Liverpool’s only open access drop-in centre for asylum seekers and refugees (also offering food, English language classes, housing, immigration and employment advice)
• Trustee of Merseyside Refugee Support Network
• Member of steering group of Churches’ Refugee Support Network (an informal network of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland)
• Convenor of trustees of Quaker Concern for the Abolition of Torture (Q-CAT).
• Turning the Tide Resource Person,
• Msc Social Policy and Planning,  European MA in Migration, Mental Health and Social Care, Past research worker at UEL on the survival strategies of migrants in East London.
• Retired social worker, community worker and voluntary organisation manager.
• Initiator and member responsible for development,and administration, Spare Room for forced destitute migrants.
• Member London Hosting Development Team, NACCOM. Caseworker Refugee and Migrants Project Newham.
• Committee Member Assoc. of Families Adopting from Abroad from 1995 to  its amalgamation with OASIS – 2012
• 2001-2004, first Chair - Yarls Wood Befrienders,  2005-2011 on the Committee as Fundraiser
• Visited and supported assorted Detainees, and ex-detainees,  continuously, since 2001.  2004-8 I set up and ran a four-year project mini-hostel (4 beds) for homeless, destitute, ex-Yarls Wood women. I raised funding from local charities, Mothers’ Union, and individuals.
• Luton & Leighton AM has accepted my concern to get children fully innoculated before removal.
• Since 2004 I have been mentor to an Afghan man and later his family as well, who now all have settled status (through a project entitled “Mentoring Refugees into Employment” run by Leeds Met Univ/St George’s Crypt/Refugee Council/Leeds City Council).
• I have been volunteering on the Teaching English at Home  project run by Leeds Asylum Seekers Support Network (LASSN).
• I write lobbying letters to my MP and other relevant people as issues arise.
• I support Leeds Asylum Seekers Support Network [LASSN] financially
• As a Quaker Meeting we are providing financial support to Solace, an organisation doing mental health work with asylum seekers and refugees in Leeds
• Hosting destitute asylum seekers in my home
• Running a winter night shelter for destitute asylum seekers one night a week – other churches cover the other 6 nights
• Visited and supported detainees, and ex-detainees,  continuously, since 2001.  2004-8 I set up and ran a four-year project mini-hostel (4 beds) for a group of 9 or 10 people.
• Local Meetings keep in touch about asylum issues. Most are involved in support, visiting, fundraising or campaigning in association with 5 different local organisations.
• I represent QARN on Still Human Still Here, the national campaign to end destitution among asylum seekers.
• We have face to face contact, an email group, and occasional business meetings. We take asylum and immigration matters to our local business meetings, organise our food collections for destitute asylum seekers, and from time to time hold other events to maintain awareness about asylum issues.
• I was trained up as an accredited immigration/asylum lawyer in around Jan 2008 (which is different from a solicitor) with Refugee Legal Centre, which then became Refugee Migrant Justice.
• Throughout I have had friends in the system, and have been involved in supporting them in various ways with their anti-deportation campaigns; finding solicitors; aspects of their cases including accessing legal reps and expert witnesses for judicial review and appeals;  mental health breakdowns; housing issues; raising funds for a mobility scooter; Refugee Week activities; homelessness; detention; giving birth; family deaths; and also joyous singing and performing at music festivals; and involvement in an episode of Secret Millionaire (that was a surprise)  etc etc
• I’m not really active on refugee issues at the moment, no longer volunteering at the Red Cross and my Spare Room guest has moved out after 2.5 years. Still interested but my time is mainly on other issues.
• I work with the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, a Quaker trust which makes grants for work promoting rational and humane migration and asylum policies benefitting both migrant and settled communities in West Yorkshire; at national level in the UK; and across Europe

Sample letter: Transparency of UK BA decision-making regarding detention

Dear                                                                    MP,

Transparency of UK BA decision-making regarding detention

I am writing, as your constituent, to deplore UK BA’s use of detention in the immigration system of this country. It is, in my view an infringement of the individual’s rights as a human, and ultimately a threat to all our liberties. It is wrong to lock people up with neither a suspicion nor a conviction of a crime, without time limit. Read more

Independent Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency is inviting stakeholders’ views

The Independent Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency  is inviting stakeholders’ views on  development of his inspection plan for 2012-13. 

Views should be sent to: chiefinspectorUKBA@icinspector.gsi.gov.uk  or to the postal address: Attn: Inspection Plan Consultation, Independent Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency, 5^th Floor, Globe House, 89 Eccleston Square, London, SW1V 1PN by30 November 2011.

Still Human Members are encouraged to propose the asylum support system for review, including: Read more

What are Quakers doing?

Quakers are involved in many ways to address concerns  relating to the asylum process, and in a variety of different ways to welcome and bring some relief to those people who are subjected to these processes. 

Extract from our Survey of Friends’ asylum and refugee work in Britain Yearly Meeting in 2007

In June 2007, the Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network decided to conduct a survey of Quaker Meetings to try to build a picture of the work done by Friends in support of asylum-seekers and refugees. All PMs were sent a copy of a questionnaire and, as well as this, many meetings were sent e-mails. The letter pages of The Friend were also used to encourage responses.

The members of the Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network are aware that the  activities listed below are likely to be an under-estimate of the level of Quaker activity in this area.

The main type of activities are listed below along with the number of times they were mentioned in the reports:

Befriending 20

Conversation and social activities (including holidays) 13

Asylum seekers supported by meeting 7

Provision of  mid-, long-term or emergency accommodation 7

Fundraising and financial support 24

Collecting items 9

Meeting House used 8

Teaching English 6

Visiting detention centres (including airports)  10

Accompanying asylum seekers to court 2

Political activity  13

Awareness-raising amongst Friends 2

Regular public witness 1

Ecumenical & interfaith activities 13

Trustee / board member in asylum-related charity 5

Action in other pressure groups and charities 27

Employment (including legal) 9

Work related to asylum-seekers’/refugees’ health (physical and mental) 8

Publicity (photography project) 1

Local campaigning 1

Some examples of Quaker activity:

Some meetings in rural areas provide short breaks and holidays for asylum-seekers. One meeting hosts an annual summer party on the beach.

Meetings which are based near detention centres (including airports) make regular visits to support the detainees.

Several Friends have a great deal of individual professional expertise. One Friend has written 35 expert opinions on asylum cases, and others have been active in setting up and running advice centres.

One meeting has maintained a fortnightly vigil in support of asylum-seekers outside the local cathedral since November 2006, with some support from other churches.

Several meetings have befriended individual asylum-seekers, used the meeting house for accommodation, and accompanied them when they need to sign on or attend court.

Several Friends are committee members or trustees of organisations which support asylum-seekers and refugees.

Several Friends offer short-term or long-term accommodation to asylum-seekers in their homes.

One meeting has supported a Friend who has invested in two houses in their city to be used for accommodation for asylum-seekers. Meeting has helped by providing furniture and equipment and paying utilities bills.

Two meetings are involved in “City of Sanctuary” projects.

One meeting provides a library for the local Refugee Centre and Peace House.

We received supportive comments from some Meetings which do not have asylum-seekers in their geographical area. We would like to suggest to those Meetings that they can perform a valuable service by keeping themselves informed of developments and writing to their MPs and other decision-makers.

It is the intention of the Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network to produce a directory of the main Quaker activities throughout our Yearly Meeting. This is an ongoing project and will be undertaken in consultation with Local Meetings. Those meetings or individuals who are willing to have their details included in such a directory should reply to our e-mail address info@qarn.org.uk.

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