radiofree.asia

Category: Home Office

  • Braverman says appeal court ruling on Rwanda ‘disappointing for majority of British people’ – as it happened

    Home secretary says government will seek leave to appeal against judgment as she gives statement to MPs

    Jacob Rees-Mogg declined to comment on the privileges committee report when he was doorstepped by reporters this morning. He told ITV he was going to church, and then to the Test match.

    The Suella Braverman statement in the Commons on the court of appeal judgment on the Rwanda deportations policy will take place at about 5pm.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • The three people who stopped the 2021 Jamaica deportation flight have been acquitted

    A jury at Lewes Crown Court acquitted three anti-deportation campaigners of causing a public nuisance this week. The three took direct action in November 2021 to stop a deportation flight bound for Jamaica.

    The verdict followed a two-and-a-half weeks long trial.

    Direct action

    In November 2021, the defendants locked-on in the road outside Brook House detention centre at Gatwick airport. Their intention was to stop coaches taking people to Birmingham airport for deportation from leaving.

    SOAS Detainee support tweeted at the time:

    In the end, the state was only able to deport four out of an intended 50 people.

    Their action had far-reaching consequences. Campaigners made a freedom of information request about the 50 people the flight intended to deport. The response, published May 2023, showed that 41 out of the 50 people are still in the UK.

    The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) initially charged the three with aggravated trespass. However, the CPS later changed its mind and put them on trial for the potentially more severe offence of causing a public nuisance.

    Buying time

    During the trial, the defendants told the jury about what it’s like inside Brook House detention centre. A recent Panorama undercover investigation exposed the conditions inside the centre.

    They listed to the jury how many of the people scheduled for deportation had been living in the UK since they were children. They also detailed how the Jamaica deportation breached many of the Home Office’s own guidelines.

    The defendants gave evidence that they had intended to delay the deportation vans, in order to create time for last-minute legal challenges by lawyers representing those facing deportation.

    A press release by campaign group Stop Deportations explained:

    This is why direct actions like these buy people life-changing minutes to fight their deportations through the courts.

    Judge rules out evidence of Brook House detainee

    The judge refused to allow the jury to hear evidence from a witness who was being held in Brook House at the time of the action, and who was scheduled to be deported to Jamaica. On top of that, the defendants were not allowed to present expert evidence about the illegality of the deportations.

    Despite all this, the jury finally decided in the defendants’ favour. It found all three not guilty.

    Defence solicitor Hussain Hassan, of Commons Solicitors, commented on the politically charged atmosphere in which the case took place:

    This trial has taken place against a backdrop of increased state repression of those who engage in direct action, not only by legislative changes but also by an increasing tendency by the Crown Prosecution Service to overcharge those alleged to have committed criminal offences in the context of political protest.

    Detainees were resisting too

    The three defendants made a joint statement after the verdict. It read:

    We took action to prevent people from being ripped away from their families, communities and loved ones, and from the places and communities they live [in].

    But it wasn’t just their action that stopped the deportations. People were resisting inside Brook House too. The defendants continued:

    At the same time as we blocked Brook House detention centre, people inside were also resisting deportation. This prosecution was an aggressive attempt by the state to criminalise our act of solidarity.

    Stop Deportations made the following statement:

    The verdict today shows the power of collective action, resistance and solidarity. The actions of the Brook House 3 helped to stop 41 people from being violently torn away from their families.

    The group continued, reaffirming their commitment to resist deportations. They said:

    We will not sit idly by and watch the Home Office deport people to their deaths and away from their lives in the UK, we will continue to resist deportations and the broader hostile environment despite this attempt to intimidate us and deter civil resistance.

    You can follow Stop Deportations here.

    Featured image via London Evening Standard/Facebook screenshot

    By Tom Anderson

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • We took direct action against the UK’s racist policies, and a jury acquitted us. Resistance can succeed | Griff Ferris, Callum Lynch and Rivka Micklethwaite

    Our trial exposed a brutal system for targeting people and deporting them to Jamaica. It was worth it knowing we kept some of them safe

    On a cold November afternoon in 2021, the three of us used metal lock-ons to chain ourselves together and block a quiet, private road near Gatwick airport, outside Brook House immigration removal centre, to prevent people being forcibly removed to Jamaica.

    We took action in solidarity with and support of people the government was trying to rip away from their children, partners and loved ones, while some were also physically resisting their deportation inside Brook House. We were arrested and charged with causing a public nuisance. We denied that and told the jury we felt we had a moral responsibility to act. The jury members appear to have empathised. They acquitted us. That speaks volumes.

    Griff Ferris is a researcher and campaigner; Rivka Micklethwaite is a trainee midwife; and Callum Lynch provides legal advice and information to members of the public at a human rights organisation

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Activists who blocked road to stop UK deportation flight to Jamaica acquitted

    Jury clears ‘Brook House three’ of public nuisance charges over non-violent protest near Gatwick

    Three activists who lay on a road outside an immigration detention centre to prevent people being put on a Home Office deportation flight to Jamaica have been cleared by a jury of charges of causing a public nuisance.

    The acquittal at Lewes crown court was hailed by the defendants at a time when the right to non-violent protest is under unprecedented threat.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • The Bibby Stockholm is about to sail to Dorset to imprison 500 refugees – join the protest to stop it

    Residents of Cornwall are urgently asking for people to join a protest on the evening of Wednesday 31 May. They are gathering to demonstrate against the Bibby Stockholm, a floating barge which is to detain 500 male asylum seekers. The barge is currently docked for a refit in Falmouth. However, it is due to make its way to Portland port in Dorset on Wednesday night, where it will, effectively, become an offshore prison.

    Imprisoned and traumatised by the British state

    Cornwall Resists, which is a network of grassroots anti-fascist groups in the county, said:

    The Bibby is the first of its kind to be refurbished here, but it won’t be the last. The boat represents the hostile, fascist and illegal approach the Conservative party is taking towards vulnerable people, who have risked everything to flee war and persecution only to be imprisoned and retraumatised by the state.

    We will not allow this to happen. We will gather to remember migrants who have died making their way to safety, and Rachid Abdelsalam, who died on board the Bibby Stockholm.

    Indeed, Rachid Abdelsalam suffered heart failure and died onboard the barge in 2008, when it was used by the Dutch government to lock up those seeking asylum. Detainees onboard had warned the prison guards of Rachid’s deteriorating health, but the guards only opened his cell door two hours after he had died.

    The Dutch government only took the barge out of service after a Dutch media investigation uncovered horrors onboard, including rape, fire safety failings, and abuse by prison staff.

    This wasn’t the only death on Dutch prison barges. Diabetic Ahmad Mahmud El Sabah also died on another Rotterdam detention barge after he suffered from an infection of the liver.

    None of this has phased Suella Braverman. In fact, the Home Office plans to hire a second barge, which would imprison four times as many people.

    Community outrage over the Bibby Stockholm

    Cornwall Resists said of the Bibby Stockholm:

    We have seen a huge swell of community outrage and resistance to this human rights atrocity. It’s been incredible to see so many groups come together to show resistance to the Bibby Stockholm and to definitively prove that Cornwall Resists border violence!

    The group continued:

    On Wednesday we will take our place in protest of the use of this boat – and others like it. We must continue to show our collective power in action against the Bibby Stockholm. We must come together as a community in our last chance to show the full force of our resistance, and the strength of our community. We will gather in solidarity with refugees, migrants, asylum seekers and all people who are victims of state oppression. We will give voices to those unable to voice their struggle, we will show the true nature of our communities and we will continue to build on this coalition of amazing organisations fighting for what is right.

    See you on the streets.

    Join the protest

    To join the protest, head to the Bar Road carpark in Falmouth at 5pm on 31 May. Or if you have access to a boat, you can meet fellow protesters on the water.

    Cornwall Resists says that it is preparing to “stay the course“. It advises people to bring warm layers, as well as:

    banners, candles, blankets, camping chairs, warm layers, noise making devices, your friends and family, flask of hot tea and a picnic.

    We can not quietly sit back while the racist Tory government treats Brown and Black people – who have come to the UK in hope of safety and stability – with complete contempt. Together we must continue to resist the Bibby Stockholm, as well as all racist policies of the Tory government.

    Featured image via Cornwall Resists

    By Eliza Egret

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Tories’ racist, floating refugee prison once again faced the wrath of Cornwall locals

    The Tories floating refugee prison barge the Bibby Stockholm has once again seen protests – this time, with dozens of groups and hundreds of people turning out in Cornwall.

    Bibby Stockholm and the racist Tories

    The Bibby Stockholm is an already notorious barge the Tory government will be using to detain refugees. As the Canary previously reported:

    The government announced it would be using it to detain male refugees and would be operational for “at least” 18 months. It also said that more of these barges were on the way. The government also noted how barges will “cut the cost to the taxpayer” – blaming refugees for trying to come here, and not the government for its disastrous hotels policy. Of course, this also ignores the fact that the problem is not where and how the government detains people – but the fact that it does so in the first place.

    Campaign groups have hit back at the Tories for using a barge to detain refugees. Moreover, when the Dutch government did the same thing with the Bibby Stockholm staff abused refugees on board. The government had to take it out of service. Not that any of that has stopped the racist Tories from pushing this policy forward.

    So, currently, the Bibby Stockholm is in Falmouth, Cornwall. However, people have already protested it. And on Sunday 21 May campaigners were once again out in force resisting the barge and what it represents.

    Cornwall resisting, again

    Cornwall Resists is a network of grassroots anti-fascist groups in the county. As the Canary has documented, it has been prominent in resisting both the far-right’s and the state’s racist abuse of refugees in Cornwall. The group has recently turned its attention to the Bibby Stockholm and held its first demo on Wednesday 10 May. Now Cornwall Resists, other groups, and local people have protested again:

    Cornwall Resists said in a statement for the Canary that around 300 people joined the protest. It noted that:

    The protest – Resist Border Violence – No Floating Prisons – United Against the Bibby Stockholm – was supported by local groups including Cornwall Resists, Divest Borders Falex, Falmouth and Penryn Welcomes Refugees, Radical Pride, Reclaim the Sea, All Under One Banner, the Bakers’ Union, and Falmouth and Penryn Acorn.

    A concurrent protest also took place in London at the Home Office.

    In Falmouth, the protest was varied – with some people even sailing a protest boat in front of the Bibby Stockholm:

    Anti Raids Plymouth made the point of the demo pretty clear:

    Bibby Stockholm protest one Cornwall Falmouth

    Bibby Stockholm protest two Cornwall Falmouth

    Falmouth is just the beginning

    Cornwall Resists told the Canary:

    Sunday’s protest was an amazing display of community action and solidarity. However, as speaker after speaker made clear, this needs to be the start of our resistance and not the end of it. Attending one or two protests is not enough. It is the responsibility of every one of us to act against this floating human rights violation in our dock.

    Indeed, as the Canary previously said:

    a hostile environment where humans are housed on barges simply for fleeing war, persecution, or to seek a better life, is exactly what the colonialist UK government and its agents want. The only way to begin to stop this is to resist, like Cornwall did. It’s certainly not begging the government for reforms and fairness.

    So, the Tories (and by default their racist, nasty barge) can expect more protests in Falmouth. They can also expect people to protest wherever the Bibby Stockholm ends up.

    Featured image via Cornwall Resists

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • UK’s broken asylum system sees £3.5bn in UK aid money spent internally

    The government is spending billions in aid, meant for overseas projects, here at home. The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI), a watchdog organisation, warned that the Home Office is spending up to a third of foreign aid within the UK. This came about because aid money can be drawn on in the first year of a refugee‘s stay.

    As the watchdog explained:

    Under international aid rules, the first year of some of the costs associated with supporting refugees and asylum seekers who arrive in a donor country qualifies as official development assistance (ODA). This category of aid is referred to as ‘in-donor refugee costs’.

    It’s housing and accommodation costs that ramp up the exorbitant figures. In 2022, up to £4.7m per day went on accommodation for Afghan refugees alone.

    Failing system

    The ICAI’s rapid review:

    examines UK aid spent on refugees and asylum-seekers in the UK, which it estimates to be around £3.5 billion in 2022, approximately one third of the UK’s total aid spend that year.

    The availability of these staggering amounts, the report adds, reduces the incentives for government departments to reduce their use of aid money. Plus, the UK’s failing asylum system makes the problem even worse:

    Soaring costs resulting from the failure to tackle the processing backlog and competition for scarce accommodation have absorbed a growing proportion of the limited budget for aid, making it an inefficient way of providing humanitarian assistance.

    Additionally, conditions for refugees in hotels are extremely poor. Asylum seekers housed in this way often lack basic necessities like clothing. They are also frequently develop mental health issues, and are harassed by the far right.

    Aid money cap

    The ICAI accused the Home Office of not overseeing aid effectively. It also warned that protections for women asylum seekers were not up to scratch:

    ICAI heard a lot of anecdotal evidence of safeguarding lapses, particularly for women and girls, who face significant risks of harassment and even gender-based violence while in hotel accommodation.

    Another reason for the wild aid spending is that there is no cap. This means departments can use aid money with little restraint. The ICAI said:

    The government should consider introducing a cap on the proportion of the aid budget that can be spent on in-donor refugee costs (as Sweden has proposed to do for 2023-24) or, alternatively, introduce a floor to FCDO’s aid spending, to avoid damage to the UK’s aid objectives and reputation.

    Gross negligence

    The government’s gross dereliction of duty over the foreign aid budget beggars belief. Its spending to support refugees should come out of domestic budgets – not be syphoned off from the aid budget at the expense of people in other countries, who are often also in desperate need.

    Moreover, it’s not even spending this money well. The Home Office leaves refugees languishing in the asylum system, invariably in squalid conditions, and under the constant threat of attacks from the far right. However, the biggest threat to refugees comes from the government itself – which is about to persecute them further by housing them in former military bases.

    It’s time that the government fixed our broken, unfair, grossly negligent, and mismanaged asylum system – and while it’s at it, fix the foreign aid budget, too.

    Featured image via Wikimedia Commons/FCO, cropped to 770 x 403, licenced under Open Government Licence

    By Joe Glenton

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Suella Braverman: small boats plan will push boundaries of international law

    Rishi Sunak says bill will ‘take back control of our borders’ but critics argue the proposals are unworkable

    Suella Braverman has admitted the government is attempting to push “the boundaries of international law” with legislation aimed at reducing small boat crossings in the Channel.

    The law, to be disclosed to MPs at lunchtime on Tuesday, is expected to place a legal duty on the home secretary to detain and remove nearly all asylum seekers who arrive “irregularly” such as via small boats in the Channel.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Maintenance failures sparked Heathrow detention centre disturbances, FoI reveals

    Freedom of information responses reveal damning findings of internal investigations into power cuts at Harmondsworth in 2022

    A catalogue of maintenance failures over more than a decade caused power cuts that triggered disturbances at Europe’s largest immigration detention centre last year, the Guardian has learned.

    The disturbances at Harmondsworth, the 676-bed centre near Heathrow, led to elite prison squads and the Metropolitan police being called to the scene to quell the protest. As a result of the power failure the centre had to be closed for several weeks and detainees relocated to other detention centres and prisons around the UK.

    No evidence of maintenance of air circuit breakers since installation and one had been tripping multiple times since June 2022

    Some equipment still at risk of failure because it is obsolete and no longer manufactured

    Switching strategy on some equipment not operational since 2008/9

    Excessive heat buildup in the electrical switch room

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Coalition demands politicians take a ‘clear stand’ against attacks on asylum seekers

    Nearly 200 charities on 14 February urged the UK’s political leaders to “take a clear stand” against attacks on asylum seekers. It came days after an anti-immigrant protest descended into violent disorder. The open letter was co-ordinated by coalition campaign Together With Refugees and signed by 180 charities. It condemned the “horrifying” scenes on 10 February outside the Suites Hotel in Knowsley, near Liverpool.

    The open letter described the events outside Suites Hotel as “horrifying”, and went on to say:

    With the high risk of more premeditated extremist attacks around the country, leaders of all parties must now take a clear stand and condemn any further violence against those who come here to find safety.

    The letter also urged political leaders to “set out the action they will take to prevent” further attacks.

    Rhetoric against asylum seekers comes from the top

    People have criticised home secretary Suella Braverman for her inflammatory rhetoric over immigration and asylum seekers. In particular, many have criticised her description of the growing number of refugees crossing the Channel. Opponents accuse her of demonising asylum seekers and fuelling hostility towards people seeking sanctuary.

    A Home Office spokesperson noted that Braverman had condemned the “appalling scenes outside the hotel and violence toward police officers” seen outside Suites Hotel.

    However, Braverman’s actual response to the riots in Knowsley wasn’t such a ‘clear stand’ against what happened. After highlighting a tweet by the home secretary in which she said that the “alleged behaviour of some asylum seekers is never an excuse for violence“, the Canary‘s Steve Topple wrote:

    There are no grounds for Braverman’s claim about refugees’ “behaviour” in Knowsley – except right-wing lies on social media.

    Braverman essentially covered for the far-right by victim-blaming refugees

    Many others made similar points, too

    As the Canary noted, the police and BBC News also repeated similar rhetoric in their response to the riot.

    No safe haven

    Clashes broke out in Knowsley when racist troublemakers disrupted a pro-refugee gathering outside the Suites Hotel on 10 February. The building was housing asylum seekers. The far-right group Patriotic Alternative had protested outside the hotel earlier in February, but it denied organising the latest rally.

    The open letter called attention to failures of the Home Office and the UK’s asylum system, which have served to place asylum seekers at greater risk. It said the lives of asylum seekers:

    are in limbo as they wait, sometimes for years, for a decision on their asylum claim.  And it is clear that these massive delays are directly leading to the use of hotels for people seeking asylum – a completely inappropriate form of accommodation and a glaring confirmation that the system is broken.

    Featured image via Together With Refugees/YouTube

    Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

    By Glen Black

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Revelations about human rights abuses at Manston underscore the UK’s colonial immigration regime

    A Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed that the Home Office ignored warnings over the Manston refugee detention centre. Specifically, the local council had told the Home Office it had concerns over conditions at the centre in Kent relating to the health of detainees. Yet the Tory government ignored the council’s warnings, leading to a man’s death. However, while shocking, this is unsurprising given that our entire immigration system has its roots in colonialism.

    Manston: disease and death

    As the Canary previously reported, the Manston detention centre encapsulates the Home Office’s racist and inhumane approach to refugees. In late 2022, it was holding around 4,000 people – when the Home Office only designed it to accommodate 1,600. The Canary‘s Sophia Purdy-Moore noted that:

    The Home Office is only supposed to hold people on the site for up to 24 hours. However, a prison watchdog warned that authorities are detaining people on the site for a much longer period, without beds, proper healthcare, or access to fresh air and exercise. The watchdog noted reports of cases of contagious diseases such as scabies, diphtheria and MRSA within the centre.

    One man, Hussein Haseeb Ahmed, eventually died after becoming ill with diphtheria at Manston. At the time, the Home Office denied refugees were catching it at the centre. We now know the opposite is true – and moreover, that the council warned the Home Office something like this could happen.

    Home Office: ignoring warnings

    The Guardian reported that it had obtained FOIs from Thanet district council. They revealed that the council’s public health officials repeatedly contacted the Home Office with concerns over Manston. Specifically, the Guardian reported that:

    • Handwashing was advised as a key infection control measure but there was a shortage of sinks and access to running water and some toilets had no handwashing facilities at all.
    • Some toilets were blocked and overflowing with excrement.
    • The chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, became involved in the crisis and ordered UKHSA officials to produce a rapid assessment of infectious disease risk on the site.
    • [There was] confusion surrounding the release of people from Manston who may have had infectious conditions.

    The FOIs also showed that the Home Office’s claim that refugees were bringing diphtheria with them to Manston was probably not true. Officials said a “small number” of cases were likely to have been transmitted in the UK – that is, at Manston. Crucially, the Guardian also noted that:

    A risk assessment rated the risk of gastrointestinal disease, measles, diphtheria, scabies and other skin diseases as “very high”.

    Thanet district council raised all its concerns with the Home Office before Hussein died on 19 November. Yet the Home Office failed to act. Meanwhile, all this comes as the Independent and human rights organisation Liberty released an investigation into conditions at Manston.

    Human rights abuses?

    The investigation found that whistleblowing staff at the site reported:

    • Thousands of people sleeping on mats on the floor inside a makeshift marquee while being held for indefinite periods with nothing to do
    • Incidents of detainees being pinned to the ground and beaten after hitting their heads against a wall
    • Migrants being forcibly restrained after asking for food
    • A man injured in a fight receiving “unacceptable” medical care because it was assumed he was “faking it”

    The sheer level of human rights abuses at Manston perpetrated by the Home Office is shocking – but not surprising. As Purdy-Moore wrote last year:

    This goes beyond Manston. This is about challenging the entire inhumane border regime which surveils, polices, detains, deports and dehumanises people seeking safety in the UK and globally.

    However, this is also goes beyond the border regimes of states.

    Colonialism: alive and well in the UK

    Governments like the UK’s have an approach to refugees and borders that is inherently colonialist – and laws surrounding immigration have their roots in Britain’s colonial history. Those in power and, by default, society more broadly, view foreign nationals arriving in the UK as lesser human beings – barely even guests, treated with greater contempt than animals. As academic Nadine El-Enany wrote, the very fact that refugees have to ask permission to stay in the UK via our legal system sums up this colonial mindset:

    The traditional acceptance of legal categories as defined in international and domestic law… has the effect of concealing law’s role in producing racialised subjects and racial violence. It further impedes an understanding of law as racial violence.

    Moreover, El-Enany noted that:

    Legal status does not alter the way in which racialised people are cast in white spaces as undeserving guests, outsiders or intruders – as here today but always potentially gone tomorrow. Immigration law is, after all, the prop used to teach white British citizens that what Britain plundered from its colonies is theirs and theirs alone. Understanding that immigration law is an extension of colonialism enables us to question Britain’s claim to being a legitimately bordered, sovereign nation-state.

    Manston encapsulates this attitude – where the state persecutes refugees without recourse, and the staff at the centre then follow its lead. This pervades government institutions and society more broadly – and it will not change overnight. The sad yet damning likelihood is that another Manston is on the cards, somewhere in the UK.

    Featured image via Sky News – YouTube

    By Steve Topple

  • Sunak ‘plans to stop deportation appeals’ for people who reach UK in small boats

    Home Office reportedly proposed two options to try to prevent those crossing Channel from claiming asylum

    Rishi Sunak is proposing to stop asylum seekers who cross the Channel in small boats from appealing against their deportation, according to reports.

    The Home Office, led by Suella Braverman, had put forward two options for the prime minister’s consideration as he attempts to automatically prevent those arriving in Britain from claiming asylum, the Times reported.

    Continue reading…

  • Prevent campaigners threaten to sue Home Office for libel

    The Prevent review, already beset with boycotts, could be in for more troubles. Prevent Watch, a community group that supports victims of the programme, is now warning the Home Office of a defamation action. The group sent a formal letter to the Home Office expressing its concern at having been named in the review.

    Prevent is a policy from the Home Office that forms part of their counter-terrorism strategy:

    The aim of the Prevent strategy is to reduce the threat to the UK from terrorism by stopping people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.

    Human rights organisation Liberty explained how the ‘Prevent duty’ fails to tackle so-called ‘extremism’:

    The definition of extremism under Prevent is so wide that thousands of people are being swept up by it – including children engaging in innocuous conduct, people protesting climate change, and a nurse who began wearing a hijab.

    In fact, more than nine out of ten Prevent referrals in 2017/18 didn’t require any de-radicalisation action.

    The upcoming review of the strategy is a commitment from the government. However, as the Canary has previously reported this review is being led by William Shawcross. As we’ve noted before, when he was the director of the neoconservative Henry Jackson Society, Shawcross said:

    Europe and Islam is one of the greatest, most terrifying problems of our future. I think all European countries have vastly, very quickly growing Islamic populations.

    Why do Prevent Watch think they’re mentioned?

    It’s been repeatedly documented that Muslims have been targeted and surveilled by this racist strategy. So, Prevent Watch has very good reason to think it might be mentioned in this government review. Back in the summer of 2022, the Guardian got its hands on a leak of the review. One of the things that came up was:

    In Shawcross’s draft review of the Prevent programme, he argues that its purpose must be refocused and says its first objective, to tackle the causes of radicalisation and respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism, “is not being sufficiently met”.

    It argues that the programme must re-engage with individuals who are not yet posing a terror threat but who can “create an environment conducive to terrorism”.

    In plain language, Shawcross continues to shift government and policing strategy towards “pre-crime.” That’s when groups considered ‘likely’ to commit a crime are targeted before any such crime has even happened. Also amongst the leaks was Shawcross’s view that:

    Prevent is too focused on rightwing extremism and instead should focus more on Islamic extremism.

    Now, the Guardian reported that director of Prevent Watch Dr. Layla Aitlhadj:

    believes it is likely their organisation has been named in Shawcross’s review as one of those critical of the Prevent programme who are responsible for spreading Islamic extremism, a claim which, if it is made in Shawcross’s review, she says is seriously defamatory.

    Dangers ahead

    The danger, as Aitlhadj alluded to, is that by purely being critical of the Prevent strategy, individuals or organisations can be seen to be spreading “extremism”. Given that Prevent Watch exists to support people who’ve been harmed by the strategy, it would be difficult for it to do its vital work without being critical of Prevent. Aitlhadj insists that the group won’t let its work be halted:

    Our important civil society work, based on hundreds of cases of people adversely and unfairly targeted by Prevent, will not be silenced in this way.

    The report was initially due to be published in 2021, but has yet to materialise. Aitlhadj made it clear what the Home Office needs to do next:

    They should not only remove any defamatory statements in the Shawcross report, but they must ensure the contents are within the stated purpose of the independent review, and publish their report without further delay, to avoid liability and allow for public scrutiny.

    Prevent Watch’s letter to the Home Office is a test for this government. Will it be open and honest about what’s in the review? Will it avoid attempts to punish critics of the Prevent strategy? However, it’s not going to do any of those things because it’s simply the latest in a line of decades-long policies that have targeted Muslims in Britain. Muslims are still demonised and seen as potential extremists, no matter what. Prevent Watch’s brave stance against the Home Office deserves to be applauded and amplified.

    Featured image by Wikimedia Commons/Lorie Shaull via CC 2.0, resized to 770×403

    By Maryam Jameela

  • Hundreds of asylum-seeking children are going missing from Home Office hotels

    Hundreds of child asylum seekers have been kidnapped from Home Office hotels, according to an investigation from the Observer. The Home Office had been warned by police that many of the children arrived without parents or guardians, and so were at risk from criminal networks. A whistleblower told the Observer:

    Children are literally being picked up from outside the building, disappearing and not being found. They’re being taken from the street by traffickers.

    The whistleblower also alleged that children have been trafficked from “a similar hotel run by the Home Office in Hythe, Kent”, estimating that 10% of its children disappear each week.

    When the story was first reported, it was thought that 136 children were missing from a Brighton hotel run by the Home Office. Now, Home Office minister Simon Murray has admitted that around 200 children are missing from hotels housing asylum seekers.

    Who’s responsible?

    When asked to comment on the allegations, Brighton and Hove city council directed the Observer’s investigators to the police. Sussex police, in turn, said that enquiries should go to the Home Office. The Home Office said:

    Local authorities have a statutory duty to protect all children, regardless of where they go missing from.

    Evidently, neither central government, local government, nor police forces are willing to take responsibility for this.

    Anti-trafficking social worker Lauren Starkey summed up the situation:

    Asylum seekers are housed in Home Office hotels while they wait to be processed. And, in fact, Labour MP for Hove Peter Kyle recounted an incident where children were at risk:

    Just last year Sussex Police pursued a car that had collected two children from outside this hotel.

    When they managed to get the car to safety they released two child migrants and they arrested one of the members who was driving it – who was a gang leader who was there to coerce the children into crime.

    Outrage

    A number of people took to social media to express their outrage. Unseen, a modern slavery charity, quoted the former commissioner of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commission calling for Home Office hotels to be abolished:

    Human rights charity Detention Action had to reiterate that children must be protected:

    Researcher Furaha Asani said:

    Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome joined calls for an investigation:

    MP for Brighton Pavilion Caroline Lucas had some robust questions on how the Home Office even operates these hotels:

    Home Office failings

    It shouldn’t even be possible for one asylum-seeking child to go missing from Home Office custody. The fact that hundreds of children have gone missing, potentially to child traffickers, is a national travesty. It’s typical that the Home Office, local council, and Sussex police are passing the buck amongst themselves.

    Let’s be clear: these unaccompanied children have come to seek refuge in the UK. They have gone missing whilst in Home Office custody. They’re at risk of trafficking and being groomed into modern slavery. We must ask why this been allowed to happen?

    The Home Office has abandoned its duty of care to these children. In an increasingly hostile environment, asylum-seeking children are not safe here. These children have gone missing because they’re asylum seekers – they’re seen as disposable to traffickers and to the government. That alone has to be the biggest breach of our responsibility as a supposedly democratic and free society.

    Featured image via YouTube screenshot/The Independent

    By Maryam Jameela

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Inadequate help for torture victims in UK immigration centres, watchdog finds

    Borders inspector blames unfounded suspicions by ministers that detainees are gaming the system

    Torture victims and suicidal people in immigration detention centres are not receiving adequate help because of unfounded suspicions from ministers and officials that they are cheating the system, the UK borders watchdog has found.

    David Neal, the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration (ICIBI), also questioned why Suella Braverman had ended annual investigations into the treatment of vulnerable adult detainees.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Dozens of child asylum seekers placed in Home Office hotel for adults

    Concerns raised after children classified wrongly as adults were assigned to a hotel where a serious stabbing took place last month

    At least 40 child asylum seekers were placed in a Home Office hotel designated for adults where one of them was a victim of a serious stabbing last month, the Guardian has learned.

    Lawyers and NGOs have repeatedly raised concerns about children being assessed wrongly as adults by the Home Office after arriving in the UK on small boats.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Charities demand inquiry into Heathrow immigration centre conditions

    Home secretary urged to investigate after detainees’ protests over their treatment during power outage

    • UK politics live – latest news updates

    Detention charities have called on Suella Braverman to launch an urgent independent investigation into the disturbances at a Heathrow immigration removal centre over the weekend after a power cut.

    In a letter sent to the home secretary and senior Home Office officials on Tuesday the charities Bail For Immigration Detainees and Medical Justice said the investigation should be launched without delay to find out exactly what had happened at Harmondsworth detention centre and to ascertain the conditions the detainees encountered when deprived of electricity, heating, running water and toilet facilities during the power cut.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Migrant solidarity groups are protesting against inhumane conditions in Manston detention centre

    People are sharing harrowing reports of overcrowded, unsafe and inhumane conditions inside Manston detention centre in Kent. Migrant solidarity groups are organising protests in support of detainees which are due to take place on Sunday 6 November.

    Inhumane conditions inside Manston

    On 31 November, MPs questioned home secretary Suella Braverman on whether she ignored legal advice and refused hotel bookings for migrants in Manston. The Home Office built the detention centre on a former military base in Kent. According to Morning Star reporter Bethany Rielly, the Home Office has instituted a military presence on site.

    The Home Office is only supposed to hold people on the site for up to 24 hours. However, a prison watchdog warned that authorities are detaining people on the site for a much longer period, without beds, proper healthcare, or access to fresh air and exercise. The watchdog noted reports of cases of contagious diseases such as scabies, diphtheria and MRSA within the centre.

    Grassroots migrant solidarity group SOAS Detainee Support visited the site on 31 October and reported witnessing “inhumane and overcrowded conditions”. Indeed, the site is dramatically over capacity. According to SOAS Detainee Support, Manston is hosting over 4,000 people, including children. However, it only has capacity for 1,000 people. 

    The group witnessed families sleeping on the floor for weeks on end and children crying for help. And although it’s unlawful for authorities to confiscate asylum-seekers’ phones,  SOAS Detainee Support says that authorities have confiscated the mobile phones of detainees and denied them access to lawyers.

    Sharing images and footage of the site visit, SOAS Detainee Support tweeted:

    Desperately seeking help

    Meanwhile, Stop Deportations shared the following, documenting the wristbands that people detained within Manston are forced to wear:

    SOAS Detainee Support noted that this use of identification tags is “a chilling hallmark of internment camps throughout history”.

    Writer and migrant and refugee rights campaigner Benny Hunter shared a photo of a letter thrown to the media by a child held inside Manston. Calling for urgent help, the letter claims that pregnant and unwell people inside the centre aren’t receiving the healthcare they need:

    Anti-refugee Britain

    On 1 November, home secretary Suella Braverman told parliament that there’s an “invasion on our southern coast“. This was in reference to people making dangerous channel crossings seeking safety in the UK. She made this callous and divisive remark the day after a man fire-bombed a migrant detention centre in Dover, injuring two people. Highlighting that racist and xenophobic violence doesn’t happen in a vacuum, writer Taj Ali shared:

    Meanwhile, also on 1 November, the Home Office abandoned a group of people in central London after evacuating them from the Manston holding site. Authorities left the group of around 50 asylum seekers in a street outside Victoria station. They were stranded overnight without food, accommodation or warm clothing. Responding to the news, Zoe Gardner, who works in policy and research for the European Network on Statelessness, tweeted: 

    These incidents reveal the violent and oppressive nature of the border regime. It seeks to criminalise, scapegoat and dehumanise those seeking safety. Meanwhile, the individuals and institutions that are actually responsible for the crises we face amass wealth and power.

    Resisting the border regime

    People gathered outside the gates of the detention centre in Manston on 2 November, in solidarity with those held inside. BBC reporter Simon Jones shared footage of protesters singing “we are all human, we all deserve respect”:

    According to Jones, while protesters blocked the detention centre’s entrance, others delivered toys for the children locked inside.

    Action Against Detention and Deportations, a coalition of anti-border groups, is leading a protest in solidarity with those inside Manston on Sunday 6 November:

    The group is arranging travel to the detention site from London. Those who can’t make it on the day are invited to contribute towards travel costs.

    Migrant solidarity groups are also seeking mobile phone donations to give to those locked inside Manston. The devices are urgently needed in order to contact lawyers and family members. Sharing information on how to contribute to the phone drive, grassroots group Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants tweeted:

    Meanwhile, No Borders Manchester is leading a solidarity protest in the Northwest:

    As always, those exercising their right to protest on Sunday should come prepared. Civil liberties organisation Liberty shared:

    People can find more detailed information, as well as location-specific downloadable bustcards, on Green & Black Cross’s website.

    Those who are unable to make it to the protests on Sunday can still get involved by contributing towards travel costs and the phone drive. You can also support the work of grassroots groups resisting borders and migrant oppression. These include Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants, Stop Deportations, Kent Refugee Action Network and the Anti Raids Network.

    This goes beyond Marston. This is about challenging the entire inhumane border regime which surveils, polices, detains, deports and dehumanises people seeking safety in the UK and globally.

    Featured image via Simon Jones – Twitter

    By Sophia Purdy-Moore

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Hate speech, hate action – that’s this government

    By Ralph Underhill

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Migrant centre in Kent ‘catastrophically overcrowded’, unions say

    Manston processing site ‘gummed up’ as more than 100,000 asylum claims waiting to be decided, says select committee chair

    A migrant processing centre in Kent is “catastrophically overcrowded”, with people waiting for their asylum applications to be processed kept in inhumane conditions and guards not being trained properly, a union leader says.

    Criticism of the government’s handling of the facility is mounting, with the chair of a parliamentary select committee saying a “crisis” was brewing given the backlog of more than 100,000 cases.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • The Home Office is hindering efforts to tackle modern slavery | Letter

    Reclassifying the horrific crime as an illegal immigration issue benefits no one, least of all the victims, says Mary Creagh

    We were deeply disappointed to see the Home Office reclassify modern slavery as an illegal immigration issue. This is a strange move, given the extent of the issue and those it affects. According to official statistics, a quarter of victims are from the UK, and 97% of referrals made in the first six months of this year were confirmed as genuine.

    Victims of modern slavery deserve the full protection of the law and the chance to rebuild their lives. Successive governments have made great strides in tackling it, from setting up the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority to laws requiring companies to eradicate slavery in their supply chains and publish modern slavery statements. Collaboration with the private sector and civil society is the most effective way to tackle this issue.

    Continue reading…

  • Boohoo, Suella couldn’t realise her dream of deporting refugees to Rwanda

    On 19 October, Suella Braverman resigned from her role as home secretary. This came during a night of absolute chaos in Westminster, with reports of manhandling, bullying, and shouting over a Commons vote on fracking. Following a month of political turmoil and mounting pressure, Liz Truss resigned as prime minister on 20 October after just 44 days in the role. 

    Pride comes before a fall

    According to the official story, Braverman was caught sending a policy document about migration to a non-ministerial MP from her personal account, and was subsequently forced to resign. However, her forceful letter to Liz Truss in which she airs “concerns about the direction of this government” and states that ministers had broken “key pledges” suggests a breakdown in internal relations due to the prime minister’s failure to toe the home secretary’s line.

    Either way, this makes Braverman the UK’s shortest-serving post-war Home Secretary. Braverman is also the second holder of a great office of state to resign in less than a week, with former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng being forced to resign on 14 October after the government’s mini budget triggered a plunge in the pound.

    Braverman’s fall came the day after she told the House of Commons:

    It’s the Labour Party, it’s the Lib Dems, it’s the coalition of chaos, it’s the Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati, dare I say, the anti-growth coalition that we have to thank for the disruption we are seeing on our roads today.

    The home secretary was referring to ongoing Stop Oil climate protestors who were blocking bridges while calling for an end to new oil and gas licences. Braverman was urging MPs to support the draconian Public Order Bill, which passed through the Commons later that day. If it passes through the House of Lords, it will give the government and police more power to clamp down on our right to protest.

    Responding to the news of the short-lived home secretary’s departure from office, writer Jason Okundaye tweeted:

    Cruel immigration policies

    In her attempt to have the last word, Braverman hit out again at ‘selfish protesters‘ in her letter to the prime minister. It’s telling what else Braverman brought up on her way out. In her resignation letter, Braverman stated:

    I have serious concerns about this Government’s commitment to honouring manifesto commitments, such as reducing overall migration numbers and stopping illegal migration, particularly small boat crossings.

    This reflects the former home secretary’s cruel stance on immigration, which followed in the footsteps of her cartoonishly evil predecessor Priti Patel.

    In October, Braverman proudly told Tory Party Conference attendees that it is her ‘dream‘ and ‘obsession’ to see a flight traffic asylum seekers to offshore detention sites in Rwanda. This scheme comes alongside the inhumane and discriminatory Nationality and Borders Bill, which seeks to criminalise vulnerable people seeking refuge in the UK. The European Court of Human Rights is questioning the lawfulness of plans to ship asylum seekers to Rwanda, a country with a poor human rights record.

    Responding to the news of Braverman’s departure, one Twitter user shared:

    Labour MP for Coventry South Zarah Sultana tweeted:

    Truss out

    Following a series of humiliating U-turns, Braverman’s exit and a night of absolute chaos in Westminster, people spent the morning on high alert waiting for the prime minister to resign.

    Foreseeing Truss’ departure, cross-party advocacy group Best for Britain tweeted: 

    On 20 October, the prime minister made a statement outside Number 10 announcing the abrupt end of her short premiership. It now appears that the Tories will have to go through yet another leadership election to determine Truss’ successor. Over the course of writing this article, this chaotic government has stumbled into yet another catastrophe in record time. In fact, Suella Braverman herself is said to be in the running for leader – Rajeev Syal, home affairs editor of the Guardian, reported:

    Suella Braverman is widely expected to stand to be Tory leader, although Sir John Hayes, the former minister who is a confidante and adviser to the former home secretary, declined to say if she plans to stand.

    “Suella has clearly got a big future in the Conservative party and is widely recognised as a standard bearer for authentic traditional Toryism,” he said.

    We’re all about to be even more fucked than we already are.

    Featured image via screenshot/The Guardian 

    By Sophia Purdy-Moore

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Home Office reclassifies modern slavery as illegal immigration issue

    Exclusive: Charities working with victims say it should not be taken away from the safeguarding minister

    The Home Office has taken the modern slavery brief away from the minister responsible for safeguarding and classed it as an “illegal immigration and asylum” issue, updated online ministerial profiles show.

    The move is seen as a clear sign that the department is doubling down on Suella Braverman’s suggestion that people are “gaming” the modern slavery system and that victims of the crime are no longer being prioritised.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Afghan female judge fleeing Taliban appeals after Home Office refuses UK entry

    Lawyers say the woman, who is in hiding in Pakistan with her son, will be killed if sent back to Afghanistan

    A female former senior judge from Afghanistan who is in hiding from the Taliban with her son has filed an appeal to the Home Office after her application to enter the UK was denied.

    Lawyers for the woman – who is named as “Y” – said on Saturday they had submitted an appeal on behalf of their client and her son at the Immigration Tribunal, saying she had been left in a “gravely vulnerable position” by the withdrawal of British and other western troops.

    Continue reading…

  • A new wave of migration is coming – Europe is not ready | Simon Tisdall

    Britain and the EU responded dismally to the 2015 migrant crisis. The number of ‘irregular entries’ is up by 84% this year – and the ways to deal with the issue now range from limited to bizarre

    In a week when Russia threatened to annex more territory in Ukraine, gas shortages loomed, and inflation and Covid surged across Europe, it seems almost unkind to remind EU and UK leaders of another crisis that is unfolding, largely unremarked, right under their noses. As Claudius laments in Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “When sorrows come, they come not single spies, / But in battalions.”

    As if defeating Russian aggression was not enough of a challenge, Europe now also faces rapidly rising new “waves” of undocumented asylum seekers. Given the sociopolitical upheavals that ensued after 1 million refugees, mostly Syrians, arrived on Europe’s shores in 2015, the EU and UK might be expected to be better prepared this time.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Home Office ‘mistakes and delays’ mean girl, 4, must stay trapped in Ukraine

    Alika has a UK sponsor, and applied for visa in March, but is one of few children left in her Kharkiv neighbourhood

    A four-year-old girl remains stranded in a block of flats on the Ukrainian frontline four months after attempts began to bring her to the UK, a delay campaigners have blamed on a series of government “blunders”.

    Efforts to rescue Alika Zubets from the city of Kharkiv began on 21 March when her UK sponsor applied for a visa under the Homes for Ukraine scheme and expected her to reach north Staffordshire by mid-April at the latest. Instead, she remains one of the few children left in her Kharkiv neighbourhood, with no schools or nurseries open and the constant threat of shelling from Russian forces nearby.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • UK Home Office plans second flight to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda

    Flight could take off within weeks and before court has ruled on whether scheme is lawful

    The Home Office is planning a second flight to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, which could take off before the courts have ruled on whether the scheme is lawful, the Guardian has learned.

    It is understood that a second flight could take off in a matter of weeks despite the fact that the full high court hearing to examine the government’s Rwanda plans does not begin until 19 July.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • GPS tagging of migrants appears to contradict Home Office guidance

    Document published this year does not mention asylum seekers as priority group for ‘intrusive policy’

    The Home Office appears to have contradicted its own guidance on GPS tagging, which prioritised “very high harm offenders”, after it announced the devices would be used on asylum seekers arriving in the UK.

    An 86-page guidance document titled “Immigration Bail” was published on 31 January 2022. It includes a large section about the GPS tagging of migrants and does not mention asylum seekers who have not committed crimes as a priority group for GPS tagging.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Rwanda refugee policy is like the rendition of slaves in the 1800s | Letters

    Prof Julia O’Connell Davidson likens the government’s plans to deport asylum seekers to the forced returns facilitated by the Fugitive Slave Act in the US. Plus a letter from Mark Stephens

    Priti Patel claims that the policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda is a means to combat criminal gangs involved in people trafficking – a form of modern-day slavery. Yet, unlike African victims of the transatlantic slave trade, the people described as trafficked today actively want to move, and for very good reason.

    A better historical comparison is with people who tried to escape from slavery. Like “fugitive slaves”, they move in search of greater freedom. Through this lens, Patel’s Rwanda policy looks more like the forms of rendition facilitated by the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act in the US, whereby those who escaped were more readily returned to the condition they had fled.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • UK to challenge court ruling that halted Rwanda deportations, says minister

    Thérèse Coffey says she is sure government will go back to European court of human rights over decision

    The UK is likely to challenge the European court of human rights ruling that stopped the deportation to Rwanda of people seeking asylum and is already preparing for the next flight, a cabinet minister has said.

    Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, played down the idea that the UK could withdraw from the European convention on human rights in response to the court’s decision, which halted the flight on Tuesday night.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.