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Welcome to the June 2008 edition of Migrants Rights News
Welcome to the June 2008 edition of Migrants Rights News. The Migrants Rights Network is working for a rights-based approach to migration, with migrants as full partners in developing the policies and procedures which affect life in the UK. Migrants Rights News aims to inform our members and other groups working on migration issues about regional and national policy developments, campaign news, recent research and upcoming events. We would be happy to circulate information and bulletins sent by members in the following month's newsletter, subject to editorial/space limitations! Please send any contributions to: info@migrantsrights.org.uk. +++++++++++++ In this month's newsletter, find details of: (1) Harsh decisions in Nottingham: Are Home Office decisions inflating removal figures? (2) NGOs critique Home Office Green Paper 'The Path to Citizenship' (3) Refused Asylum Seekers granted access to healthcare in the UK (4) European
Immigration Pact (5)
International News (6) Free Medact Maternity Access and Advocacy Packs available! (7) Recent Publications and Research (8) Upcoming Events and Initiatives +++++++++++++ (1) Harsh decisions in Nottingham: Are Home Office decisions inflating removal figures? The human cost of the Home Office's policy to raise the detention and removal of 'illegal immigrants' from the UK has been made glaringly apparent during the past few weeks. This has coincided with a UKBA announcement that it intends to significantly raise the detention capacity of the UK. Hicham Yezza Mr Yezza, originally from Algeria, has been living in the UK for 13 years and has been active in peace campaigns at Nottingham University and in his local community. Together with a student he was assisting in gathering research materials, he was arrested on 14th May during the course of investigations about the downloading of al Qaeda-related materials from the internet. Both men were detained in police custody for 6 days under anti-terrorism legislation, before their release without charge. Mr Yezza was then rearrested on the grounds of alleged irregularities with his immigration status. He was issued a removal order for the 1st June, which was then suspended following student protests and representations from a local MP. An appeal has now been lodged against removal directions and a court hearing is expected on 16th July. Mr Yezza has remained in detention since his second arrest, though there is no apparent justification for this. Amdani Juma UKBA policy Since this date, revision of the Immigration Rules has apparently assured such groups as students, family members, and Points-based Scheme (PBS) workers that applications made within a 28-day period after the expiry of current leave will not automatically lead to refusal. However, agencies advising international students making applications for leave under the provisions of the International Graduate Scheme (IGS) have to be closely monitored, with recorded incidents of individuals being refused on the grounds of applications being just a few days late, despite the policy in the Rules. In May the Home Office released enforcement statistics for the first quarter 2008. It was announced that 3025 failed asylum seekers, and a further 13740 'illegal immigrants' were removed during this period. At the same time Home Office minister Liam Byrne stated that detention centre places will be increased by up to 60% to facilitate faster processing of candidates for expulsion. The questions raised by these developments, and illustrated by cases like Mr Yezza's, Mr Juma's and the IGS students, is whether the UKBA decision-making regime is now being geared towards the production of more candidates for removal, in order to meet pressure from politicians for statistics 'proving' they have immigration under control. The cultivation of a crop of 'low-hanging fruit' made up of vulnerable migrants refused a degree of consideration for their position (which they would have had under previous dispensations), would certainly assist any administration looking for low-cost ways of meeting ministerial demands for more removals. In the light of these developments the MRN is writing to MPs involved in immigration matters, to ask for closer scrutiny of the quality of UKBA decisions as the five year strategy continues to roll out. We will report developments in future editions of the MRN Newsletter. www.friendsofamdani.wordpress.com
Equalities organisations the Runnymede Trust and the Equality and Diversity Forum have this month launched further criticism of the Home Office Green Paper 'The Path to Citizenship'. 'The Path to Citizenship' outlines a new immigration status called 'probationary citizenship' - a temporary status for migrants whilst they 'earn' the right to full British citizenship. An MRN Briefing Paper released in March 2008 set out our concerns about the implications of the Green Paper's proposals. It recorded worries about policies that would place migrant communities under even greater scrutiny and surveillance and which aimed to extract a "more substantial contribution" from their employment and tax contributions. The submissions of the Runnymede Trust and the Equality and Diversity Forum, made in May 2008, make strong criticism in their assessments of 'The Path to Citizenship'. Both organisations note the fact that no equality impact assessment was carried out before the drafting of the Green Paper, and express fears that, as a result, the proposals would lead to direct and/or indirect discrimination on a wide range of grounds if they were implemented. MRN hopes the Home Office will respond adequately to the raft of informed criticisms from the NGO sector, by amending its proposals relating to citizenship in the UK in the upcoming Citizenship, Immigration and Borders Bill. www.runnymedetrust.org/uploads/policyResponses/PathToCitizenship.pdf
(3) Refused Asylum Seekers granted Access to Healthcare in the UK A High Court judicial review concluding on 17th April 2008 has found that refused asylum seekers may be found to be 'ordinarily resident' and therefore may be entitled to free NHS hospital treatment in the UK. The case was brought by a failed asylum seeker from the Palestinian territories who could not safely return home. He sought treatment for chronic liver disease at the West Midlands University Hospital, which was denied on the basis of his immigration status. Since 2004 it has not been possible for most failed asylum seekers and undocumented migrants to seek free secondary (hospital) healthcare treatment, although free primary healthcare may be sought at the discretion of GPs. The West Midlands University Hospital is one of three health Trusts in England currently trialling the 'Stabilise and Discharge' system for those without entitlement to free NHS secondary care. Under this system, those who enter the hospital are given minimum treatment in order to ensure that their condition is stable. However, if they cannot make an advance payment for further treatment, they are discharged within 48 hours. Although the Department of Health in England is reportedly appealing Justice Mitting's decision, the public Welsh Assembly Health Minister, Edwina Hart, has publically expressed the support of the Welsh DoH for the ruling. Access to healthcare for refused asylum seekers and other undocumented migrants is a contentious area in the UK, highlighted recently by the tragic case of Ama Sumani. Ms Sumani, a Ghanaian national, was removed from the UK during her treatment for cancer, in January 2008, due to expiry of her visa. She died within two months of arriving back in Ghana because of not being able to receive the treatment she needed. (4) The European Immigration Pact The French government is pushing for a controversial 'European Immigration Pact' to be agreed during its presidency of the European Union, from July to December 2008. According to French Immigration Minister Brice Hortefeux, the planned Pact would rest on three pillars, applicable across EU member states: " The refusal
of 'en masse' regularisations, Whilst development of harmonised EU asylum policy and rules on the return of undocumented migrants has been in progress since the Finnish presidency in 1999, the debate on regularisation is more recent. (a) Refusal of 'en masse' Regularisations Discussion of a ban on 'en masse' regularisations has recently emerged, following the large-scale programme undertaken by the Spanish government in 2005 which led to residency documents being granted to around 700,000 of the 1,350,000 irregular migrants in the country. Other European governments, led by France, Germany and the Netherlands, then criticised Spain for having created a 'call effect' i.e. inviting further waves of irregular migrants with the expectation that they too would be regularised in the future. This criticism was supported by the fact that the undocumented migrant population of Spain was, just a year after the regularisation, again estimated to be in the region of almost one million people. Whilst this represented a sizeable reduction overall, it still suggests that regularisation programmes do not in themselves 'solve' irregular migration. The concerns of the other European governments about the Spanish 2005 regularisation were taken up by the then EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner, Franco Frattini. As a consequence, a Council Decision was taken in October 2006 requiring member states to communicate changes in their immigration policies which were likely to have an effect on other EU countries to the Commission. The intention to regularise irregular migrants was seen as one such action which would need to be communicated to the EU. The intention to push for a concrete ban on regularisation was first aired at the summit meeting between President Sarkozy of France and Premier Gordon Brown at the Arsenal football stadium in March this year. It is not known whether the proposal arose from analysis of data received under the 'mutual information mechanism' arrangement. Regardless, it seems that the intention is strongly supported by at least some heads of government and state amongst EU members, despite the fact that details of what is planned remain scant. What has plainly emerged from the mutual information mechanism is the absence of agreement as to what constitutes 'en masse regularisation policies'. EU complaints have been already issued against five countries for infringement of the reporting obligations on regularisation initiatives. The national authorities concerned in turn claimed that they had not understood the initiatives to be the type of policies they were obliged to report to the EU. In terms of the impact on the UK, it is unclear whether recent measures adopted in the UK would be deemed unlawful regularisations under the Pact. For example, the 2003 'one-off exercise' which allowed qualifying asylum-seeking families to remain in the UK is one example of a measure which might be ruled out by a ban. The current casework resolution project, addressing the position of over 300,000 unresolved asylum applications, could also be judged to contain elements of a mass regularisation programme. Across Europe, the resort to regularisation initiatives has been a pragmatic measure taken by governments, aimed at preserving the integrity of their immigration management systems. Before regularisation is banned outright, European policy-makers should be required to answer some stiff questions about how their policies can retain the necessary level of flexibility and discretion which would allow them to address real-life situations, rather than the wishful thinking of populist politicians. There is a danger that the EU Commission and Parliament will be bulldozed into poorly thought-out proposals which restrict national policy options in the future. Speedier progress is being made on the third pillar of the European Immigration Pact, dealing with proposals for a directive on common standards and procedures for returning 'illegally staying' third-country nationals. The draft Returns Directive was published at the beginning of June and will now proceed to discussion and debate in the European Parliament on 17th June. The draft Directive calls for 'clear, transparent and fair rules', applicable to 'all third-country nationals who do not or who no longer fulfil the conditions for stay or entry' in a member state. 'Coercive measures' to enforce return will include the organisation of joint flights between two or more member states. Detention would be permitted as a part of the enforcement process, 'if the application of less coercive measures would not be sufficient'. In such cases, detention would be permitted for up to 18 months - exceeding existing timeframes of most EU member states. Forced expulsion would entail a ban on re-entry to the entire territory of the EU, and not just the state responsible for the expulsion order. The duration of such a ban 'should not normally exceed five years', but could be extended if the individual had already been the subject of a removal order. Although the proposal agrees that return measures should be considered 'on a case-by-case' basis (at least offering some protection against the mass expulsion of migrants), the text of the proposed directive has generated extreme concern. The UK anti-detention campaign, the Barbed Wire Britain Network (BWBN) is supporting the initiative of the French immigration rights organisation, Cimade, by launching a European-wide action against what it has called 'the outrageous directive'. The BWBN has called for people concerned with the proposal to write to members of the European Parliament, request their opposition of the measure. They are also planning a public demonstration to take place outside the London office of the European Commission, at 8 Storey's Gate, SW1P 3AT, on Monday 16th June at 12 noon. For further information contact the secretary of the BWBN, Bill MacKeith, at bmackeith@btinternet.com. (a) Swiss reject tougher citizenship practices As the debate on determining citizenship continues in the UK, Switzerland - notorious for its tough path to citizenship - has rejected a bid to toughen up citizenship applications further. On 31st May, a convincing majority (64%) of Swiss voters convincingly voted against the reintroduction of secret ballot votes among resident local populations to determine the success of citizenship applications. The proposal would also have prohibited appeals in the application process. Switzerland has a high foreign-born population - over 20% of the total population. Migrants are currently required to live for 12 years in Switzerland before attaining citizenship, and only then after passing stringent language and culture tests. (b) International violence against migrants The scapegoating of immigrants for wider social problems has been a cornerstone of the anti-immigrant lobby in the UK and across the world. Tragically, hostility towards immigrants has recently resulted in outbreaks of violent action in Italy and in South Africa Italy On 13th and 14th May, vigilante mobs stormed and burnt Roma settlements around Naples, in an echo of the anti-foreigner outcry which followed the alleged murder of an Italian woman in November 2007 by a Romanian Roma man. Emergency legislation, immediately introduced by the out-going Prodi administration, enabled local authorities to expel EU citizens considered to pose a threat to national security in Italy. It was reported that thousands of Romanians were immediately deported from Italy, despite EU directives which prohibit removal of EU citizens without adequate justification. The new Italian government under right-wing prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has continued to take a hard-line attitude towards Eastern European and non-EEA immigrants. In the wake of the recent eruption of public violence, the Italian Council of Ministers has approved tough plans to crack down on migrants living in Italy. Among Berlusconi's proposed package of controls, presented to his cabinet on 21st May, is the reclassification of illegal immigration as a criminal office, potentially punishable by jail sentence. Italy's Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, is reportedly considering a limitation of the freedom of movement within the EU - one of its key principles as established in the 1958 Treaty of Rome. South Africa
Mob mayhem, including beatings, lootings, rape and murder, spread across the city - the economic hub of the African continent - and the surrounding Gauteng region. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in South Africa reports that 56 people have been killed in the mob rampage, and over 35,000 people have abandoned their homes, many to seek refuge in police stations, churches and municipal buildings. The attacks appear to have been driven by a belief that it is the immigrants in South Africa who are responsible for the country's high levels of unemployment and crime. Zimbabweans, 3 million of whom who have moved to South Africa to escape the economic crisis and violence that continues to mar the country under Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, have been a key target. Nationals from countries including Malawi, Somali and Mozambique have also been attacked by mobs. Refugee camps are being set up as an interim measure to help those affected, but social tensions remain unresolved. (6)
Free Medact Maternity Access and Advocacy Packs available! (7) Recent Publications and Research - 'Supporting the Employment Rights of Migrant Workers - Policy Issues and Community Activity' (MRN/Oxfam, June 2008). Report and conclusions from the joint MRN/Oxfam workshop on supporting migrant worker rights. www.migrantsrights.org.uk " "Supporting the Employment Rights of Migrant Workers - Policy Issues and Community Activity' (MRN/Oxfam, June 2008). Report and conclusions from the joint MRN/Oxfam workshop on supporting migrant worker rights. www.migrantsrights.org.uk/files/workshop/migrantworkers.pdf - 'The Independent Asylum Commission First Report of Conclusions and Recommendations: Saving Sanctuary' (Independent Asylum Commission, May 2008). Saving Sanctuary follows on from the Commission's Interim Findings report in April 2008, reporting that there is 'grave misunderstanding in the public mind about the term 'asylum'' and a lack of support for provision of sanctuary which must be addressed. www.independentasylumcommission.org.uk/ - 'Health
Tourism, Myth or Reality?' (Medecins du Monde, May 2008). The
2nd year report of the Medecins du Monde project indicates scant
evidence of 'health tourism', frequently trumpeted as a key motivation
for immigration to the UK. - 'Future
Flows' (Centre for Economics and Business Research, March 2008).
This report predicts that a record number of highly skilled migrants
will enter the UK over the next 4 years, including a rise in related
income generated from £36bn to £46bn in 2012. - 'The State of the World's Human Rights: Annual Report 2008' (Amnesty International, May 2008). AI reports that 18 EU countries, including the UK, continue to be responsible for human rights abuses of asylum-seekers, refugees and migrants. http://thereport.amnesty.org/ - 'Employment
and Working Conditions of Migrant Workers' (European Foundation
for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, May 2008).
A comparative mapping of migrant employment across the EU. - 'Getting
On' (Immigrant Council of Ireland Independent Law Centre, May
2008) A study documenting the experiences and integration of Chinese,
Indian, Lithuanian and Nigerian communities living in Ireland. 'Understanding Public Perceptions of labour migration in Europe' (Policy Network, May 2008). Two research papers published and presented at a Policy Network Seminar: www.progressive-governance.net - 'Making Migration Work: the Role of Employers in Migrant Integration' (European Policy Centre). The EPC presents a strong argument that employers can be crucial players in the wider integration of migrant workers.http://www.epc.eu/TEWN/pdf/608394341_EPC%20Working%20Paper%2030%20Making%20migration%20work.pdf - 'Hard Work, Hidden Lives' (Trades Union Congress Commission on Vulnerable Employment). COVE highlights the precarious position of vulnerable workers in the UK, identifying the critical role of unions, employers and civil society in addressing exploitation and insecure employment. http://www.vulnerableworkers.org.uk/files/CoVE_full_report.pdf - 'Take Action to end Asylum Destitution' (Church Action on Poverty/Positive Action in Housing, May 2008). An accessible guide to action against the destitution of refused asylum-seekers. www.church-poverty.org.uk/resources/action/destitution1.pdf/ - 'More Responsive Public Services: A Guide to commissioning migrant and refugee organisations' (Housing Associations' Charitable Trust & Joseph Rowntree Foundation). A guide for commissioners, MRCOs and the bodies that support them, to deliver services that meet the needs of refugees and new migrants, and promoting the role of MRCOs www.jrf.org.uk/bookshop/details.asp?pubID=941 (8)
Upcoming Events and Initiatives The funding stream builds on the trust's existing work promoting 'Habits of Solidarity' that encourage people from different backgrounds to work together in order to tackle mutual problems. It will reinforce the Trust's strategy of funding small local projects while contributing to national debates on key social policy issues. Sukhvinder Kaur-Stubbs, Chief Executive of the Barrow Cadbury Trust says: "Some of the poorest parts of Britain are also the most ethnically diverse. As a charitable foundation, we need to help local communities join forces to tackle poverty and inequality, rather than compete over limited resources. We will target local groups that bring communities together around common causes, in order to provide positive examples of what can be achieved when people move beyond cultural, religious or ethnic preconceptions." Please visit the Barrow Cadbury Trust website for full details: www.barrowcadbury.org.uk. - ' 2nd
Class Migrants: Are Progressives failing Migrants?', Compass Annual
Conference Seminar, 14th June 2008 www.compassonline.org.uk - MRN
Sponsored Walk for PICUM, London, 5th July 2008 The walk will take place on Saturday 5th July 2008 and will take us from Greenwich to the London Eye, along the River Thames. It promises to be an enjoyable and worthwhile event, so please come and join us, and bring friends and family! More details can be found on the MRN website, including a downloadable registration form. If you'd like to come along, please contact Cristina (c.andreatta@migrantsrights.org.uk) by the 20th June. - Terence
Higgins Trust Training Courses, June - July 2008 - The RED
ROOM & TUC present UNSTATED, July 2008 Ruth Grove-White ^
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