October 2021 - Status Now 4 All

October 26, 2021October 26, 2021

The Status Now Network(SNN) is looking for a Network Development Coordinator: Application Deadline 5pm on Friday 19th November 2021

Status Now Network (SNN), a coalition of almost 140 migrant and refugee solidarity organisations, has a vacancy for the post of Network Development Coordinator.

SNN is campaigning across the UK for the regularisation and Indefinite Leave to Remain of migrants and refugees who currently have a precarious residence status. It is migrant and refugee-led and works through public education and participatory action research projects which aim to establish precarious migrant residence status – as an access to human rights and social justice issue – across the areas of housing, employment, health, family welfare and race equality.

The NDC post will be central to the SNNs work in the coming period as it makes its transition from a bottom-up alignment of concerned groups into a focused and efficient campaign body with the potential to make an impact on government policy.

The post will initially be a 3 day a week position with potential for becoming full-time in the near future. Much of the organising work will be online so location in the UK is flexible.

For further information, job description and person specification email admin@statusnownetwork.org.uk

The deadline for our receipt of your application is: 5pm on Friday 19th November 2021 and interviews will take place within three weeks of that date for a start in early 2022.

October 25, 2021October 25, 2021

Concerns about the use of army barracks, hotels etc.

This post is being updated with reports of atrocities around the army camp accommodation and hotels, and other Home Office plans to accommodate people in new sites:

Updated 25 October 2021: Guardian: Asylum accommodation deaths ‘twice as high’ as Home Office admitted

Government accused of downplaying toll after information requests reveal discrepancies

“The steep rise in deaths coincides with the Home Office decision in 2020 to push thousands of asylum seekers into hotels. “

October 25, 2021October 25, 2021

Barriers to Wellbeing

Updated 25 October 2021: Guardian: Asylum accommodation deaths ‘twice as high’ as Home Office admitted

Government accused of downplaying toll after information requests reveal discrepancies

Ninety-five people have died in asylum accommodation since April 2016, almost double the figure recently admitted by the government, raising suspicions the Home Office has deliberately downplayed the death toll.

And the data reveals that in the past two years there has been a particularly sharp increase in the number of deaths of those housed under asylum support provisions, such as in hotels.

Deaths leapt from four in 2019 to 36 in 2020 – a ninefold increase – with a further 33 people in the first eight months of 2021, bringing total deaths since the start of 2020 to 69 people, according to freedom of information (FoI) requests by the investigative journalism organisation, Liberty Investigates.

Dr Sabir Zazai, chief executive of the Scottish Refugee Council, called the figures “devastating” and urged an independent inquiry to establish why so many people in the state’s care were dying.

As recently as three months ago the Home Office said 51 people had died in its asylum accommodation, following FoI requests made by the Scottish Refugee Council (SRC). The new, much higher number has shocked experts and raised questions over the significant discrepancy in death tolls.

October 23, 2021October 23, 2021

Migration and COP26

October 23, 2021October 23, 2021

Start with Hope, Change will follow

***Click here on our events category for more events coming up***

Start with Hope, change will follow: https://www.goodchance.org.uk/stories/2021/10/4/little-amals-uk-plans-revelead

Updated 23 October 2021: In London today (see below). Tomorrow is Little Amal’s 10th birthday:

11:00 & 13:00 Victoria & Albert Museum Little Amal will attend a birthday party for young friends, including cake made by Yotam Ottolenghi! Book a free museum entry ticket for 11.00 or 13.00 to join her here

16:00 Trafalgar Square All of London are invited to join Boy Blue for this spectacular celebration of Amal, dance and hip hop in the iconic setting of Trafalgar Square. Expect high energy performance, an appearance from the birthday girl and some surprises along the way.

19:00 The Roundhouse, Camden: A one-off concert full of surprises and an extraordinary line-up will finish Amal’s birthday in epic style! Tickets available for purchase now here

Updated 22 October 2021: Big day tomorrow in London:

10:00 St Paul’s Cathedral Amal arrives weary at St Paul’s Cathedral in the heart of the London. The Great West Doors, the ceremonial doors of the Cathedral, will open wide allowing children from across London, members of St Paul’s community and other faith leaders to welcome Amal to the Cathedral. An unforgettable performance combining spoken word and music, directed by Phyllida Lloyd will then unfold around Amal! This event will be held outside the Cathedral and is open to all to attend.
13:00 The Globe Theatre Watch as Little Amal meets the company of Twelfth Night in this iconic performance space
16:00 The Southbank Centre Little Amal will attend Welcome Wishes, a special event in the London Literature Festival. Join her for interactive storytelling, aimed at spreading the message of global community and friendship contained in Swallow’s Kiss – a new novel written by Sita Brahmachari and illustrated by Jane Ray.
17:45 National Theatre Singer-songwriter Juliana Yazbeck will perform a welcoming solo that will lead into the choir performing ‘I Am My Own Way Home’ from Pericles. Watch this performance on the Terraces from below with Little Amal.
19:00 Somerset House Follow Little Amal into the beautiful courtyard, and form an audience for an original contemporary dance piece. Choreographed by Ruby Portus, this troupe is composed of the National Youth Dance Co and the Sadlers Wells Company of Elders, dancing to live music from Baque Luar.

October 21, 2021October 24, 2021

Reckless ‘New Plan for Immigration’

We will collate reports of the Nationality & Borders Bill which has come out of the recent ‘New Plan for Immigration’; and reports related to Home Office practice.

Updated 23 October 2021: Manchester demonstration: see here for live video of this event:

https://www.facebook.com/630115030/videos/882575832393386/ and

October 20, 2021October 20, 2021

Is personal data of those seeking access to NHS services shared with immigration enforcement authorities.

Updated 20 October 2021: The Information Commissioners Office has commented recently about The Data Sharing Code of Practice, which is a statutory code made under section 121 of the Data Protection Act 2018 that was first published by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in December 2020 and came into force on 5 October 2021 saying that “data sharing must engender trust in how personal data is used in order to drive innovation, economic growth and the delivery of more efficient and targeted services.

In the ICO’s view, data sharing will be central to the United Kingdom’s recovery from the covid-19 pandemic.”

Status Now notes that the absence of firewall between health and immigration data and the Government’s drive to implement its ‘status checking’ project undermines any potential for engendering trust.

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-sharing-information-hub/

October 12, 2021October 12, 2021

Event: Coventry on 20 October 2021: Oppose the Nationality and Borders Bill: No to hostile environment

Event in Coventry: Oppose the Nationality and Borders Bill: No to hostile environment Wednesday 20 October 2021, 13:30-14:30 Broadgate, Coventry, CV1 1, United Kingdom: Please join StatusNow signatory organisation CARAG – Coventry Asylum and Refugee Action Group and other Coventry local groups as we continue to oppose the anti-Refugee Bill. We will also remember Henok.

The Tories planned Nationalities and Borders Bill will make the mere act of seeking asylum illegal, contrary to the UN Convention on Refugees and Human Rights Acts. We say Refugees Welcome Here, No One Is Illegal! Come and join us to show your support for the right to asylum.

October 12, 2021October 12, 2021

Zoom event 20 Oct 2021: Homegrown slavery at the intersection of migration and labour laws

From StatusNow signatory organisation Migrants At Work Ltd.

This is the link to the Eventbrite page: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/labour-migration-control-homegrown-slavery-prevention-tickets-189149229437

You can download the pdf here:

0-9815092477_20211012_100829_0000 Download

October 11, 2021October 11, 2021

This system is very cruel

11 October 2021: BBC: Are asylum suicides an unfolding national tragedy?

After fleeing his native Eritrea as a child and living for years as a refugee, Henok Zaid Gebrsslasie hoped to make a life for himself in the UK. Aged 23, he was found dead at a mental health facility in Coventry, West Midlands, and is thought to have taken his own life. His death is one of a growing number among young asylum seekers which a charity said could just be the “tip of the iceberg”.

October 11, 2021October 11, 2021

Border Violence and Private Profit with These Walls Must Fall

Event: On Thursday 14th October 2021 Register Now People & Planet is hosting a free online workshop with These Walls Must Fall about the companies that profit from UK immigration enforcement government contracts, many of which UK universities are also invested in. These Walls Must Fall campaigners will speak from personal experience about private companies’ behaviour in immigration detention, deportations and asylum housing.

The workshop is for students who want to action and start a Divest Borders campaign to get their universities to divest from the border industry – but it’s also open to all.

https://one.peopleandplanet.org/civicrm/event/info

October 5, 2021October 5, 2021

Ethical of reporting of the Afghan crisis, asylum and refugees

Organised by the national office of the National Union of Journalists [NUJ] Ethics Council – Ethical of reporting of the Afghan crisis, asylum and refugees: the NUJ ethics council would like to invite you to an online public meeting this Thursday 7 October starting at 17.00.The event is focused on the ethics of reporting on the Afghan crisis, asylum and refugees. Speakers include –

Farhad Mohammadi – BBC journalist in Kabul and now in the UK
Michelle Stanistreet – NUJ general secretary
Daniel Trilling – journalist and author
Jeremy Dear – IFJ deputy general secretary
Chris Frost – chair of the NUJ ethics council

To details of how to attend on the night, please contact the Manchester Branch of NUJ who are StatusNow signatories: NUJManchester@nuj.org.uk

October 5, 2021October 5, 2021

Intervention by the Courts

Updated 5 October 2021: Guardian: UK asylum seekers in hotels should have been given money for phone calls, judge rules and here: https://statusnow4all.org/concerns-about-the-use-of-army-barracks/

Thanks to No Deportations – Residence Papers for All: Return of Ouster Clause in Nationality and Borders Bill

Once again, this time in the Nationality and Borders Bill, the Home Office seeks to oust the jurisdiction of Senior Courts from considering an appeal from a first-instance immigration tribunal decision. Its last substantial attempt to do so was the ouster clause it sought unsuccessfully to introduce to the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill in the 2003-2004 session of Parliament. At that time, it sought to oust statutory appeals and also the jurisdiction of the High Court on Judicial Review.

This time the effort is focused on solely on statutory appeals and is an attempt to exclude appeals to the Court of Appeal. It is still wrong. A first instance tribunal decision on a question of international protection or human rights, involving compliance with international treaty obligations, ought to be capable of appeal, as part of the standard procedure in the UK constitutional order for the rule of law. The Home Office gains nothing by this latest effort. Instead, the rule of law is damaged and the High Court is left to supervise the resulting delinquency if and when it entertains a judicial review against an immigration appeal decision impugned. To understand what is going on, one needs to look at the provision for priority removal notices in the Nationality and Borders Bill.