Category: Status Now call updates

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We call for an inquest into Harvey Wittika’s death

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3 September 2021: StatusNow4All: We call for an inquest into Harvey Wittika’s death

This call was made at the demonstration outside Holyrood on 2 September 2021:

The death of Harvey Wittika, aged 37, who died after falling from the second floor of his flat building in Glasgow calls for a thorough investigation. 

It is reported that Wittika, a Malawian national, moved to Glasgow after the Home Office refused to renew his application to stay in the UK. At the time of his death, Wittika had lived in the UK for 16 years. 

The details of his death are scanty but the British Government’s ‘hostile environment’ has to be in this frame: we suspect an act of suicide that was caused by his suffering at the hands of the government department in charge of immigration control – the Home Office. 

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There’s No Turning Back

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9 September 2021: Solidarity in action – is the solution to dissolve the racist xenophobia[1] underpinning all, including the latest, refugee-rejection manoeuvre by the UK Government[2]: this time declaring that they will command workers to turn back boats carrying refugee people; it’s always, and only, about dividing – and thereby ruling – everyone on this side of the English Channel. 

Claudia Webbe MP, at the forefront of Early Day Motions[3] that call for Status Now 4 All describes this latest move as “Abhorrent”, going on to explain:

“This is yet another example of the Conservatives putting their political agenda – of the ‘hostile environment’ and stoking up division – ahead of human life and decency.

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Living Precariously or Health and Safety for All – a call for Indefinite Leave to Remain now

29 August 2021: StatusNow4All: Living Precariously or Health and Safety for All – a call for Indefinite Leave to Remain now

The asylum system is broken: there is a backlog of around 70,000 asylum applications which the newly arriving current Afghan applicants are expected to join. On 16 August 2021 the Home Office suspended its decision-making processes relating to asylum applications made by people from Afghanistan by withdrawing that country’s policy and guidance.  It is a gross miscarriage of natural justice to suspend legal process for those waiting for decisions or appeal hearings or in detention when a simple decision could immediately be put into effect – a grant of Indefinite Leave to Remain. 

This is why StatusNow4All calls for ALL those who do not have settled status to be given Leave to Remain. It is imperative for the Government to exercise its authority immediately by granting Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) and the right of access to Family Reunion as a matter of urgency to all people from Afghanistan who are currently in the UK. With political will, this can be done: nothing less than ILR will give people equitable access to healthcare, housing and food. 

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Why are European countries fixated on deporting Afghan nationals?

20 August 2021: StatusNow4All: Europe has deported 71,065 people back to Afghanistan since 2009

The UK figure is the highest: 15,755 people between 2008 and 2020

Have European nations ever valued the lives of the Afghans that sought sanctuary on its soil?  Their actions tell us ‘No’. Very many injustices and ill-treatment are being endured by Afghan people alongside many others in the UK asylum system, as most harrowingly demonstrated in the death on Wednesday of a five-year-old Mohammed in Sheffield.

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We Need Practical Resources that Enable Positive Acts of Compassion with Everyone who Needs Them

“The support that is being offered to Afghans highlights the lack of help and resource being given to people fleeing similar threat and oppression elsewhere.”
Sir Peter Soulsby, City Mayor for Leicester

The plight of the Afghan people who are now fleeing from their homes is prompting positive and compassionate responses from a wide range of bodies and groupings across the UK. Councils such as Abergavenny, and conurbations such as Greater Manchester and Liverpool are receiving some additional monies via the Home Office to house people. However, as Sir Peter Soulsby, City Mayor for Leicester, an organisational signatory to the Status Now Network has observed to us this morning:

“As we have always done, Leicester will welcome those seeking refuge from conflict and oppression. We will be taking the opportunity to participate in the resettlement scheme announced today as a response to the truly awful situation in Afghanistan. We expect that resources will be provided to local councils so that we can provide and co-ordinate the support that will be needed. Leicester will proudly offer sanctuary and a new home to Afghans fleeing the Taliban. The support that is being offered to Afghans highlights the lack of help and resource being given to people fleeing similar threat and oppression elsewhere. These people too are welcome in Leicester and deserve better from the government.“

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Status Now Newsletter August 2021

On the 19th of July, Status Now Network joined the Voice of Immigrants UK for a peaceful demonstration outside 10 Downing Street to call for the regularisation of all undocumented migrants living in the UK. The demonstration coincided with the debate inside Parliament on the petition signed by 103, 440. In solidarity with the Voice of Immigrants UK, Status Now Network parallel demonstrations in Manchester and Coventry. You can watch the simultaneous rallies on our Facebook page here.

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Shoulder to shoulder – everywhere – until deportations stop and statusnow4all starts

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This Network stands shoulder to shoulder with all those committed to ending the Home Office’s plans to deport anyone, to any country.

Like many other big businesses whose profits have increased during COVID, the travel company contracted by the Home Office to operate several of this summer’s flights, TUI, is making a killing – in more ways than one (See Corporate Watch’s depth analysis on TUI published in January of this year).

When signatory organisation Southeast and East Asian Centre (SEEAC) alerted us in April to a flight that targeted people from Vietnam, it was just days after the Home Office had been exposed – yet again – for breaching its own deportation rules.

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I am a Londoner 20 July 2021 – keep the date free

Watch the recording of the event here: https://fb.watch/6SYzEynBHj/

The Festival of Ideas will explore our individual and collective visions and plans for strong communities in London.

About this event

Many Londoners are undocumented but rarely have the opportunity to share their experiences. This event will feature art, music, and poetry by people who are undocumented and living in London, reflecting on their experiences and sharing their hope and dreams. You will also have the chance to hear from several Londoners who are undocumented for an in-depth live moderated conversation during the session.

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MPs call for Status Now for Migrants: Simultaneous Rallies throughout England

StatusNow4All press release.

Updated 19 July 2021: Claudia Webbe, Member of Parliament for Leicester East, will today call for Status Now for all undocumented migrants.

On the evening of 19th July 2021 Parliament’s Westminster Hall will debate a petition of 103,440 signatures that calls for the urgent regularisation of undocumented migrants with a safe pathway to citizenship after five years. A demonstration is planned outside of Downing Street to coincide with the debate and amplify the calls for justice for all undocumented migrants.

Ms Webbe has been leading a parliamentary campaign for a secure immigration status for all undocumented migrants. The Member of Parliament for Leicester East tabled the ground-breaking EDM 658 that called for Indefinite Leave to Remain for the first time in the history of the British Parliament. This was followed in February 2021 with EDM 1442 to reinforce this need.

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Rising Calls for Health and Safety 4 ALL

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19th July 2021: PRESS RELEASE: Rising Calls for Health and Safety 4 ALL
Debate in Parliament today coincides with simultaneous demonstrations

“As a health worker, I must be enabled to do my job to the best of my ability, not be confronted with this abuse and distress and trauma and expected to keep on working, keep on raising my children safety, while my man is threatened with this great danger”. Front Line Nurse, Daisy Motlogwa

“It is incredible that we let unknown numbers of people languish without documentation, forced into the “unofficial” economy or worse. People who can work, want to work and pay taxes should be brought into the mainstream.” Tony Lloyd MP for Rochdale

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Status Now newsletter June 2021

The theme of this year’s Refugee Week is ‘We cannot walk alone” which is absolutely right in so many ways. StatusNow4All campaigners welcome new organisations because we are stronger when we work together, and we welcome the amazing energy that individual organisations have for pushing for changes in the way that people who have no settled status are written and talked about..

Status Now Network’s campaign is gaining traction. Organisations continue to join – most recently, we welcome the Scotland contingent representing East and Southeast Asian communities in Scotland. 

We are winning: we will render the hostile environment friendly, and we ask you to continue supporting our actions until we achieve our goal: Indefinite Leave to Remain for all undocumented migrants and those in the legal process. 

Join StatusNow4All!
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Status Now 4 All salutes the courage of the Napier Barrack residents

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In response to day’s article in the Guardian: Asylum seekers in Napier barracks ‘face blacklist threat for speaking out’: Residents in the Home Office facility claim they have been told their applications will be ‘impaired’ if they talk to the media

Through our network Status Now knows that people have been threatened with this kind of implicit and explicit bullying and harassment for years: the idea that you will cease to be political as an unwritten condition of claiming asylum is a fundamental violation of our right to be human. Status Now 4 All salutes the courage of the Napier Barrack residents who, like so many others who are rising and organising to end the Hostile Environment and realise their safety and that of their families, demonstrate the truth that it is necessary to create solidarity and confront the bully – whoever they are. ENDS

Read a series of reports here: https://statusnow4all.org/concerns-about-the-use-of-army-barracks/

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Status Now Newsletter May 2021

Status Now Network‘s campaign is gaining traction. Organisations continue to join – most recently, we welcome Right to Remain – and our campaign now includes organisations and groups representing faith communities, migration academics, public service workers, activists in Northern Ireland, and community organisations in Scotland. 

We are winning: we will render the hostile environment friendly, and we ask you to continue supporting our actions until we achieve our goal: Indefinite Leave to Remain for all undocumented migrants and those in the legal process. 

Join StatusNow4All! Successful Status Now 4 All Summit last March. 

Status Now 4 All offered analysis and updates to signatories and their friends and supporters of the campaign for the UK Government to grant Indefinite Leave to Remain to all undocumented migrants and those in the legal process living in the UK and the Republic of Ireland

Status Now has Regional Working Groups based in London, The Midlands and the North West, a National Working Group developing in Scotland and  several Thematic Working Groups about housing, public health, workers’ rights and protection, and Faith (READ Status Now Network’s Faith Communities Calling Card explaining our call for Indefinite Leave to Remain here).

These Working Groups are composed of representatives from signatory organisations, and all groups are driven by the needs and visions of migrants with lived experience both within and outside of the immigration system

Visit the Status Now 4 all website to join us and become part of the campaign for #StatusNow4All.

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Everyone should have access to the vaccine but this reported Vaccine ‘Amnesty’ Declaration is a Trap and Won’t Work

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8 February 2021:  STOP PRESS: Everyone should have access to the vaccine but this reported Vaccine ‘Amnesty’ Declaration is a Trap and Won’t Work 

#healthandsafety4all  

  • The virus cannot be effectively tackled and people cannot be kept safe until everyone currently in the UK has equal access to housing, healthcare, food, and any vaccine, and therefore equal status 
  • Addressing the question of people’s Status in the UK is the primary need 
  • Many people who are undocumented believe that they will be reported to the immigration authorities and/or subjected to the Hostile Environment if they come forward, and therefore this policy is doomed to failure  
  • Once Government commits to Status Now 4 All, everyone currently undocumented is going to be able to come forward  
  • This is the right time for a full regularisation – if not now – when?
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