Minister Robert Jenrick ordered painting over of child asylum unit murals

7 July 2023: **Disgraceful!** BBC: Minister Robert Jenrick ordered painting over of child asylum unit murals

Murals of Mickey Mouse and other cartoon characters designed to welcome child asylum seekers to a reception centre in Dover have been painted over, by order of the immigration minister.

Robert Jenrick instructed that they be removed, reportedly because he believed they sent too welcoming a message.

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Exporting people seeking asylum – Rwanda

Updated 1 July 2023: BBC: Rwanda asylum a risk to UK foreign policy, says ex-minister

The government’s deal to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda risks “downgrading” UK foreign policy, a former cabinet minister has said.

A final report by a United Nations Group of Experts, published earlier this month, concluded that the Rwandans were supporting the M23 rebel group which is active in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and is subject to UN and US sanctions.

Justine Greening withdrew £21m in aid funding to the country in 2012 when she was international development secretary after the United Nations first reported that the Rwandans were helping the M23 rebels.

While the US and EU have directly told the Rwandan government to cease its support for M23, a UK regional envoy released a more general statement condemning “external” support for rebels without naming Rwanda.

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Modern Slavery and Trafficking

26 June 2023: Relief Web: Number of People Living in Modern Slavery Has Grown Since 2018

The Global Slavery Index reveals the number of people living in modern slavery has grown since 2018 against a backdrop of increasing and more complex conflicts, widespread environmental degradation, climate-induced migration, a global rollback of women’s rights, and the economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The latest Global Slavery Index, produced by human rights group Walk Free, reveals the 10 countries with the highest prevalence of modern slavery are North Korea, Eritrea, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Afghanistan, and Kuwait.

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Horrific levels of violence and racism among immigration staff as suspensions double

Mirror: EXCLUSIVE:  Horrific levels of violence and racism among immigration staff as suspensions double

Exclusive figures obtained by the Sunday Mirror have shown a sharp rise in the number of immigration staff who are being investigated, suspended and losing their jobs.

The number of immigration custody staff suspended last year doubled, an investigation by the Sunday Mirror and Liberty investigates has found.

One officer repeatedly kneed a detainee in the head and told a concerned colleague “there are no cameras”, according to a staff report.

Another allegedly used “unlawful” force by kicking a self-harming 14-year-old boy who had crossed the channel from France.

Documents from disciplinary cases obtained by FOI reveal a sharp rise in the number of staff investigated over whether they were “fit and proper” to detain and deport migrants, including vulnerable asylum seekers.

They show 102 staff were suspended between January 2020 and mid-February 2023 – including 49 last year and seven in the first six weeks of 2023.

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Paul O’Connor Senior National Officer writes about the PCS Campaign 

PCS are a supporter of the Status Now Network. Here Paul O’Connor Senior National Officer writes about the PCS Campaign 

Pushbacks

In autumn 2021, PCS was approached by members and representatives in our Home Office South-East England branch who had been asked by the then Home Secretary Priti Patel to carry out a dangerous pushbacks manoeuvre on small boats crossing the English Channel.  Our members were clear that they were completely opposed to the policy. They considered it unlawful, morally reprehensible and utterly inhumane.

On the back of that approach, alongside Care4Calais and Channel Rescue, PCS launched a legal challenge against the policy via judicial review.  The impact of this coalition should not be underestimated – here we had an organisation representing workers tasked with carrying out a policy; standing shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with organisations representing those affected by the policy – a clear indication of the level of inhumanity that the government is attempting to inflict on refugees. 

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Some Refugee Week events 2023

Refugee Week 2023: 19-25:

Read more here: https://refugeeweek.org.uk/events


19 June 2023 6-8pm London: Migrant Voice: London film screening: “MATAR” and “AYMAN”

 Migrant Voice - London film screening: "MATAR" and "AYMAN"

To mark Refugee Week, Migrant Voice and the University of Westminster are hosting an evening of award-winning film and discussion on 19 June at the University’s Regent Street campus. We will screen two powerful short films, MATAR and AYMAN, followed by a panel discussion and Q&A.

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ICIBI Inspection Plan 2023 – 24

4 April 2023: ICIBI: Please note the ICIBI’s intended inspection regime for the coming year: 2023-24

This includes Rwanda ‘Country of Origin’ information that guides the Home Office staff in decision-making, trafficking, contingency accommodation, treatment of people arriving by small boats, age assessments, and adults at risk in detention

Updates will appear below.

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Europe’s Migration Apartheid Is Killing Asylum Seekers

22 June 2023: FP: The EU rails against people smugglers, but its draconian policies keep them in business.

In Europe, we take photos of migrants before they die.

On June 13, aircraft from both the European border agency Frontex and the Greek coast guard equipped with cameras flew around a dangerously overcrowded fishing vessel around 50 miles off the coast of Pylos, a town on Greece’s southern Peloponnese peninsula. On June 14, by the time the ghostly images had circulated online, most people in the photos had perished after the boat capsized. But even before we knew who they were, and who had survived, Greek authorities very quickly made it known that the people on the boat had “refused assistance,” as their goal was apparently to continue sailing to Italy.

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ILPA’s Response to the ICIBI’s Call for Evidence: An Inspection of Asylum Casework

9 June 2023: Immigration Law Practitioners Association – ILPA: Date published: 12 June 2023

With many thanks to all members who contributed to this written evidence, ILPA’s Response to the ICIBI’s Call for Evidence: An Inspection of Asylum Casework 2023 can be read below. [Document Date: Friday June 9, 2023]

The response is here: ILPA’s Response to the ICIBI Call for Evidence: An Inspection of Asylum Casework 2023 (9 June 2023)

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North African migrant solidarity organisations convene in Morocco to mark the anniversary of the Melillia-Nador massacre

15 June 2023: North African migrant solidarity organisations convene in Morocco to mark the anniversary of the Melillia-Nador massacre

Civil society action in solidarity with migrants in the Maghreb (North Africa) region has increased over the last year, with activity in Tunisia and Morocco in particular strengthening in response to negative developments on the part of the respective national governments.

The development of this work will take a big step forward over the coming week as representatives of migrant and North African diaspora associations convene in the Moroccan city of Nador for the fifth Maghreb Social Forum on Migration. Gathering under the slogan: “Never again “Bario Chino”, the Forum will coincide with the first anniversary of the massacre at the border crossing between Morocco and Spanish enclave city of Melilla in which at least 37 migrants died in a crush resulting from an attach of the Moroccan police.

Calling for a Maghreb “free of hatred, xenophobia and racism” this Forum follows similar events mobilising migrant and antiracist activists in North Africa and across the European diaspora. Previous sessions took place in Brussels (2010), Oujda (2012), Monastir (2014) and Tangiers (2016).

Three main themes have been selected for the Forum.  These are:

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A brief history of managed migration (and why it isn’t an easy alternative to free movement)

15 June 2023: Don Flynn’s Migration Commentary: A brief history of managed migration (and why it isn’t an easy alternative to free movement)

Managed migration’ has been the official goal of government policy since the late 1990s.  It has gone down a confused, stumbling road, requiring constant revision and return to legislation in order to resolve its innumerable internal tensions and conflicts.

The central idea is that migration is linked to strategies for economic growth, with the numbers of people being admitted linked to perceptions about what the jobs market needs at any point in time.  It is possible to see ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ versions coming into play over the years. The period 2001-05 – associated with David Blunkett’s time at the Home Office – provides the example of soft managed migration, led by the assumption that the strong economic growth of the period would absorb all newcomers into the labour market in a virtuous cycle promoting higher levels of prosperity for all.

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Lifeboat crews saved 108 migrants’ lives in 2022 – RNLI

14 June 2023: RNLI: RNLI releases new figures to highlight crews’ lifesaving impact in the Channel

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has revealed that its lifeboat crews saved the lives* of 108 people crossing the English Channel last year.

It is the first time the charity that saves lives at sea has published figures for the work of its volunteer crews in the Channel.

In total, the RNLI was tasked and launched 290 times during 2022 to incidents involving men, women and children making the perilous journey across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes in small, overcrowded and unseaworthy boats.

This figure represents 3% of the total number of lifeboat launches for the whole of the RNLI last year.

RNLI Chief Executive, Mark Dowie, said: ‘We are extremely proud of all our volunteer lifeboat crews throughout the UK, Ireland and Channel Islands and that very much includes those working in challenging circumstances in the south-east of England.

‘We have never released these figures before, but they illustrate clearly that our charity’s work in the Channel is genuinely lifesaving.

‘Sadly we know there have been incidents in the Channel which have resulted in deaths, but without the brave actions of our crews, who are ready to answer their pagers day or night, 365 days a year, we can be certain there would have been more.

‘The RNLI is unashamed and makes no apology for staying committed to and focused on the purpose we were created for, nearly 200 years ago – to save lives at sea.’

The RNLI is tasked and coordinated in the UK by HM Coastguard. If someone is in trouble in the sea, and the RNLI is tasked, the charity will launch to help them without judgement, as its crews have been doing since 1824.

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Fighting Structural Invisibility and Precarity

15 June 2023: Left East: Fighting Structural Invisibility and Precarity: Interview with Julius-Cezar MacQuarie on the Nightworker Charter

By Julius-Cezar MacQuarie

[Extract] You have this wonderful insight  – namely you talk about the structural invisibility of migrant nightshift workers. It is clear that there is strong anti-migrant propaganda, and a significant portion of the local population is hostile to workers both in the UK and much of Central and Eastern Europe. In the UK, how does this invisibility appear from the perspective of migrant workers? I understand that such invisibility is a conscious choice also of migrant workers. What are the concrete experiences and your insights?

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