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At 11.00am on Tuesday 5th of July activists attended and disrupted a Group 4 (G4S) consultation in Cardiff. G4S are bidding to run a service called COMPASS ( Commercial and Operational Managers Procuring Asylum Support Services). This is a project aimed at finding an outsourced provider for housing asylum-seekers, as well as associated services and transport.
Activists from No Borders and other groups disrupted the corporate double-speech to give one of their own, highlighting the violent and unaccountable nature of G4S. Questions were asked and activists argued that G4S were not fit to run services such as housing considering their history of abuse towards asylum-seekers. The response was one of denial and dismissal, when one young asylum-seeker spoke up about their fears of living under G4S they were flatly ignored.
Migrant housing is currently run by the UKBA, and their intention is that, by August 2012, asylum accomodation will be run by other organisations. G4S hopes to be that organisation. We argue that G4S should not be given this contract.
-G4S has serious allegations of abuse and unaccountability, most notably:
A 2008 report by Medical Justice details nearly 300 cases of alleged physical assault and racial abuse by private security in the deportation process. G4S is the largest private security company in this field.
In 2010, following a House of Lords report, Baroness O’Loan found that the majority of cases in which complaints were made, previous investigations were inadequate or not done. She said that, ‘on occasion there quite simply had been a failure to deal properly with the complaints’. Companies such as G4S are unaccountable.
In Oct 2010 Jimmy Mubenga died at the hands of G4S staff on a deportation flight. He was suffocated as he tried to complain about being returned against this will.
G4S are not social landlords. They are the worlds largest private army, running prisons, transferring detainees and are concerned with their profit, with a record of brutality and violence.
At around 3.00pm the UKBA decided to raid, in broad daylight, a beauty salon on Clifton St. Despite there being children and customers inside the UKBA shut the doors of the shop and closed the shutters. No Borders activists were present and quickly got support and a banner to highlight the reality that this is an everyday occurrence for people without the correct citizenship. Leaflets were handed out and passers-by stopped to give support or have discussions. Many people were outraged and told us that the shop had been raided before. They left without detaining anyone and carried on into Splott in two unmarked blue people carriers. Some supporters tried to ask a local traffic warden to ticket the illegally parked cars but she told them that she couldn’t because it was a UKBA vehicle.
On Friday 13th May the Congolese community came together for a lively demonstration against the potential re-election of President Joseph Kabila, a man surrounded by corruption and with his vice-president facing charges of war crimes in the Hague. The demonstration marched from City Hall, along Queen St through the city centre accompanied by songs and chants. Friday shoppers stood aside as the small but colourful demonstration swept past. The demonstration then proceeded by foot to the Bay to hand a signed letter to the Welsh Assembly Government.
The demonstration came just days after the release of a horrific new report in the American Journal of Public Health that 400,000 women were raped between 2006-2007 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This amounts to 48 women every hour. They stress that this simply reflects better reporting ability for women in the DRC. Michael VanRooyen, Director of the Harvard Humanitarian Institute stated that “Rape in the DRC…has emerged as one of the great human crisis of our times”. There is further information here:
This news demonstrates the relentless violence going on in many parts of the DRC. However, whilst the country continues to be occupied by militias, the Home Office, the UK Border Agency and the EU still feel it appropriate to deport refugees en masse back to the DRC. No Borders has reported previously on expulsion flights leaving the UK for DRC. Most recently on Thursday 28th of April a Frontex charter flight deported people from the UK before leaving for Brussels and ultimately Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
At least 62 people died in the Mediterranean after weeks of attempting to sail to Italy. The ship carrying 72 African migrants contacted a refugee group in Rome by satellite phone and asked them to call the authorities. The Italian coast-guard contacted several ships in the area described as well as alerting Maltese authorities. The survivors tell a harrowing tale:
” Soon a military helicopter marked with the word “army” appeared above the boat. The pilots, who were wearing military uniforms, lowered bottles of water and packets of biscuits and gestured to passengers that they should hold their position until a rescue boat came to help. The helicopter flew off, but no rescue boat arrived”
Soon after an aircraft carrier believed to be the French Charles de Gaulle was spotted, two aircraft took off and flew low over the boat. Despite this they were left to die of starvation and thirst. The UNHCR has demanded an enquiry. They state that over 800 migrants have thought to have died so far in recent attempts of migrants fleeing conflicts in North Africa to reach Europe.
This show of indifference from the authorities underlines the reality of European attitudes to migrants when out of sight of the public. The border agency Frontex has been documented ignoring and turning boats over in the Aegean and Mediterranean.
This news comes as the latest from the horrific tragedies of people dying to reach safety yet again. Despite NATO bombing Libya in the name of peace they show their true colours when leaving the same intended protected people to drown.
Women Seeking Sanctuary Advocacy Group (WSSAG) Wales is a growing self help group run by and for asylum seeking and refugee women in South Wales.
“We offer moral, emotional, social and practical support to one another. WSSAG is a platform where we all share our experiences, difficulties, as a problem shared is a problem halved. We feel that together we make a better stand.
Even though we do not give immigration advice, we signpost our ladies to where to get help, we encourage and promote social cohesion within the community. We are committed to promoting a positive image of people seeking sanctuary.”
In partnership with the Cardiff Ethnic Minority Communities team the group launched a book called “Seeking Sanctuary: Journeys of Despair and Hope” on Tuesday 19th April 2011 at the Wales Millennium Centre, which is now available via their website. The book contains six real life experiences of women who have fled human rights abuse, persecution, and all sorts of other abuses but still have decided to speak out about their ordeals and hope to rebuild their lives.
On Thursday 28th of April there will be a Frontex* charter flight from Brussels to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Our fellow activists in Belgium tell us that it will be taking 60 people, 15 from Belgium and another 45 from the UK, Holland, Ireland and Sweden. On the flight will be the Belgium federal police and possibly some private security.
Despite that speed of the operation it appears that No Borders activists in Belgium are putting up a struggle against this flight. Here’s hoping that the flight is stopped and people can return to their families and friends.
UPDATE: This morning (28/05/2011), around 20 activists blockaded entrance to the 127 bis detention centre in Steenokkerzeel, near the main airport of Brussels. Using lock-ons from around 4.30am they intend to prevent this charter flight from leaving. Indymedia article here: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/04/478368.html
* Frontex is the European agency concerned with protecting the external borders of Europe. Amongst other things it co-ordinates European wide charter flights with member states.
In a desperate attempt to highlight and put pressure on the UK Governments border regime, several Iranian asylum seekers have been on hunger strike, some of them have sewed their lips shut. They have camped outside the Home Office in Croydon and the headquarters of Amnesty Int in London. They face deportation to Iran and possible torture, violence or execution on arrival. They fled due to their opposition to the Iranian regime during the 2009 demonstrations in Tehran. On arrival to the UK they claimed political asylum but had their cases turned down despite overwhelming evidence including physical evidence of torture.
The police took them to hospital where they refused to have their stitches taken out, one of them is only 17 years old, demonstrating for his right to remain in the UK. No Borders activists have visited them in London and are calling for support. They have a petition here. Their demonstration follows the death of another Iranian asylum seeker in Amsterdam, who set himself on fire on the 16th of April after his claim to stay failed.
A less well known hunger striker is Solomon Kumar Guntupalli, an Indian asylum-seeker. He is also camped out, in Parliament Square. He faces deportation to India after 6 years in a UK prison for possession of drugs, which he claims is untrue. This record would cause him further persecution in India.
Some media surrounding the hunger strikes: Youtube video of the Iranian hunger strikers.
Guardian articles can be found here and here.
Indymedia link to report and pictures can be found here.
These protests highlight the urgent need to abolish this regime that can so callously deport people back to violence and death, we must show our support to these brave men. Get angry, write something, go to London and visit them. Don’t let them get deported.
On Tuesday 12th October on BA flight 77 the policies of the UK and the Europe Union claimed another life. Jimmy Mubenga, an Angolan with a family in the UK, was killed on a flight from Heathrow . Whilst the Home Office initially claimed that Jimmy ‘fell ill’ and ‘passed away’ in hospital, eye-witnesses tell a very different story.
Jimmy was being forcibly deported and was being accompanied by three private security personnel from Group 4 Security (G4S). Around take-off Jimmy began to complain and make some noise, probably due to the fact that he was being forcibly deported to a country that he fled from. The G4S guards then twisted his arms behind his back and pushed his head down into his lap whilst putting their weight on his back. According to eye-witnesses they exclaimed, “he will be quiet once we are in the air”. Jimmy then began to moan and cry out that he was suffocating, prompting G4S to continue putting weight onto his back. After around 40 minutes he slipped into a coma. The plane was stopped on the run-way and an ambulance called.
Unfortunately Jimmy was proclaimed dead upon arrival to hospital.
On Monday 18 October, the Institute for Race Relations released its report entitled ‘Driven to Dersperate Measures’ . It cites the deaths of 77 asylum seekers as being directly due to the UK’s migration laws.
More than 28 were suicide cases such as Osman Rasul, an Iraqi Kurd who jumped from a high-rise tower after being left destitute and penniless after his first asylum claim was denied. Others include Abdullah Idris, a Sudanese asylum seeker who was found hung in his cell on Christmas Day 2007 and Ama Sumani a Ghanian woman who was deported from her hospital bed in Cardiff whilst receiving life-giving treatment. This act was described as an act of ‘atrocious barbarism’ by the Medical Journal ‘The Lancet’.
As there is no legal way for an asylum seeker to enter the UK others have died attempting to cross into the UK. There have also been deaths at the hands of racists on the streets, deaths whilst working in the black economy and deaths after being deported back to home countries. Also included are the survivors of racial attacks, UKBA raids and those who were destitute. The report is highly disturbing and reflects a small percentage of those who have suffered for the crime of moving.
These cases highlight the realities of border controls and, in particular, forced deportation. Two years ago Medical Justice compiled the report ‘Outsourcing Abuse’ It detailed cases of serious violence and abuse during deportation and catalogued hundreds of injuries sustained in the process. Broken bones and punctured lungs are among them. Medical Justice warned that a death would happen soon if the whole system was not reviewed and radically changed. The No Borders network has regularly reported on the abuse received by people at the hands of the Asylum system, including the assault on Suren Khachatryan and the treatment of Genevieve Adetoro .
One thing that certainly does need looking at is the use of private companies to enforce border policy. The Danish company Group 4 Security runs several detention centres in the UK and on the day that its staff were suffocating Jimmy, it was lobbying for greater involvement in custodial security in UK Police stations. They have a history of abusive and racist behaviour towards people being deported and No Borders amongst others have campaigned against them for years.
No Borders South Wales stands against all deportations and the detention estate in general. We continue to fight for freedom of movement for all. We encourage anyone who finds this article a drive to do something to get involved.
Further Guardian article about Asylum seeker deaths: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/17/racism-asylum-seekers-uk-laws
Another example of forced deportation: A video of a man being restrained on a deportation to Kenya. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2010/oct/19/deportation-heathrow-kenya-flight-footage
A House of Lords report demonstrates frequent abuse of Asylum Seekers by Private Security Companies such as G4S employed by UK Border Agency. The report found serious injuries suffered by detainees who had been handcuffed or physically restrained and follows an investigation into allegations of abuse involving private firms employed by the Government to forcibly remove failed asylum-seekers from the UK.
Amongst the victims of these companies was Suren Khachatryan, who lives in Cardiff. After a removal was abandoned Mr Khachatryan was attacked by staff employed by GSL UK Ltd (part of the G4S group). He was thrown into a security van where he was handcuffed, verbally abused, stamped on and kicked several times and then left in an immigration holding bay without medical support for hours. He suffered a punctured lung.
Complaints about this serious assault were Read the rest of this entry »
On Thursday we’ll be showing the premiere of a documentary film about the situation for migrants in Calais made by one of our group: Passengers is the personal account of a few people stuck in a place they don’t want to be, a collection of interviews with people seeking sanctuary. It’s No Borders South Wales meets Calais Migrant Solidarity. It’s on from 7.30pm in room 0.53 of the Bute Building, Cardiff University (map). It’s free entry and we’ll also be showing some other films about the situation in Calais and have a report back from some of the group who have just returned.
Here’s some stills from the film:
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The appearance of Louise Perrett in front of the Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday has led to Read the rest of this entry »
(video will appear when uploaded)
As part of the oral session of the internal inquiry into the UK Border Agency, former UKBA employee Louise Perrett appeared before the Home Affairs Select Committee in the House of Commons today and gave evidence of her experience of working in the agency’s Cardiff office.
The committee questioned Perrett on the detail of her claims, with Read the rest of this entry »
A new report: “Chance or choice? Understanding why asylum seekers come to the UK” has been published by the Refugee Council. The report is the result of research undertaken by Professor Heaven Crawley, Director of the Centre for Migration Policy Research at the University of Swansea.
The findings say what anyone who has any knowledge of the experience of refugees already knows. That people seeking sanctuary have little, if any, choice over which country they claim asylum in, and that few know what to expect before they arrive. The result being that harsh policies which make the life of a refugee tougher after they have arrived in the UK have no demonstrable influence over whether people Read the rest of this entry »
New Year’s Eve is bound to be different everywhere, as a party, or a special occasion. But how would you be able to celebrate if you were homeless and vulnerable on the streets of Calais?
In addition to Salam’s incredible food distribution, they ended the New Year’s Eve distribution with a party. Music was played over loud speakers mounted on top of a van with Sudanese and No Borders activists dancing to Afghani music, under instruction from Pashto mentors; everyone dancing to Read the rest of this entry »
A group of No Borders activists from South Wales recently returned to Northern France to take part in Calais Migrant Solidarity.
A serene scene, sitting at night a migrant’s encampment, sipping tea and watching the dark sea from the sand dunes. Behind the gulls are wheeling against the orange sky. This peaceful snapshot hides the daily struggle, stranded up against the tall fences of the UK Border. It’s very cold. It’s very exposed. There’s no water and it’s a long walk from anywhere.
Through-out the winter, activists have continued working with and supporting migrants in Calais. The local humanitarian organisations do astonishing work, providing regular food and support, three times a day, every day. Calais Migrant Solidarity directly supports this work and helps provide access to warm, dry clothes, and helps deal with minor injuries and access to health care. In addition we’ve also been maintaining a permanent safe, practical space to support people and Read the rest of this entry »
Film Night 9th February
February 3, 2012 in Comment | by No Borders South Wales | Leave a comment