Their Lordships speak out: deportations to Iran must end

Britain must radically change its immigration policy and end immediately the deportation of failed asylum-seekers who fear persecution in Iran, a group of leading peers will tell the Government today.

The call for a moratorium on asylum removals is a direct response to the plight of Mehdi Kazemi, a gay Iranian teenager facing execution if he returns to Iran, whose case has been taken up by The Independent.

In a letter written to this newspaper, 17 members of the House of Lords say the case of Mr Kazemi demonstrates a change of policy is now the “only moral course” for the Government to follow.

And in a stark warning on capital punishment in Iran, the Lords report that, in January alone, more than 30 prisoners were executed for a range of offences deemed criminal by the Middle East state.

The campaign for a more compassionate asylum policy has also been taken up in the House of Commons, where 46 MPs have signed an early day motion demanding that the Government “asserts its position as a supporter of human rights” by granting Mr Kazemi sanctuary. The peers’ letter, signed by – among others – the film director David Puttnam, the former Commons speaker Betty Boothroyd, and the human rights barrister Helena Kennedy QC, comes the day after a damning report into Britain’s immigration system which described the treatment of refugees in this country as “shameful.”

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Removals down 25%, asylum applications up 19% on the same period in 2007

Detention:

There were 2,095  Persons recorded as being in detention in the United Kingdom solely under Immigration Act powers as at 29 December 2007.

Of these: 1,455 had claimed asylum at some stage 69%

1,435 were held at Immigration Service Removal Centres, and 20 at Immigration Short Term Holding Facilities.  

Top 10 detained nationalities as at 29 December 2007

China            140

Nigeria         120

Pakistan                 85

Jamaica         85

Iraq             85

Afghanistan      65

Eritrea         65

Algeria         65

India            60

Iran             60

Figures excludes person detained in police cells and prison establishments.

8 February 2008 To mark Ash Wednesday leaders of Christian faith traditions in West Yorkshire issued a statement of support for asylum seekers, calling for a more humane asylum system, for the right to work for asylum seekers and for better legal representation. The church leaders also praised the great work many people in West Yorkshire do supporting refugees and asylum seekers, noting that it demonstrates that “at a community level Britain shows a welcoming face to people fleeing persecution, in contrast to the Government’s approach which has become a cause for national shame.” The church leaders statement was reported in the Yorkshire Post, Yorkshire Evening Post, Huddersfield Examiner, BBC Radio Leeds, BBC Radio York, BBC Look North, ITV Calendar and Radio Aire.

See also

To see the full list of church leaders and their statement see http://www.wyec.co.uk/

More than 19,000 asylum seekers, some of whose cases date back more than 10 years, have finally been told they can stay in the country, the Home Office said last night.

They are among the first tranche of 52,000 cases that have been looked at as part of a Home Office “legacy” drive to clear a backlog of between 400,000 and 450,000 files.

The disclosure was made as the Home Office embarrassingly announced that urgent immigration background checks on all its private security guards had been ordered after an illegal migrant was identified last Friday working at the department’s Marsham Street headquarters in London.

Lin Homer, the chief executive of the Border and Immigration Agency, told MPs last night that 16,000 of the 52,000 cases examined so far had led to removals from the country.

The remaining 17,000 case files in the first tranche had been closed as a result of previous errors or were found to be duplicate records.

The special “legacy” exercise, which involves a team of 900 immigration staff, was launched in July 2006 by John Reid, then home secretary, as a central part of his campaign to make the Home Office “fit for purpose”.

Homer said the Home Office’s caseload of up to 450,000 electronic and paper records were “riddled with duplication and errors, and include cases of individuals who have since died or left the country, or are now EU citizens”.

Nevertheless it is expected that tens of thousands more asylum seekers who have been trapped in bureaucratic limbo, some for years, will finally be given official permission to stay in Britain.

The backlog involves claims made between 1994 and 2004. The Home Office says it will work through each case on its merits and expects to have the backlog cleared by September 2011. Ministers have repeatedly denied that the exercise adds up to an amnesty for unsuccessful applicants.

In a letter sent last night to Keith Vaz, the chairman of the Commons home affairs committee , Homer said those who may pose a risk to the public had been dealt with first, followed by those who could easily be removed, those receiving state support, and those who might be granted leave to stay in Britain.

The Home Office said that the 16,000 asylum seekers who had been removed from the country had left since the exercise was announced by Reid 18 months ago. The operation involved sending a questionnaire to those named on the outstanding files.

The Home Office has said it would consider a case closed when the individual had left the UK or been granted leave to remain. Officials would also treat a case as closed if they could not contact the individual after making reasonable efforts.

The National Audit Office estimated in 2005 that there were 283,000 unsuccessful asylum seekers living in Britain.

The update on the asylum cases was published as the Home Office faced fresh embarrassment over the licensing of private security guards without any checks on whether they have a right to work in Britain.

The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, told MPs last night that as a result of an immigration enforcement operation targeting sub-contractors with a record of employing illegal workers in the wake of the disclosure, an illegal migrant had been identified and arrested last Friday working at the Home Office’s headquarters.

The migrant, who is believed to be Nigerian, now faces deportation.

It is believed he worked in the front reception area of the Home Office and did not have access to sensitive papers or files.

“The Home Office is now working with the sub-contractor to recheck individually the right to work of all their security staff,” Smith told MPs.

Immediate steps are also being taken to tighten procedures to ensure that immigration checks are carried out on everyone working at the Home Office

Source : The Guardian

Even though the HRA has now come into force in the UK it is still possible to make an application to the ECHR. There are three key requirements that you must meet:

1. You must be a victim of a violation of one or more of the articles of the Convention. Generally, this means you must be directly affected by a breach of the Convention. In some cases it will be enough to show you are likely to be affected by a breach or that you belong to a group of people, some of whom are likely to be affected. For example, gay men were permitted to challenge laws that criminalized gay sex even though it was unlikely that the individual applicants would ever be prosecuted because the laws were rarely enforced.

2. Before you make an application to the ECHR you must pursue any proceedings that you could take in the UK that are capable of providing you with an adequate remedy for the breach of your Convention rights. Now that the HRA is in force this will generally mean that you will have to take proceedings in the UK under the HRA. This may not be necessary, however, where it is clear that the best you could hope to achieve from taking proceedings under the HRA is a declaration of incompatibility.

3. You must make your application to the ECHR within six months of the conclusion of any court proceedings that you have taken in the UK that could have provided you with a remedy or, if there were no proceedings that it was reasonable to expect you to take, within six months of the event which gives rise to your application.
When you make an application to the ECHR you will be asked to complete one of the ECHR’s application forms. However, it is not necessary to fill out one of these forms to meet the six month rule. All you need to do is to get a letter to the court within the six months setting out:

1. Your details (name, address and nationality).
2. The country against which you are making your application.
3. The facts that have given rise to your application.
4. The article or articles of the Convention that you say have been breached.

You should send your letter to:

The Registrar
European Court of Human Rights
Council of Europe
F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex
France
Fax: 00 33 3 88 41 27 30

When it has received your letter the ECHR will send you one of its application forms to complete. If there is not enough space on the form you can set out your case in a longer document which you attach to the form. It is important that you submit your completed application form within any deadline set by the ECHR or, if no deadline is set, within a few weeks of receiving it. If you do not submit the form speedily you run the risk that the ECHR will decide that you have not met the six month deadline. If you cannot meet any deadline that is set you should contact the ECHR and try to agree an extended deadline.

Once the ECHR has acknowledged receipt of your application form it may be some time (months if not years) before you hear anything further.

At this stage the ECHR may rule your application inadmissible. The ECHR will not give reasons and there is no right of appeal. If your application is ruled inadmissible you will not be able to proceed with it.

If it is not ruled inadmissible at this stage, your application will be allocated to one of the ECHR’s four sections. A panel of seven judges from that section will deal with the case. This panel will always include the judge appointed by the United Kingdom. Very significant cases may be dealt with by the ECHR’s Grand Chamber. These cases are considered by a panel of seventeen judges. A case could be transferred to the Grand Chamber at any stage in the proceedings.

Your application will also be communicated to the Government at this stage, that is, the Government will be informed that you have made an application and will be invited to respond. You will be given an opportunity to respond to the Government’s observations and there may be further exchanges of written representations.

The ECHR will then decide whether your application is admissible. It can rule your application inadmissible if you have failed to meet one of the three requirements set out above or if the ECHR considers that it is ‘manifestly ill-founded’, in other words, that is not arguable. If the ECHR finds your application inadmissible at this stage it will give reasons, but there is no right of appeal.

If the ECHR finds your application admissible it will then go on to decide whether there has been a breach of the Convention. The ECHR usually refers to this as considering the merits of the application. At this point you have the right to put in a claim for compensation. The ECHR calls this ‘just satisfaction’. It should include a claim for legal expenses if you have incurred any. Your claim for just satisfaction should be sent to the ECHR within two months of the ECHR finding your application admissible. Both sides may make further representations before the ECHR decides on the merits of the application.

When the ECHR has made its decision on the merits of your application, you will be notified of the date on which its judgment will be made public. The judgment will be published on the ECHR’s website on that day. If the ECHR finds that there has been a breach of your rights it may award you compensation although it does not always do so on the basis that its finding that there has been a breach of your rights is enough.

Once a section of the ECHR has made a final decision on the merits of an application, either party, the Government or the Applicant, can ask to have the application referred to the Grand Chamber. This is the only form of appeal that the ECHR’s rules allow for. The Grand Chamber only rarely agrees to a referral. There is no appeal from a final decision made by the Grand Chamber.

Hearings

The ECHR deals with most cases without holding a hearing; it reaches its decisions on the basis of written representations made by the parties. When the ECHR does decide to hold a hearing this will usually take place before the ECHR has decided on the admissibility of the application, although it may also hold a hearing after an application has been found admissible if it has not already held one.

Legal representation

Although you can make an application to the ECHR yourself, it would be wise to get a lawyer experienced in ECHR proceedings to represent you. Most cases are not communicated to the Government (i.e. they are ruled inadmissible at an early stage) and having a lawyer present your arguments for you may help you get over this hurdle.

If the ECHR decides to hold a hearing after it has found your application admissible, the ECHR rules require you to be represented by a lawyer at that hearing unless the ECHR allows otherwise.

Legal Aid

The ECHR has a system of legal aid although the payments which a lawyer receives under the scheme are very low. You can apply for legal aid once your application has been communicated to the Government. It is particularly useful to have legal aid if the ECHR holds a hearing on your case, as legal aid will pay the cost of your and your lawyer’s trip to Strasbourg. Eligibility for legal aid will depend on the Legal Services Commission accepting that you would be eligible for legal aid in this country.

If you are not eligible for legal aid, your lawyer may agree to represent you under a conditional fee agreement, that is, on the basis that they will only get paid if you win your case and get your legal costs paid by the Government. However, as very few applications to the ECHR are successful, your lawyer may be reluctant to take this risk. If you lose your case there is no possibility of you being ordered to pay the Government’s legal costs.
Source

6 December 2007A proposal to use a new Government Bill to simplify immigration law has received positive feedback, the Home Office revealed today.The Home Office held a consultation on plans to replace all the Immigration Acts since the early 1970s with one clear, transparent, single piece of legislation.Feedback on this consultation, which began on 6 June 2007, shows that the simplification principles were supported by 64 percent of respondents.Many of those who responded backed the Border and Immigration Agency’s commitment to transparency, clarity, predictability and the use of plain English.The new Immigration Bill was announced in the Queen’s Speech at the beginning of November this year.The Bill will clearly distinguish between temporary and permanent UK residents, laying out exactly what rights people can expect and how they can earn citizenship.Borders and Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said:“We are currently undertaking the biggest reform of our immigration system for 40 years.“Over the next eighteen months we will introduce our Australian-style points based system for workers, roll out our e-borders programme to count people in and out of the country and require ID cards for foreign nationals. Our legislation must be able to adapt to these changes and the challenges they bring.“Since the introduction of the initial Immigration Act in 1971 the world has changed dramatically. Now more than ever our laws must be clear – people must speak our language, obey our rules, and pay their taxes.”Since the initial Immigration Act was introduced in 1971 there have been ten new Acts, with the latest being the UK Borders Act 2007. There has also been a whole host of statutory instruments, guidelines and instructions.Respondents to the consultation asked for a number of issues to be addressed by the new legislation, including improved access to rules; reduced waiting times, improved data sharing; and joined up legislation with other departments.The Home Office will now carry out a detailed analysis of existing laws, and then intends to consult with the public on more specific proposals for legislation. A draft Bill will be published for pre-legislative scrutiny in 2008

5 December 2007The countdown to the transformation of the immigration system began today when the Home Secretary announced new rules for highly skilled foreign workers applying to come to the UK.In a wide ranging speech at the London School of Economics, the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced changes to the UK’s immigration regime to ensure the system is firm but fair and supports Britain’s shared values.The proposals published today include: plans to ensure that migrants can integrate into communities through strengthened requirements for English language; plans to ensure all migrants play by the rules with strengthened restrictions on citizenship for those who break the law and protection for vulnerable people through measures to combat forced marriage.Jacqui Smith said:”Migration brings great social and economic benefits to this country. But people expect it to be managed robustly and in support of Britain’s national interests. That’s why we’re launching the countdown to our new Points Based System which will begin in less than 100 days.”The Points Based System will build on a package of measures already being introduced to deliver a more secure border.  These include: new electronic checks to count people in and out of the UK and clamp down on illegal immigration; fingerprinting of visa applicants around the world before they are allowed to enter Britain; and the introduction of ID cards for foreign nationals.”I want people coming to live and work in the UK and their families to be able to integrate fully into our society.  So as well as our existing and planned requirements for English language proficiency, attached to settlement, citizenship and for skilled workers, I am today publishing proposals for new requirements for spouses who plan to settle here to have some knowledge of English prior to arrival.

Quarterly asylum, accession monitoring and citizenship statistics published today Britain’s tougher border controls have led to the lowest level of asylum applications in 15 years, according to statistics published by the Home Office today.At the same time, the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) revealed it has removed a record 3,500 foreign national prisoners so far this year, and this quarter (July to September) has overseen a 15 per cent increase in all enforced removals and voluntary returns (to 6,330) compared to the same period last year.Altogether this year 45,000 people have been removed from the UK, as quarterly enforced returns matched the all time high of 2003.In a letter to the Home Affairs Select Committee, Chief Executive of the BIA, Lin Homer, confirmed that the agency was on track to deport 4,000 foreign national prisoners this year.Lin Homer said:“Our enforcement teams are removing more people than ever, and already this year we have removed around a 1,000 more foreign national prisoners than in the whole of 2006.“While there has been a drop in the removal of failed asylum seekers including a decline in assisted voluntary returns,  the overall picture shows significant increases in the enforced removals of those who broke British laws like illegal workers and foreign prisoners. This reinforces our commitment to tackle the most harmful people first.“We will not rest on our laurels. We will toughen our borders further, which is why we are introducing biometric visas to tie travellers to one identity, an e-Borders programme which counts everyone in and out of the country, and ID cards for foreign nationals in Britain.”Between January and September 2007 there were 16,520 principal asylum applications lodged, this represents a seven per cent fall in applications compared to the same period in 2006. It is also the lowest number of applications since 1992.
 
Today’s figures show that in the third quarter of this year, between July and September, there were 5,890 principal asylum applications.Borders and Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said today:“In March this year I said the first people we should send home are those who break British laws.“Now we’ve removing record numbers of foreign criminals including illegal workers who risk undercutting UK wages.“Although assisted voluntary returns are down, we are delivering record enforced removals.“Simultaneously tougher border security has helped deliver the lowest level of asylum claimants since the beginning of the 1990s.“But the system needs to be faster and tougher. So foreign criminals will soon face automatic deportation in the new year and I’m opening almost 25 per cent more detention space by next Christmas – including a new detention centre right next to Gatwick Airport.”In the first nine months of the year 9,060 failed asylum seekers, excluding dependents, were removed from the UK.BIA case workers also made 5,230 initial asylum decisions between July and September this year – an increase of 15 per cent on the same time period in 2006.Also published today are figures for the number of Bulgarians and Romanians registering to work in the UK. They show that between July and September 2007 7,455 had their applications granted – 20 per cent lower than the 9,335 granted in Quarter Two.An additional 200 were issued cards for the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS), compared with 3,980 in the previous quarter.Bulgarians and Romanians are coming to the UK to work — contributing to the success of the economy and working in business, financial services, as researchers and in the entertainment and leisure industry.Alongside today’s Bulgarian and Romanian figures the Home Office is also publishing figures on the number of individuals registering to work in the UK from the eight Eastern European countries which joined the EU in 2004.The accession monitoring figures show a fall in the number of individuals who applied to work under the Worker Registration Scheme. Between July and September 2007 the number of applications granted was 54,000 a 14 per cent decrease from the 63,000 who applied in the same period last year.Mr Byrne said:”It is too soon to evaluate the full impact of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU which is why we decided to maintain restrictions for at least another year. Our indications are that the policy of restricting access to the UK’s labour market is helping to ensure that only those who have something to offer the UK are allowed to work here.”We will continue to monitor restrictions. That’s why we are creating an independent Migration Advisory Committee to look at how migration can sensibly fill skills shortages and, alongside it, the Migration Impacts Forum, which started work in June to monitor the wider social impacts of immigration.”

19 November 2007 Refugee Council calls on the UK government to halt all deportations to Iraq immediately and do more to address the growing refugee crisis.Two years to the day from the first forced removals flight to Iraq (20 November 2005), the Refugee Council today condemns this practice and urge the UK government to address the growing refugee crisis as a matter of urgency. The Refugee Council has criticised the government for putting a lot of time, effort and resources into sending Iraqi asylum seekers back to Iraq while at the same time failing to act to help the huge number of Iraqis who have been displaced from their homes because of the on-going conflict.

• Since November 2005, over 1 million Iraqis are estimated to have fled their homes (source: UNHCR)
• In the same period, the UK has forcibly removed around 100 Iraqis, at an estimated cost of at least £1 million¹

“We are witnessing a massive humanitarian crisis in Iraq, with a movement of refugees bigger than any in the last fifty years” said Donna Covey, Chief Executive of the Refugee Council.“The UK, as a leading country in the international community, is failing to live up to its responsibility. Instead, it continues to focus on removing relatively small numbers of refused Iraqi asylum seekers, at great cost, so as to meet Home Office targets. Quite apart from being very dangerous, this is a total misallocation of resources. Ministers need to get their priorities in order.” In a letter sent last week to Foreign Secretary David Miliband, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Rescue Committee and the Refugee Council urged the following actions:

• A substantial increase in financial assistance to support refugee-hosting countries in the region, such as Syria and Jordan.
• A greater commitment to provide opportunities for the most vulnerable Iraqi refugees to resettle in the UK
• Better recognition of the need for protection of those few Iraqis who have got to the UK in recent years.
• A suspension of all removals to Iraq, including to the northern areas where the instability has got worse in recent months.
• The granting of some form of temporary status to all Iraqis in the UK so that they are not left in limbo with no access to support and no entitlement to work

The agencies also called on Mr Miliband to provide much more information about the UK’s assistance plans for its former employees in Iraq, including the reasons for excluding Iraqis who have worked for the British for less than 12 months or who did not use a high level of English in their work.

Refugee Action is dismayed that a court decision at the House of Lords on 14 November (see link below) has cleared the way for the forced return of Darfuri refugees to the Sudanese capital.

Refugee Action’s Chief Executive Sandy Buchan said: “It is a pity that the law lords were unable to consider disturbing new evidence that Darfuri returnees to Khartoum have been maltreated and tortured by the authorities there. We hope the Home Secretary will take account of this evidence and impose a moratorium on returns to Khartoum.

“The government has got it wrong on this issue. The UK has a clear moral obligation to survivors of the genocide in Darfur.”

It has been accepted throughout that the respondents have a well-founded fear of persecution in Darfur. All three suffered severe persecution at the hands of militias acting with government support or connivance.

Only 675 Sudanese nationals applied for asylum in the UK last year, yet almost nine in every ten were refused asylum. Too many people who have suffered at the hands of some of the world’s worst human rights abusers are being refused protection in the UK. Rightly terrified of return, they now find themselves on the margins of society, with no recourse to support, and no right to work.

This trend has worsened since 2003, when the Home Office phased out Exceptional Leave to Remain, which afforded status to those who did not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention but who nevertheless had protection needs. ELR was once applied in one in four asylum cases. Since its abolition, the asylum system has become too rigid and inflexible, and case owners have insufficient scope for protecting asylum seekers on humanitarian grounds.

Sandy Buchan added: “The government is observing the letter of the Refugee Convention but not its spirit. If we cannot show compassion for survivors of the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur, which the Prime Minister recently described as one of the “world’s darkest corners”, who will we show compassion for?”
Ends

For more information or to arrange interviews please contact Julia Ravenscroft, press officer at Refugee Action, on 0161 233 1956 or 07771 748 159.

More on this story :

BBC: Ministers win Darfur court appeal

Judgment online: Secretary of State for the Home Department vs AH (Sudan) and others (FC)