Mr Ayodeji Omotade has been charged with threatening, abusive, insulting, disorderly behavior towards British Airways (BA) crew, as a result of intervening in the violent deportation of a fellow Nigerian.

The man, who was thought to be about 30, was being held down in his seat by four or five police officers as the other passengers filed on board, and was crying out in broken English that he was afraid he would die if he were sent back to Nigeria……………….The officers took him off the plane, then returned and arrested Ayodeji Omotade, one of the passengers who had complained vociferously about his treatment. When others on board protested noisily about Mr Omotade’s detention, the captain ordered them all off the flight.

British Airways need to answer to the question why they are prepared to collaborate with the violent removal of a distraught asylum seeker? Why has the peaceful protest by passengers against the inhumane treatment of a deportee been treated as a criminal act? Other airlines, including Virgin Nigeria have refused to fly victims of ill-treatment from escorts, and those who fear for their lives. .

Mr Omotade is being punished for acting humanely towards someone in distress. This is not an extraordinary act. It is something most of us would do when witnessing brutality. It is a situation that any one of us could find ourselves at any time.

“What would you do if someone on your flight was distressed and crying out for help? Would you stay silent or would you speak? I spoke and BA didn’t like it. This type of corporate tyranny must be challenged and stopped.” Ayo Omotode

PRESS RELEASE

September 14th, 2008RESPECT NIGERIANS COALITION (RNC) TO HOLD A PEACEFUL PROTEST AT THE BRITISH AIRWAYS CORPORATE HEADQUATERS, HARMONDSWORTH ON WEDNESDAY, 17 SEPTEMBER, 2008

Fellow Nigerians and well-wishers of Nigeria, This is to inform you of our intention to hold a peaceful demonstration at the Waterside Corporate Headquarters of British Airway Plc at Harmondsworth, London following the airlines persistent refusal to do what is right by Ayodeji Omotade and the Nigerian passengers whom its officials treated in a disrespectful, discriminatory, dehumanizing and racist manner on March 27, 2008 aboard Flight BA 075 from London Heathrow to Lagos, Nigeria [Full details here]

Despite repeated attempts to engage with BA - holding a peaceful protest at their Lagos HQ; discussing with their executives in Nigeria; writing to shareholders and meeting with some of them at the AGM, the company has persistently ignored our demands. Even several attempts by the Nigerian President, Umaru YarAdua and government ministers have been stonewalled.

We are now taking our protest to BA headquarters in London with the hope that the BA Board and senior management will address our demands.

ACTIONS
We are now calling on all those who believe in justice to join us in supporting Mr Ayodeji Omotade at the following two events in London:

[Read more…]

The New Statesmen publishes a special issue on the detention of non-British children some of whom are detained for indefinite periods of time in a manner which is “cruel and inhuman”.

It is shameful that UK law allows children who are not British to be detained without time limits and without judicial oversight. Many of the 2,000 or so children detained for administrative convenience every year have been here seeking asylum with their families. Others arrive on their own and are detained because, in the absence of identification papers, the immigration authorities refuse to believe that they are children.

For years the British government has tried to cover up the truth of what happens to women and children in detention centers such as Yarlswood. Now Sir Al Aynsley-Green, who is the Children’s Commissioner has exposed the reality for children in Yarlswood, nonetheless the government is refusing to change it’s policy towards asylum seekers in general and the detention of children in particular……

We were told of children denied the use of a toilet (or allowed to go only while being watched with the door open) before lengthy journeys in caged vans. Girls claimed they were made to get dressed in the presence of male officers, and boys vice versa. Virtually every child spoke of their fear and distress at being awakened and shouted at by adults in uniforms who had entered their homes violently. Children said they were separated from their parents, were not told where they were being taken, and were humiliated in front of friends and neighbours as parents were handcuffed and they themselves were marched into vans. One child told me of being removed from his class at school by uniformed officers. Children, even the youngest, are deeply affected and traumatised by these events. Many of them have recurring nightmares about them, and they often demonstrate changes in behaviour. They can become persistently withdrawn, cling to their parents, refuse food or wet the bed. Children’s best interests appear to me to be entirely invisible during the arrest and escorting process……………..

The UK’s immigration policy and detention of children is despicable. This is not just about compassion it is about justice and what is the right way to treat children - all children. Continue reading the rest of the report……….

UPDATE

A Center set up to keep children out of detention centers is due to close

The Home Office is abandoning a programme to accommodate children and their families outside immigration detention centres, it emerged last night.

Millbank, a former old people’s home in Ashford, Kent, was converted into a home for asylum-seeker families as part of an “alternative to detention” government pilot last year.

The project was aimed at keeping children in local schools while encouraging their families - who have exhausted their asylum appeals - to voluntarily return home.

However, the Guardian has learned that after almost a year in operation - during which it was supposed to accommodate up to 170 people a day - Millbank is empty.

Tags:
Detention of Children
UK Immigration and Asylum Policy
Yarlswood Detention Center
Jackqui Smith

South Africa is the only safe zone in Africa for LGBTI but how welcome are asylum seekers?

SA IS one of only seven countries in the world that grants refugee status on the basis of sexual orientation. But people seeking that relief are battling as much as other refugees in the country.

Asylum in Greece Campaign ..

The “LESS THAN 1%” comes from the ACTUAL number of successful asylum applications here. All design suggestions are very welcome. Please note: I will not be using this particular photograph because I don’t have copyright. Suggestions for images are also very welcome.

Sexworkers in Cambodia fight back against illegal status

Sex workers in Cambodia have fought against the 100% Condom Use Program and the abuses associated with it for many years……..Now Cambodia has a new anti-trafficking law which makes all sex work illegal, and where sex workers can be sent for mandatory rehabilitation…………Cambodian Sex Worker groups and APNSW have fought against both of these abusive systems. This film shows the human rights abuses inherent in both approaches.

Tags:
South Africa
LGBTI
Asylum Greece
Sexworkers + Cambodia

In an outrageous statement against LGBTs and asylum seekers, UK’s Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith claims gay and lesbian asylum seekers can be deported to Iran (and other countries such as Nigeria, Uganda and Cameroon) safely as long as they are “discreet”.

In a letter to a Liberal Democrat peer, seen by The Independent, Ms Smith said there was no “real risk” of gay men and lesbians being discovered by the Iranian authorities or “adverse action” being taken against those who were “discreet” about their behaviour.

in her letter to Lord Roberts of Llandudno, Ms Smith rejected a call for an immediate halt to the deportation of gay and lesbian asylum seekers. “We recognise that the conditions for gay and lesbian people in Iran – and many other countries – are such that some individuals are able to demonstrate a need for international protection,” she wrote. “We do not, however, accept that we should make the presumption that each and every asylum-seeker who presents themselves as being of a particular nationality or sexuality, regardless of their particular circumstances, should automatically be … allowed to remain in the UK.

The idea that you will be safe from being executed if you pretend to be straight is inhumane and makes a mockery of a country claiming to defend human rights. The last “throwaway” sentence is an insult to asylum seekers and panders to the erroneous belief that there are hundreds of thousands of applicants every year with the government operating on the presumption that by far the majority are criminals. (23,610 in 2006) The reality is the numbers of people seeking asylum are small and they are not criminals. The statement is consistent with the governments attitude towards asylum seekers of disbelief and blaming the victim: - not believing claims; believing claims based on rape but saying unless they claimant can prove that the rape was part of a campaign of persecution against women then it is not valid; blaming the claimant for making a stand (for example in the case of a Zimbabwean, blaming him for protesting against Mugabe)

Links:
Trouble Sleeping [Film]
The Hell of Being an Asylum Seeker

Tags:
Asylum Seekers
Immigration + Britain

On June 17th & 18th the EU will vote on the proposed anti-immigration legislation”Returns Directive” which will enable member states to:

Detain and deport migrants including vulnerable people, unaccompanied minors (under 18 years of age) and pregnant women.
Expel unaccompanied minors and other migrants to a country where they have neither family nor legal support.
Ban an expelled migrant from re-entering any part of the EU for up to 5 years. Detain non-EU migrants for up to 18 months.

In an open letter to the EU, Bolivilan President, Evo Morales challenges the “Returns Directive” and Europe’s anti-immigration attitudes and legislation within the context of European imperialism and migration over the past 500 years. [In Spanish]

Europeans arrived en masse in the countries of Latin America and North America, without visas or conditions imposed by the authorities. They were always welcome, and they continue to be, in our countries on the American continent, which therefore absorb the economic misery of Europe and its political crises. They came to our continent to exploit its wealth and transfer it to Europe, with a very high cost for America’s original population. Such is the case in our Cerro Rico, in Potosi, where the fabulous silver mines provided the European continent its coinage from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The goods and personal rights of the European migrants were always respected.

Today the European Union is the main destination for the world’s migrants, as a consequence of its positive image as an area of prosperity and public freedom. The vast majority of the migrants come to the EU to contribute to this prosperity, not to take advantage of it. They occupy jobs in public works, construction, personal services and hospitals, which Europeans can’t or don’t wish to fill. They contribute to the European continent’s dynamic demographic, to maintaining the relationship between the active and inactive that in turn makes possible its generous systems of social security, internal market stimulation and social cohesion. Migrants offer a solution to the EU’s demographic and financial problems

As far as the UK is concerned many of above measures are already taking place and this will add to the criminalisation and internment of immigrants. As things stand right now it is near impossible for asylum seekers to seek legal representation or medical assistance whilst in detention - see here and here and here.

Links: Carta abierta de Evo Morales a propósito de la “directiva retorno” de la UE

Tags:
EU Returns Directive
Britain
Evo Morales