Articles
Thousands of refugees and migrants are locked up in special prisons, disguised under various names, for committing the 'crime' of fleeing wars or persecution or wanting to improve their lives. Without trial and with no automatic bail review, they can face months and years of incarceration before being forcibly deported to unsafe countries. Detention has become an integral part of the UK immigration system and is certainly one of its most brutal and dehumanising aspects, whereby innocent and vulnerable people are interned in prison for political ends. read the article >>
The UK has Europe's most privatised criminal justice system. It is second only to the United States in terms of the number of private prisons, which currently hold around 10% of the prisoner population. In addition to private prisons, the country has privately operated 'secure training centres' for young offenders, prisoner escort services, electronic monitoring programmes, a wide range of non-custodial services in publicly run prisons, as well as privately financed, built and operated court complexes, police complexes and probation hostels. In short, the UK currently represents the second-largest private prison market in the world. And immigration prisons are no exception.. except that they are not called prisons any more. read the article >>
The Geneva Convention recognises asylum rights to all individuals fleeing their countries due to ‘a well-founded fear of persecution because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion’. However, no rights are recognised to the millions of people being displaced due to natural disasters, development processes such as the construction of dams, deforestation or any of the vast consequences of climate change ...read the article >>
The new Points-Based System (PBS) will come into force in 2008. Non-EU migrants are to be allocated points depending on their ‘benefit to the UK’ and will all have to fit into one of five tiers, which in turn determine what rights they are entitled to during their stay. Most non-EU migrants will need a sponsor to enter the UK, which can be a business or an educational institution. read the article >>
Trafficking. The modern slave trade. Sex Slaves. Almost every day there seems to be at least one media story about this ‘blight’ on modern Britain. The Government has mobilised against it, as have numerous NGO. But what exactly is going on here – what is trafficking, and what are these NGO and the Government trying to achieve with trafficking legislation? read the article>>
Detention of Asylum Seekers and Immigrants in the UK
I am an asylum seeker who has experienced arbitrary detention in the UK for immigration purposes. I am also a national of a former British colony, where internment and detention were used to control the freedom movement of whole communities. I have strong criticisms of the use of internment and detention of a particular group of people as a form of control or punishment without any regard for justice.read the article>>
Brook House - Britain's new "Guantanamo Bay" detention Centre
A letter from ex-detainee George Mwangi to the press about the start of the building works for the new detention centre at Gatwick: "Dear Journalists, From these links and attachments, you’ll be shocked [or not] how barbaric the decision to continue opening these detention centres specifically for asylum seekers and immigrants labeled ‘a threat to British society’, and then disguising them with such names as ‘house’ is." read the article>>
Неравные партнёры: менеджмент миграции и Европейская политика соседства Сфера действия миграционного режима Европейского союза не заканчивается на его границах. Сегодня ЕС финансирует строительство лагерей для беженцев в странах, не принявших Женевскую Конвенцию - например, в Ливии. read the article>>