Hunger strike at Campsfield detention centre
People detained at Campsfield detention centre in Oxfordshire are continuing to refuse meals.
The hunger strike was begun on Saturday 9th August in protest by Kurdish asylum seekers at being forced to return to Iraq and over the last week has been joined by up to sixty other detainees of other nationalities in protest over conditions at the centre.
Fazzel Abdul, one of the detainees, told the BBC: “Without any reason we are being held here and they are trying to deport us to the most dangerous country in the world.
We want people to listen to us. We are refusing all food and water and we will keep going. It is better to be dead than to return to Iraq.”
How the story was covered in the media:
BBC News: Detainees continue hunger strike
The Guardian: Detainees go on hunger strike at Oxfordshire immigration centre
ITN: Hunger strike enters second week
Sudanese refugee flies the flag for America
Lopez Lomong, 1,500 metre runner and Sudanese-born refugee was chosen by the US Olympic team to carry the American flag at the Olympic opening ceremony.
Lomong lost members of his family in the Darfur conflict before escaping to Kenya and last year becoming a US citizen.
“As athletes, we need to send the message to the government not to kill or bomb and to China to stop (supplying arms to Khartoum) because those guns are not to defend the country, but to kill innocent people,” Lomong said recently. “This is the 21st century. We don’t want kids growing up in refugee camps like I did.”
How it was covered in the media:
Los Angeles Times: U.S. Olympian Lopez Lomong's great escape
The Times: Lopez Lomong's Olympic role tells important tale to world audience
Refugees flee South Ossetia
Up to 20,000 refugees flew South Ossetia into Russia to escape the violence, according to the UN. Amnesty International and the UN called for safe passage for all civilians fleeing the conflict.
How it was covered in the media:
BBC News: In pictures: Civilians flee fighting
The Guardian: South Ossetian refugees head north to flee ruins of war
Lib Dem leader calls for asylum seekers to have the right to work
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg MP told a public meeting that people should be allowed to work while waiting for a decision on their asylum claim.
Speaking in Sheffield, the MP said he thought it was “a terrible moral stain on the conscience of a nation that we treat asylum seekers in the abysmal way that we do. If there is one thing that shames me beyond all else it’s the bone-headed stupidity, lack of moral leadership and fibre that is now ingrained in the procedure that governs our asylum system that is uniquely unfair.”
How it was covered in the media:
Sheffield Telegraph: MP: ‘let asylum seekers work’
Medical staff confused by asylum rules
The British Medical Journal published an online article reporting that NHS trusts appear to be confused over care for failed asylum seekers, causing many people to be turned away. A High Court judge ruled in April that banning failed asylum seekers from receiving free NHS care was unlawful and the Department of Health is preparing to appeal the decision in November.
The lawyer in the April case, Adam Hundt, has reported being contacted by many doctors who are unsure about whether they are allowed to treat people or not.
“They are telling me they’d been led to believe they didn’t have any choice over who they can treat.
“Some managers are interpreting the rules too restrictively and are saying that unless someone is at death’s door you shouldn’t treat them unless they pay.”
How it was covered in the media:
BBC News: NHS ‘confusion’ over asylum rules
Afghan refugee wins place at Oxford
Waheed Safi, who arrived in the UK three years ago speaking very little English, has secured a place at Oxford University to study engineering science after gaining four A grades at A-level.
Waheed and his family were forced to flee their home in Afghanistan for Pakistan in 2001 following his father’s political activities. They came to the UK in 2005 after his father’s business in Pakistan was set on fire and they were told that their lives were in danger.
Waheed is now looking forward to following his passion for science and maths at Oxford:
“When we were in Afghanistan my father always wished that we were educated. I wasn’t in school for very long in Afghanistan. After the conditions got worse, all the schools closed and there was nowhere that you could go to every day. It wasn’t safe, there were so many risks, you wouldn’t just go outside, you might get shot.
“Back home you would look at chemistry books and just read them and memorise them. Here it is different, there are labs and you can do experiments and see them and understand them.”
How it was covered in the media:
The Telegraph: Teenage Afghan refugee heads for Oxford after 4 As
Immigration updates from ILPA
The Immigration Law Practitioners Association published updates on changes to immigration law. Topics covered include: recent judgments by the House of Lords on Article 8 (the right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights and immigration control, the draft Immigration and Citizenship Bill, long residence rules and information on how individuals can request access to the personal information held by the UK Borders Agency on him or her.
ILPA Immigration update
ILPA Article 8 judgments information sheet
ILPA Long Residence Rules information sheet
ILPA Subject Access Request information sheet
Canon lives on £10 for a week to highlight asylum destitution
Canon Nicolas Sagovsky, a commissioner for the Independent Asylum Commission, spent a week in July living on £10 to highlight the conditions under which many refugees struggle for survival.
Read the Canon’s blog on the Church Action on Poverty website
How it was covered in the media:
Community care.co.uk: Food for thought
