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EMAIL NEWS LIST Close Down Campsfield email news list has been launched. To join just send a blank message to: closecampsfield-subscribe@yahoogroups.com 04.02.2011: Demonstrators at the monthly protest at Campsfield detention centre near Kidlington tomorrow (12-2pm main gates, Langford Lane) are calling for detainees who are paid for doing jobs such as serving meals and cleaning in the centre to be paid at least the minimum wage. 28.01.2011: Demonstrators at the monthly protest at Campsfield detention centre near Kidlington tomorrow (12-2pm main gates, Langford Lane) are calling for detainees who are paid for doing jobs such as serving meals and cleaning in the centre to be paid at least the minimum wage. Earlier this month, the Guardian reported that women detained at Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre are being paid 50p an hour for menial tasks, leading to accusations of exploitation. Detainees described the work as 'modern-day slavery' and accused the UK Border Agency (UKBA) and Serco, the highly profitable outsourcing company that runs the Bedfordshire centre, of exploiting them. At Campsfield, the private company that is grossly exploiting vulnerable detainees is GEO (Global Expertise in Outsourcing, a euphemism for the notorious American prison operator Wackenhut). Bill MacKeith of the Campaign to Close Campsfield, said: 'It is a cruel irony that immigration detainees are being paid a pittance while asylum seekers in the community are not allowed to work, even though this would save taxpayers' money and enable them to contribute fully to society. What a reflection of the hypocrisy that guides government policy.' NOTE: The issue of payment to detainees for work done has been a contentious one at Campsfield for years. See (below) the statement issued by Oxford & District Trades Union Council in 2008. Contact: Bill MacKeith 01865 558145 O&D TUC Statement on Slave Labour at Campsfield Oxford & District Trades Union Council deplores the fact that GEO (formerly Wackenhut), which runs Campsfield detention centre under contract from the Home Office, is paying immigration detainees £5 a day for doing jobs in the centre. It understands that these may be in the kitchen and cleaning. We believe that giving detainees 'jobs' for which they do not even receive the minimum wage and receive inadequate training and supervision is wrong. It is bad for the detainees, who are in a vulnerable position in detention and are being superexploited. It may be bad for the standards of care and cleanliness in the centre. We are concerned that staffing levels have been cut at the centre. We maintain our position that Campsfield is a shameful operation and should be closed. As long as it is open, jobs should be properly paid and be done by trained staff. For detainees there should be adequate recreational, educational and other provision, which we understand has been cut since GEO took over the centre. Detainees should receive an adequate financial allowance and not be obliged to act as slave labour for a multinational that makes big profits out of an operation that causes detainees enormous stress, uncertainty, general misery and often mental illness. 10.01.2011: 2010 Campsfield Monitor Online Front Page-Remaining Pages. 27.11.2010 - Campsfield Anniversary Demo - 12.00pm to 2.00pm Join us to commemorate the opening of Campsfield IRC 17 years ago. Speakers include: former detainees, trade unionists, and students. Bring music, banners, and messages of support. (Followed by..) Barbed Wire Britain Open Meeting at Exeter Hall Kidlington - 2.15 to 4.00 pm 2.15 Lunch (BRING AND SHARE) 2.30 Reports from other parts of Europe and border countries: Teresa Hayter - Algeria and externalising borders Eleanor Mortimer - France and Spain Colm Massey - No Borders Camp Brussels 3.15 BWB annual report (website and the Detention Forum), followed by discussion on future activity 4.00 Finish 04.09.2010 - 3 Men Attempt Escape From Campsfield Independent Article. 08.08.2010 - Campsfield Hungerstrike Bulletin Read the latest news of the hunger strike as it nears the end of its first week. Bulletin. 06.08.2010 - Solidarity Demonstration Outside Campsfield The Campaign To Close Campsfield are holding a demonstration at the gates of Campsfield House on Friday 6th August at 6PM to show solidarity with the hunger striking detainees. All welcome. Need, or can offer a lift?, call 01865 558145. 04.08.2010 - Campsfield Detainees Continue Refusing Meals BBC News Oxford Article. 02.08.2010 - Major Protest at Campsfield The following is a press release issued by protesting detainees at Campsfield House. UNLAWFUL DETENTION OF DETAINEES 147 detainees have are staging a protest by refusing meals at Campsfield Immigration Removal Centre. The protest erupted as a result of the treatment of detainees in detention centres especially for people who have been detained for a long period of time. We continue to refuse meals indefinitely for our voices to be heard. Some of us detainees have been detained for over 3 years with no prospect of removal or any evidence of future release. There is no justification whatsoever for detaining us for such period of time. Our lives incidentally have been stalled without any hope of living a life, having a family or any future. More often than not, we are been detained even when our family (wife and children) are resident in the United Kingdom, depriving us of having a life with our family. We the detainees are also humans. In certain cases, some of us are tortured and even face death or mental distress. On 14 April 2010, a detainee of Kenya national Eliud Nyenze died at Oakington IRC due to negligence. Mr. Nyenze, age 40, had a heart attack, requested for painkillers, repeatedly and kept crawling around the floor in pain before he died. Detainees are currently undergoing mental stress with some of us developing mental problems on a monthly basis. We are issued removal directions without given enough time for an appeal. It has become a habit by the UK Border Agency to use force in enforcing removal of detainees who have a pending Judicial Review without given appropriate time or consideration to our case and forcing our removal before our cases are concluded. In some situations we are not given enough time to appeal against the decision which breaches our rights under Article 6 of the ECHR. Our liberty and security has been taking away. We as foreign nationals are often been criminalised for the purpose of detention and removal as the law under the European Convention of Human Rights permits the removal of foreigners who have established there lives in the United Kingdom and are a treat to national security. Foreign nationals are now been sent to prison for 12 months custodial sentence or more prompting the deportation of such individual. Removals are enforced on specially chartered flights with security personnel who abuse and torture detainees in the process. Detainees are restrained, strapped, beating and forced on the airplane. On 26 July 2010, one of the detainee at Campsfield attempted suicide due to the level of treatment received at the detention centre. The Amnesty International has also reported that our detention breaches the internationally recognised human rights. On a regular basis, we are tortured, restrained, strapped like animals and beating to effect removal. This cannot be lawful given that there is provision within the ECHR convention that prohibits torture both mentally and physically. We painfully ask that the government, the house of parliament, the House of Commons, the parliamentarians and all concerned to rise to our aid and address these issues that affects not only our lives and our future but the lives and future of the thousands of our families who are constantly under pain and torture. Detainees - Campsfield House 29.05.2010 Demonstrate at Campsfield : Close Campsfield Down - join us to demonstrate. 28.11.2009 16th Anniversary Demonstration at Campsfield : A hundred people demonstrated at Campsfield immigration detention centre near Kidlington on Saturday 28 November 2009 to mark 16 years since the controversial detention centre opened in 1993. They chanted 'Migrants are not criminals', 'Close Campsfield down', 'Asylum is a human right', and were answered by detainees waving from windows and shouting 'Freedom'. Members of two Oxford choirs – Sea Green Singers and JoinedUpSingers – sang anthems of peace and freedom. Speakers at the rally included local MP Evan Harris, who congratulated campaigners on their work overt the years, and Patrice Kalambayimulowaye from the democratic Republic of Congo, who explained how the trauma of unjust immigration detention can stay with a person for years after the event. The same day at Calais-Folkestone, there was a Cross-channel Protest against the Anglo-French Border Regime, organised by No Borders. Around 65 activists from France, Belgium and the UK took part. 01.12.2009 Public Meeting Oxford Town Hall : Tuesday 1st December 2009 at 7pm. For: Alternatives to immigration detention. Against: More immigration detention centres. 31.01.2009 Press Release: Coalition of campaigns protest at increase in detention in Oxfordshire. BACKGROUND INFO ON CAMPSFIELD Why close Campsfield? Immigration procedure In detention Institutional Racism Starving refugees out of Britain Emu Payday Loans Case study History of immigration legislation Campsfield Nine Trial Highlights Right to Work The History of the Campaign Social Exclusion - the case of refugees and asylum seekers : Article by Liz Peretz

WHAT'S NEW & UPDATED 27.11.2010: Campsfield Anniversary Demo 04.09.2010: Attempted Escape From Campsfield 08.08.2010: Hunger Strike Latest 02.08.2010: Major Protest at Campsfield 28.05.2010: Next demo Saturday 29th May. 23.12.2009: See our Christmas Card. 14.11.2009: 16th anniversary demo Saturday 28th November 2009 14.11.2009: Public meeting Tuesday 1st December 2009 30.01.2009: Press Release: Coalition of campaigns protest at increase in detention in Oxfordshire. 20.12.2008: Link to Oxford Mail article on the Anniversary Demo 20.12.2008: Briefing on the Immigration Simplification Bill 22.05.2008: Government announces big increase in numbers to be held in immigration detention. BBC article on the announcement. WHAT'S ON THIS SITE What is Campsfield and why close it? Useful links JOIN THE CLOSE CAMPSFIELD EMAIL ALERT LIST Send a blank email to the following address: closecampsfield-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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