| Campaign welcomes delegates
The Campaign to Close Campsfield is organising Barbed Wire Europe:
Conference Against Immigration Detention at Ruskin College from the evening
of 15 September to Sunday 17 September, finishing with a demonstration at
Campsfield at 5pm on Sunday. The Campaign will be welcoming delegates
coming from many countries including Algeria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France,
Germany, India, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Nigeria, Norway,
Finland, Pakistan, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Uganda, and
the United Kingdom.
Detainee news
The balance of nationalities detained in Campsfield has changed greatly
over the past year. There are more eastern Europeans, many speaking no
English, which makes finding visitors very difficult. There are a fair
number of Chinese, and Asylum Welcome need Chinese-speaking visitors.
Increasingly people are being detained prior to deportation, and many have
been settled in this country for years, often with wives and children, whom
they are separated from on deportation.
Recently 17 or 18 Asians were removed without notice to Lindholm, a new
detention centre outside Doncaster. They have rung their former visitors to
say that conditions there are far worse: no library, no games room, no
education at all, and the food is even worse than that at Campsfield.
New visiting regime
A former prison governor, Francis Masserick, is now in charge of detention
centres across the country. He has introduced a new visiting regime where a
Group 4 officer watches over and listens to all visits. The visiting centre
has been limited to one room (two were previously available) with 10
separate tables, each with three black chairs and one red chair for the
detainee. Visitors and detainees are forced to sit on their colour-coded
chair. Only 10 visits can now take place during each session (from 2-5pm
and from 5-7pm) and visits must be booked in advance (before the end of the
previous session). Each detainee is now only allowed two visitors at any
one time.
During Campsfield's six years there has never been an incident in the
visitors' centre, particularly because detainees are so glad to be visited.
But the new regime severely restricts visiting, especially by families with
children. It creates a penal atmosphere for people who are not meant to
undergo punishment.
Actions by detainees
A detainee in Campsfield tried to halt his own deportation. He had had
death threats to himself and to his young sons who were in hiding in
Nigeria. He went on hunger strike and refused to get dressed while in
Campsfield. He was taken to Stansted airport to board a KLM flight to
Amsterdam. As a result of what immigration officials called a 'technical
hitch', he never boarded the plane. The 'hitch' was that before passengers
boarded, he had removed all his clothes. His action won him a reprieve of
three days until he was deported. Another lawyer had a chance to see his
papers, but no legal remedies remained.
Hunger strikes at HMP Rochester
A number of immigration detainees in the detention wing at Rochester prison
in Kent went on hunger strike on 2 July 2000. Five were still on strike 12
days later. In the hospital wing there were five men who had been on hunger
strike for 20 days. The men went on hunger strike against bad conditions
and being locked up in their cells 24 hours a day.
INSIDE CAMPSFIELD
Medical treatment
One detainee has been told he does not need an X-ray of his painful
shoulder. He had already broken his leg running away from the police, and
it was pinned before he came to Britain, but it has been very painful since
he arrived in Campsfield. He was sent to hospital to have it examined, but
no treatment was given. He was told afterwards that he was going to go to
another hospital for it to be dealt with, perhaps reset, but again nothing
has happened for weeks and he is still in detention.
A detainee was deported in severe pain from toothache that he had suffered
from all the time he was in detention. He had had a temporary filling that
had fallen out, probably exposing the nerve. The Campsfield doctor gave him
painkillers and promised a dental appointment. Six weeks later he was
deported, never having seen a dentist, and the morning after his appeal
failed and before he had time to contact his lawyer or apply to the
Tribunal.
Another detainee was held in Campsfield for months, suffering from severe
depression and weight loss. He did not see a psychiatrist before he was
deported, although he was told that he would.
Racism
Group 4 staff are now supposed to be trained to eliminate racism, and there
is an anti-discrimination committee whose photos are displayed in the
visiting room. Some of the new, younger staff and some of the more
experienced are quite friendly and helpful to detainees. But institutional
racism remains. In fact, one detainee pointed to a picture of one of the
committee who he said had been abusing him. Another detainee, who was
recently released (as usual with no money or means of transport), told the
person who gave him a lift into Oxford what a relief it was to be free and
especially to be free from the racial insults such as 'black monkey' and
'black bastard'.
A detainee recently experienced racial abuse in the canteen. He withdrew
his complaint for fear of reprisals such as being moved to another
establishment (he knew of a number of cases where men had been moved from
Campsfield to prison in Derby with no explanation).
Official visitors
Reports from former detainees and visitors led the Campaign to Close
Campsfield to write to the 'Official Visiting Committee' about their
concerns in January 2000 (28/1/00). A reply was received six months later,
in July (27/7/00). The 'Official Visitors' are appointed by the Home Office.
The issues raised by the Campaign were medical provision, especially mental
health, dental treatment, the treatment of detainees by staff and the new
visiting arrangements. The reply from the chair of the 'Official Visitors'
did not investigate any of the issues raised and replied:
'On the point of adequate medical provision for the detainees, I would
state that this is extremely good. The company providing this service
employ qualified mental health nurses in addition to the doctors and other
nurses who are all experienced in assessing patients from a variety of
cultures and backgrounds. It is the responsibility of the Oxford Area
Health Authority to provide secondary care for mental patients. All
services, particularly medical care, are carefully monitored not only by
the Visiting Committee, as an independent watchdog, but also by a Contract
Monitor employed by the Home Office.'
Detainees, however, continue to report indifference to medical symptoms and
four month-long waits for dental treatment (see above). It appears that the
'Contract Monitor' does not include monitoring detainees' views on their
treatment.
The 'Official Visitors' chair also wrote that:
'The relationship that exists between detainees and Group 4 is very
friendly and caring. Group 4 staff go out of their way to ensure that
detainees are made to feel as comfortable as possible and will go the extra
distance required to provide the best for them.'
Recently a visitor who had travelled from London was not allowed to see her
husband because she had not known she had to book an appointment prior to
visiting.
Another time two visitors, one with a baby, were kept waiting outside for
some time because, according to Group 4 staff, 'other visitors were being
processed.' On finally gaining entry they found only two other visitors
were in the building.
Detainees are still afraid to complain. One former detainee, locked up in
Campsfield for months, did not know of the existence of the Home Office
Official Visiting Committee, let alone about his right to complain to them
in confidence.
Visiting with Asylum Welcome
Many new cases are being heard quickly under the 'faster and firmer' (but
not 'fairer') policy. In the meantime, the more difficult and
longer-standing cases are having to wait, and many detainees have been
inside Campsfield for months, suffering from increasing depression. The new
chaplain is full-time and is giving considerable support to many people.
Visitors can do so much by befriending detainees. At the moment, especially
during the holiday season, Asylum Welcome is very short of visitors.
Visiting is very rewarding, and detainees are incredibly grateful. Anyone
who could visit regularly, especially if they speak an Eastern European
language, Chinese or Arabic, please get in touch with Asylum Welcome.
New office for Asylum Welcome
Asylum Welcome has now moved to 276A Cowley Road (with some help from
several Oxford Colleges, which have contributed more than £4,000 to Asylum
Welcome during the last year). The new premises are a great improvement,
mainly because there is now a common room and not just a waiting room.
Asylum Welcome is open to visitors 10am-3pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and
Friday (01865 722082). Oxfordshire Social Services, however, will only
finance accommodation for asylum-seekers with mental health needs, which is
putting more strain on Asylum Welcome's efforts to help people.
Asylum Welcome elected a new chair, Dr John Hyman of The Queen's College,
Oxford, at their Annual General Meeting. Their report of their year's work
is available from their new office.
New detention centres
Immigrant detention capacity was doubled to 400 following the opening of
Campsfield Detention Centre in November 1993. Since then, capacity has
increased three-fold to the current level of over 1,000. Immigration
detention is planned to increase further to 4,000 by 2002 (Jack Straw,
Today Programme, Radio 4, 9 June 2000).
Oakington (6 miles north-west of Cambridge)
Opened March 2000 from converted army barracks. Space for 400. Currently
101 including 19 children.
Harmondsworth (by Heathrow airport)
Will be rebuilt and expanded from 100 to 550 capacity, including units for
families.
Thurleigh (8 miles from Bedford)
Will open April 2001 with 700 capacity for men, women and families.
Aldington (near Ashford, Kent).
Rebuilding of old prison to replace immigration unit at Rochester prison.
Capacity 300. Not intended for children or families.
Lindholm (near Doncaster, Yorkshire)
Half of an existing prison is being converted. Capacity 100.
Unknown
First detention centre is planned for Scotland.
Newspaper hysteria against asylum-seekers
Recently, the Oxford Mail and other Oxford papers seem to have forgotten
their earlier dismay at the treatment of asylum-seekers locked up in
Campsfield detention centre. Back in April 1998, the Oxford Mail wrote:
Campsfield is an abomination to human rights in that it presumes guilt from
the outset. Today those loyal protesters who have been branded as cranks
and soft-centred do-gooders have been proved right. (Oxford Mail, 17/4/98)
Since March this year, the local papers have focused on the costs of
providing emergency accommodation to approximately 1,300 asylum-seekers in
Oxfordshire. In particular, the Oxford Times, the Oxford Mail, and the
Daily Mail, focused on 'unscrupulous landlords' and Oxford papers claimed
that Mohammed Faruq, the owner of Mair Property Services, was set to make a
profit of £2 million as the sole provider of emergency accommodation for
asylum-seekers in Oxford. The issue of the quality of the accommodation for
asylum-seekers had initially been raised by Oxford City Council's
environmental officer. The newspapers were, however, focused on the cost of
the asylum-seekers to the taxpayer. Oxford Mail editor Patrick Fleming
wrote of 'floods of refugees from eastern Europe swamping Oxford and
costing the city a small fortune', and established a special phoneline for
readers to report 'landlords cashing-in on the crisis'.
In reality the cost to Oxford originates from the Home Office reimbursement
scheme, under the interim arrangements created by the 1999 Immigration and
Asylum Act, which limits repayments to Social Services to £140 per week per
asylum-seeker or £240 per week per family. There is no similar cut-off
point for housing other people. As a result, Social Services across the
country are being insufficiently reimbursed when forced to place
asylum-seekers in B&B accommodation.
The 1999 Immigration and Asylum Act also removed benefits from all
asylum-seekers and gave asylum-seekers food vouchers worth £25 and £10 cash
per week. Some asylum-seekers started asking strangers for assistance. In
London and Oxford, a panic started about 'aggressive begging', and Dr Evan
Harris MP complained of the 'use' of children by those begging (although
crèche facilities are non-existent for asylum-seekers). Soon the Oxford
Mail was receiving letters expressing sentiments like 'put our own people
first' and 'charity begins at home'. In fact, the police reported that
there were only six families ever found to be begging in Oxford.
The leader of the Conservative group on Oxfordshire County Council proposed
to create a 'separate town for asylum-seekers', isolated at the Upper
Heyford former RAF base. In the context of Oakington (see above) and the
planned expansion of detention, this should be stopped or Oxford will end
up with two detention centres.
Members of the Campaign to Close Campsfield wrote and organised signatures
for a joint letter published in the Oxford Mail. The Campaign also produced
a leaflet answering the racists' assumptions, entitled 'Putting the Record
Straight: Refugees Are Not Criminals', which supporters distributed widely
on the city's streets. In July and August members of the Campaign leafleted
Cowley Centre with leaflets, first, against the voucher scheme, and,
second, calling on the government to recognise that asylum seekers have the
right to work. Members of the Campaign also took part in the national
demonstration in London called by the Committee in Defence of
Asylum-Seekers. (Earlier version of this article appeared in CARF,
April/May 2000)
Oxfordshire Race Equality Council considers Campsfield
The Close Campsfield Campaign has requested at each AGM for three years
that Oxfordshire Race Equality Council (OREC) address the issue of
Campsfield. In November 1999, a meeting took place, but it was a closed
meeting for an invited audience and the only speakers were from the
Immigration Service. No detainee or asylum-seeker or black or Asian migrant
had been invited to speak. Barbara Gatehouse, chair of OREC and (in a
personal capcity) an 'Official Visitor' to Campsfield, chaired the meeting.
The speakers talked of 'bogus' asylum-seekers and the 'tight ship' run at
Campsfield. In the discussion, Francis Masserick (Detention estate
director, Immigration Service) and Ian Martin (Chief Immigration Officer,
Campsfield) did not accept or plan to investigate any of the criticisms of
the regime in Campsfield raised by the audience. OREC has still not invited
a former detainee to address an OREC meeting.
At OREC's AGM in July 2000, it was announced that members of the OREC
committee now have the right to visit Campsfield. They state that they will
'audit racist incidents', although they have not yet spoken to either
Asylum Welcome or the Campaign to Close Campsfield about recent incidents.
OREC's new policy statement notes that:
'OREC will monitor Campsfield House by taking the following measures:
* Advise Campsfield House on the establishment of a Race Relations
Management Team (RRMT);
Rules for immigration detainees
The 1999 Immigration and Asylum Act has for the first time put detention
centres on a statutory footing. Although the 1971 Immigration Act
introduced the power to detain, it did not authorise the contracting out of
detention centres, nor the regulations governing their management or
regime. Sir David Ramsbotham, the chief inspector of prisons, was 'shocked'
to discover the absence of 'statutory authority' and that there are no
minimum standards of treatment. The new law acts retrospectively to give
parliamentary authority. The regulations now allow for detainees to be
forced to sign a 'compact' with the Immigration Service about their
behaviour in detention, as if detainees had a choice or, like convicted
prisoners serving a sentence of punishment, could gain early release for
'good behaviour'.
Francis Masserick spoke to a meeting of the Association of Visitors to
Immigration Detainees in Oxford in July about the new rules and regulations
that would apply to all detention centres and will be submitted to
parliament in October. The new rules cover three core areas: rights of
detainees, rights of staff, and maintaining safety and security. Operating
standards will be set out in a 10-page document, to come into effect in
November 2000.
Minimum standards for detainees proposed include the right to be fed,
housed, clothed, and have access to a doctor. Detainees do not appear to
have visiting rights as such - all visits will be within sight and hearing
of a staff member. Proposed rules covering rights of staff include powers
of search, powers to measure, fingerprint, photograph detainees, and to
test for drugs or alcohol, and to conduct medical examinations in certain
circumstances.
What especially worried members of the audience was Masserick's outdated
and conservative views on 'how to balance privacy with safety, security and
decency'. The issue of security included, according to Masserick, the
problem of 'Asian visitors with extended family groups'. He was most
concerned about 'decency' and preventing detainees from 'snogging',
especially if 'two males were to embrace each other'. (Restriction on
physical contact between detainees and their families must seem like a
punishment to detainees separated from their partners and children.)
Masserick also appeared to believe that fathers could not look after their
own children in the absence of their mother.
The new rules allow for the imposition of sanctions on detainees. This
endorses existing practice (see earlier editions of Campsfield Monitor) to
move 'disruptive' detainees, or detainees that complain, to prisons. There
appears to be no provision for adjudicating over transfers and permitting
detainees to reply to criticisms. New detention centres may include what is
called 'enclosed accommodation' to segregate individual detainees, as
existing centres such as Campsfield already do.
Demonstrations at Campsfield
The anniversary 'Six Years Too Long' demonstration at Campsfield in
November 1999 was attended by about 300 people. The detainees were kept
locked up inside and prevented from talking to the demonstrators. Police on
horseback intimidated demonstrators and prevented people from banging on
the fence.
Detainees continued to be kept indoors during the monthly demonstrations
until March 2000. People have attended the demonstrations from many places
in the UK, including Coventry, Brighton, Cardiff and London. The monthly
demonstrations this year have also heard speakers from India, Finland,
South Africa and the United States, and a message of support from the
Interfaith Refugee Action Team - Elizabeth (New Jersey, USA).
ACTIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY
Demonstrations at Harmondsworth
About 100 people demonstrated at Harmondsworth Detention Centre (near
Heathrow) on 15 July 2000. Demonstrators, including CAGE supporters,
climbed to the top of the fence and spoke with the detainees inside. The
next day, they and people from the Close Down Harmondsworth Campaign
returned to visit the people they had spoken to over the wire. Security
confiscated the literature and the cherries brought for the detainees but
permitted phonecards to be given to the detainees who came from Albania,
Algeria, India, Kosovo, Pakistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. One
detainee was due to be deported the next day, so demonstrators helped
prevent his deportation (see below).
Demonstration at Haslar
The new group called the South Hants Campaign to Defend Asylum-Seekers
organised a demonstration on 29 July outside Haslar prison at Gosport near
Portsmouth, where 155 asylum-seekers are detained (Home Office figures for
June 2000).
Demonstrations at Oakington
Cambridge Against Refugee Detention (CARD) organised a large demonstration
in Cambridge before Oakington opened. On 17 March 2000, when Barbara Roche,
minister for immigration and nationality, came to inspect the converted
army camp, demonstrators lay down in front of her car.
On 20 March 2000, the first day of opening of Oakington, seven people (four
from the Close Campsfield Campaign and others from ARROW) blockaded the
entrance for an hour. The blockade received national press coverage and the
seven protesters, who held placards stating 'We love asylum-seekers' and
'Refugees are not criminals', were charged with obstruction of the highway.
The charge was changed to obstruction of a police officer after the Crown
Prosecution Service realised that the road was not a highway.
The seven defendants put forward legal and political arguments at their
trial on 26 June, contending that immigration detention was in breach of
the European Convention on Human Rights, and challenging their
'obstruction' of a police officer who would not normally be outside
Oakington. After a full day in court, the magistrates found them guilty and
sentenced them to a £200 fine and £50 costs. All have lodged an appeal
which is due to be heard in November.
On 19 August another demonstration was organised at Oakington with about
200 people. Two people, one dressed in a pink and green furry monster suit,
went into the centre to give the children inside a van-load of toys,
sweets, books and clothes. There were 101 people detained in Oakington
including 19 children. The Home Office is using Oakington to 'fast-track'
asylum claims. The Refugee Legal Centre and the Refugee Council have an
office at Oakington, so the Home Office can use the centre as a way of
turning around cases from assessment to decision especially quickly and is
picking on certain nationalities. In effect, this recreates the 'white
list' of countries from which asylum claims are automatically dismissed.
'Flan' Widdecombe pied
Shadow home secretary Ann Widdecombe learned a valuable lesson in home
economics in May - that stirring up race hatred is a recipe for getting
your just desserts - when she received a pie in the face at a book signing
ceremony at Waterstones in Oxford. The pie was delivered by Agent
Traditional Romany Pie of the Campsfield High Command of the Biotic Baking
Brigade and was in response to the Conservative Tarty's local elections'
manifesto, which described Britain as 'a soft touch for the organised
asylum racketeers who are flooding the country with bogus asylum-seekers'.
Widdecombe had been especially vocal about her plan to lock up all
asylum-seekers.
The Biotic Baking Brigade Agent was whisked off and charged with affray and
common assault. These were later reduced to a lesser charge and Traditional
Romany Pie was ordered to pay court costs and £100 compensation to cover
the dry cleaning bill of 'Flan' Widdecombe's suit. According to a source at
the BBC, Ms Widdecombe's office later stated that any compensation paid
would be donated to an anti-abortion campaign. Agent Traditional Romany Pie
refused to pay the fine at a court appearance this August and was sentenced
to five days in custard-y.
Passengers stop deportations
One of the detainees in Harmondsworth met by the CAGE demonstrators was
Salim Rambo from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He had not seen a
solicitor but had had his asylum case refused on the basis that he had
passed through Germany, which had already refused his asylum application.
CAGE supporters established that he was due to be deported two days later,
did have a legal case to delay his deportation, but that the Immigration
Service would not postpone.
On 18 July, the morning of his deportation, four CAGE supporters leafleted
passengers about to board flight BA902 due to leave at 7.15am. At 8am a
passenger stood up and refused to sit down until Salim was removed. The
flight was delayed by over 2 hours and the pilot insisted that Salim and
the passenger were taken off the plane. Salim is now in detention in Haslar
and continuing with his asylum case. Similar actions in Belgium have led to
commercial airlines refusing to deport asylum-seekers. A spokesperson from
CAGE said: 'It is unbelievable that BA and its shareholders are profiting
from the forced removal of people from the UK. This is the ultimate in
putting profit before life, and it is nice to see that people here are
standing up to it...literally!'
On 21 July, the action was repeated by friends of Amanji Gafor from the
Bristol Campaign to Defend Asylum-Seekers. An Iraqi Kurd, Amanji Gafor was
being deported to Germany on flight BA4715 from Gatwick. The Home Office
told a local councillor that the deportation had been postponed because of
the planned demonstration at Gatwick. Just in case, the demonstration went
ahead. Angus Crawford from the PM Programme, BBC Radio 4, reported that
some of the passengers ignored the demonstrators but others took leaflets
and signed the petition. A German traveller said 'it's a good idea', he
reported, and another said 'if we can make some sort of gesture to stand up
for human rights, I think that's a positive thing.'
Without warning his solicitor, Amanji Gafor was then removed from the BA
flight and booked on to a Lufthansa flight at another time. But he managed
to resist his own deportation and was taken back to Tinsley House Detention
Centre.
Eventually Amanji Gafor was removed by boat from the UK on Sunday 13 August
2000 after a four-and-a-half year struggle to seek asylum in six European
countries. His deportation ended a seven-month battle in the UK during
which activists stopped three removal attempts on British Airways and
Lufthansa flights. After several corporate fines, electronic actions and
fax campaigns, airlines have refused to carry him, fearing for their image,
and the British government was forced to resort to deportation by sea. A
sea blockade was planned, but in the end Amanji made a decision to leave -
a decision that was painfully respected by his supporters. Amanji has been
ground down by his rejection in fortress Europe, by hard-faced and callous
governments, by bogus solicitors that sapped his earnings, by the beatings
and brutality of deportation officers and by years of imprisonment without
trial in Europe's detention centres. He has learned to say 'asylum' and
'goodbye' in six languages. He is now in a rural refugee camp in Germany
awaiting removal in the near future back to Iraq. Before he left Amanji
said:
'I will not beg those who do not want me anymore: the solicitors, the
governments. I know it is not people's wish but now I want go back and
fight. I leave behind me a new-found family in the UK - those who came to
visit me in detention, the trade unionists that adopted me, the many
supporters that I will never know, the protesters who faced police lines
and the courts for myself and others. Now, I prefer to fight and pay the
price of death for my beliefs in Iraq and to stand proud in the face of
tyranny rather than beg for the human rights that Europe doesn't offer any
more.'
The UK government plans to increase significantly the rate of removals and
deportations. The Home Office target for 2000 is 12,000, for 2001 30,000,
and by 2002 37,000 removals. Home Office figures show that, for the first
six months of 2000, there was a 29.8 per cent increase in the number of
deportations and removals compared with the same period in 1999 (and a 44
per cent increase over the same period in 1998). From 1 January to 30 June
2000 22,645 people were deported from the UK. Since coming to power in May
1997 until May 2000, New Labour has deported over 116,828 people. Another
3,725 were deported in June 2000. On 30 June 2000, 1,038 people (not
including those in Oakington) were detained under immigration powers.
CAGE is collecting airmiles to subsidise actions against deportations. To
help, contact CAGE (see below).
UK Civil Rights
Caravan to visit Oxford and Barbed Wire Europe conference
Starting mid-September, a Civil Rights Caravan will travel throughout
England for a month of solidarity with asylum-seekers, migrants and victims
of racist attacks and murders. The Caravan, a form of grass-roots
resistance pioneered by migrants in Germany, demands:
* Full rights for asylum-seekers, undocumented workers, migrants and
victims of racist attacks;
The Caravan will visit the Barbed Wire Europe conference during the
afternoon of Sunday 17 September and go up to Campsfield for the
demonstration at 5pm.
For further details and offers of help, contact CARF (see below).
Contact details
Asylum Welcome
AVID: Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees
Campaign to Close Campsfield
BID: Bail for Immigration Detainees
BDASC: Bristol Defend Asylum-Seekers Campaign
ARROW
The CAGE network,
CARD: Cambridge Against Refugee Detention
CARF: Campaign Against Racism and Fascism
Close Down Harmondsworth Campaign
IRATE: Interfaith Refugee Action Team - Elizabeth (New Jersey, USA)
NCADC: National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns
OREC: Oxfordshire Race Equality Council
South Hants Campaign to Defend Asylum-Seekers
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