Refugee Archive Newsletter (02 December 2009)

Refugee Archive Newsletter

This newsletter is produced on a regular basis to help disseminate news and further information in relation to refugee and forced migration issues. The newsletter is produced by the Refugee Archives service at the University of East London. This will also be available via our Refugee Studies Blog at: http://refugee-archives.blogspot.com/

News and Media Stories

Iraq Inquiry

The Daily Telegraph (01/12/09): Iraq inquiry: Tony Blair asked for war plans to be prepared in June 2002

The Independent (01/12/09): I did not bully Lord Goldsmith, insists Blair

The Independent (30/11/09): Ministers fear Iraq backlash will lose Labour the election

The Daily Telegraph (27/11/09): Iraq inquiry: war ‘not legitimate’, Sir Jeremy Greenstock tells inquiry

The Times (27/11/09): Blair may have ‘signed in blood’ to topple Saddam a year before war

The Independent (26/1109): Iraq: The inquiry cover-up that will keep us in the dark

The Independent (26/11/09): Officials knew WMD evidence was tainted

The Independent (26/11/09): Adrian Hamilton: The one thing Chilcot won't reveal is the truth

The Times (26/11/09): Blair 'knew Saddam did not have WMD before war started'

The Daily Telegraph (25/11/09): Iraq inquiry: Tony Blair told ‘days before invasion’ WMD had been dismantled

The Times (25/11/09): US ‘drumbeats’ about Iraq invasion were heard months before 9/11

The Independent (24/11/09): Iraq invasion discussed in 2001 – but was dismissed as illegal

The Daily Telegraph (24/11/09): Iraq inquiry: Britain rejected regime change as illegal in 2001

Swiss Minarets Vote

The Guardian (01/12/09): Letters: Swiss minarets and democracy

IRR News (30/11/09): Swiss poll crushes minarets

The Independent (30/11/09): Swiss voters back right-wing minaret ban

The Guardian (30/11/09): Swiss minarets: is EU following Arabs down path of self-pity and xenophobia?

The Guardian (30/11/09): Switzerland: Hatred beneath the harmony

Refugees and Asylum Related Stories

Amnesty International (02/12/09): Victims of Peru Amazon violence deserve justice without discrimination

The Independent (02/12/09): Tamils on the road as Sri Lanka opens refugee camps

The Independent (02/12/09): 'Historic' ruling on secret evidence

The Guardian (01/12/09): Blow to home secretary as terror suspects win secret evidence case

Amnesty International (01/12/09): Sri Lankan government must permanently release all civilians

Refugee Council Poliblog (30/11/09): Two takes on Issues facing asylum seeking women...

UK Home Office Press Release (30/11/09) National identity card launched in Manchester

The Guardian (30/11/09): We need a gender-sensitive asylum system

The Observer (29/11/09): Detention of children at immigration 'prisons' attacked by MPs

Amnesty International (27/11/09): Commonwealth leaders must focus on Sri Lanka crisis

Refugee Council News (27/11/09): Safety of child asylum seekers given boost after court ruling

UK Home Office Press Release (27/11/09): Home Office minister welcomes increased Chinese cooperation to tackle serious crime and migration issues

The Guardian (27/11/09): Lady Scotland's ex-housekeeper charged with immigration offences

The Daily Telegraph (27/11/09): Hidden threat from al-Qaeda sleeper cells

BBC News (27/11/09): Khmer Rouge chief Duch stuns court with release bid

The Independent (27/11/09): Why Conservatives failed the test on Islamic schools

IRR News (26/11/09): Dickensian poverty in the twenty-first century

UK Home Office Press Release (26/11/09): Immigration and asylum statistics released

(Further details on Publications below).

The Guardian (26/11/09): Net migration falls by one-third

The Independent (26/11/09): Can a Muslim say happy Christmas to his friends?

ICRC News (25/11/09): Red Cross Red Crescent issues universal call to action to tackle today's humanitarian challenges

The Independent (25/11/09): Congolese 'warlords' deny slaughtering entire villages

The Guardian (24/11/09): The brutal truth of child detention



New Reports and Publications

Asylum Aid, the national independent charity who work with those seeking to flee human rights violations abroad, have issued a new report entitled `Every Single Woman.’ This is published under the banner of the Charter of Rights of Women Seeking Asylum which, in the words of Asylum Aid, `calls on the UK Border Agency to commit to treating women seeking asylum with fairness, dignity and respect. This means creating a system which recognises the particular issues which cause women to seek asylum and understands their particular needs as women.’ Details of the new puiblication and the Charter can be found as follows:

i) Every Single Woman – campaigning brief (16p.)

ii) Every Single Woman – extended brief (26p.)

iii) Every Single Woman – Watch the Film.

iv) Charter of Rights of Women Seeking Asylum – the Charter and accompanying website.

Further Information: 'We need a gender-sensitive asylum system' Debora Singer in The Guardian

Group Denial: Repression of Kurdish Political and Cultural Rights in Syria
Produced by Human Rights Watch
Available to read online and to order in hard copy at: http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2009/11/26/group-denial

Details from Human Rights Watch:

“This 63-page report documents the Syrian authorities' efforts to ban and disperse gatherings calling for Kurdish minority rights or celebrating Kurdish culture, as well as the detention of leading Kurdish political activists and their ill-treatment in custody. The repression of Kurds in Syria has greatly intensified following large-scale Kurdish demonstrations in March 2004. The report is based on interviews with 30 Kurdish activists recently released from prison, as well as 15 relatives of Kurdish activists still in jail. The Syrian government refused to reply to requests for information or meetings with Human Rights Watch.”

A Press Release is also available. http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/11/26/syria-end-persecution-kurds

Amnesty International has recently published the following campaign digest on the violence and discrimination experience by women in Yemen:

Yemen’s dark side: Discrimination and violence against women and girls (campaign digest)

Index Number: MDE 31/014/2009 ; Date Published: 25 November 2009

Available online in PDF format at: Yemen’s dark side: Discrimination and violence against women and girls

A news brief is also available entitled `Yemeni women face violence and discrimination.'

The UK Home Office has recently published its Control of Immigration statistics for the Third Quarter of 2009. A direct link to the PDF is available by clicking on the title below, and further information is available from the Home Office Research Development and Statistics page at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration-asylum-stats.html

Direct Link to PDF file: Control of Immigration: Quarterly Statistical Summary, United Kingdom - Third Quarter 2009

Still with the Home Office, the Refugee Council Poliblog posting on the 30^th November entitled `Two takes on Issues facing asylum seeking women...' (detailed above), refers to two recently published documents on dealing with violence against women. These have been published by the UK Home Office and the voluntary organisation Rights for Women, and full details of both will be detailed as follows:

1) Together We Can End Violence Against Women and Girls: a Strategy (PDF file - 1mb - Warning: large file) Published by the Home Office who state that, ` This cross-government strategy sets out a range of actions for the police, councils, the NHS and other government departments across three key areas: prevention, provision and protection.” Additional annexes to the main report are also available: Together We Can End Violence Against Women and Girls: Annexes to the Strategy (PDF file - 630kb) ; and an introduction to the report can be found on the Home Office web page entitled: ` Together We Can End Violence Against Women and Girls: a Strategy.’

2) Seeking Refuge? A handbook for asylum-seeking women is a recently published handbook produced by the voluntary organisation Rights of Women, whose role is to work with women to help empower their legal rights. Further details of the organisation and information on their work and related resources can be found on their website at: http://www.rightsofwomen.org.uk/

Posted in News and Publications.