On Tuesday I attended the massive gathering at SADACCA, organised by Stand Up to Racism, to plan our response to the far-right racist violence we have seen in our community recently. The thugs that came to the Hotel at Wath could have succeeded in burning down the building, seriously endangering the lives of all the asylum seekers living there as well as the staff. We heard from Maleiki Haybe, Green Party Councillor for Broomhall and Sharrowvale, Labour MP for Sheffield Central Abtisam Mohamed and Maxine Bowler from Stand up to Racism. Here are some of the speeches from that meeting.
On Wednesday the far right had declared they were again going to cause chaos in Sheffield and Rotherham forcing many businesses to close. But a great turnout of people showing that refugees are welcome in South Yorkshire was mobilised and the fascists failed to turn up.
City of Sanctuary have issued these ideas to help build up community and resist the far-right thuggery.
Owen Jones reflected on how the far-right were humiliated on Wednesday.
On Saturday please come to Sheffield City Hall at 12 noon to show that the far right are not representative of the people of Sheffield and that refugees are welcome here. We won’t put up with Islamaphobia or discrimination against any minority group.
The fascists may have been put off rioting, but they have left behind a terrible fear in our communities and racist physical attacks have increased. It has been reported that many asylum seekers are frightened to go out and are not attending food banks and advice centres.
Sarli Nana, Migrant Organiser, Yorkshire & the Humber Region has signed a letter from the Abolish Reporting Campaign to the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper which has been signed by 134 different organisations. Currently, Asylum Seekers are forced to report to the Home Office on a regular basis. This often involves long journeys, with two reporting centres covering the whole of Yorkshire. When they get to the Home Office they have no idea if they will be taken into custody, deported or sent back to their accommodation. Sarli is asking for these reporting conditions to be relaxed, so that asylum seekers can usually report by telephone instead of having to make long journeys in which they could come face to face with the sort of people we have witnessed rioting on our streets. Telephone reporting was acceptable during COVID-19, so why not now?
Reporting conditions are just one of the many ways in which asylum seekers and migrants are unable to live a dignified life and are part of the brutal Hostile Environment Immigration policy which inflicts violence on our communities. The new Labour Government should be abolishing them and giving asylum seekers the right to work.
For more information see https://www.migrantsorganise.org/ and in particular the various papers on Reporting Conditions.
You could help by sending a similar letter to your MP and asking them to forward it to the Home Secretary.
Here is the letter in full.
Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP
Secretary of State for the Home Office
Rt Hon Seema Malhotra MP
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Migration and Citizenship
8 August 2024
Dear Home Secretary,
Urgent: Immediate Suspension of Immigration Bail Reporting Conditions
We request that you immediately suspend all immigration bail reporting conditions.
We are groups located across the UK, led by and providing support to migrants subject to immigration bail reporting conditions. We are gravely concerned about high risks to the safety and welfare of migrants and the wider public as a result of continuing in-person immigration reporting during the ongoing escalation of nationwide far-right violence targeting migrant and racialised communities.
In line with the Government’s duty of care for the health and safety of reporting persons, all immigration bail reporting conditions should be immediately suspended. Similarly, appropriate security measures should be taken to safeguard those who have scheduled biometrics appointments at reporting centres. People should receive clear and accurate notification of any rescheduling of necessary appointments.
Individuals subject to immigration bail reporting conditions must attend Home Office reporting centres at set dates and times. Many have to travel long distances to and from reporting appointments, often via transit routes requiring long wait times in isolated places, and may do so alone, increasing their vulnerability.
During the present escalation of far-right violence against migrants, racialised people and Muslims—which has included the targeting of specific locations such as immigration reporting centres, asylum accommodation hotels, and legal firms and community organisations working with migrants—a continuation of immigration bail reporting conditions constitutes a serious risk of both mental and physical harm.
In ordinary circumstances, immigration bail reporting conditions are physically exhausting or painful for individuals with physical disabilities and distressing, particularly for those with mental health conditions. Many people reporting are asylum seekers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression and/or other serious mental health conditions. Requiring them to continue to report during a period of heightened risk of violence, fear and intimidation is already having a grave impact on people’s mental health. The harmful impact of reporting for immigration bail on vulnerable groups is set out in the report by Migrants Organise, which is enclosed with this letter. This impact is exacerbated during the present state of heightened risk.
There is no justification for requiring immigration bail reporting conditions to continue in light of the present risks of violence and harm to persons reporting.
Available data indicates that the rate of absconding has consistently been in the single digits, below 5%. The current Home Office policy is also clear that telephone reporting should be the main form of reporting. Any public interest in managing the risk of individuals absconding is thus far outweighed by the serious risks to safety, health and wellbeing that individuals will be exposed to. Such a decision therefore would be irrational, and likely to be in breach of government’s duties under Article 2 (right to life), Article 3 (right against inhuman and degrading treatment) and Article 8 (right to private life) of the European Convention of Human Rights, as well as duties under Equality Act 2010.
Please confirm that you will be immediately suspending immigration bail reporting conditions by no later than 4pm Tuesday 13 August 2024. Please provide confirmation by email.
Yours sincerely,
Abolish Reporting Liverpool
Abolish Reporting London
Abolish Reporting Manchester
Abolish Reporting Sheffield
ACH
Action for Refugees in Lewisham
After Exploitation
All African Women’s Group
Anti-Raids Sheffield
Asha North Staffordshire
Asylum Aid
Asylum Link Merseyside
Asylum Matters
Asylum Welcome
Anti Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit (ATLEU)
Bail for Immigration Detainees
Better Bilingual
Bhatt Murphy
Birch Network
Bradford Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Survivors Service
Bristol Defend Asylum Seekers Campaign
Bristol Hospitality Network
Bristol Law Centre
Bristol Refugee Rights
Bristol Reporting Solidarity
Campaign Against Anti-Muslim Hate
Care 4 Calais
Care4Calais Sheffield
Causeway (UK)
Citizens Advice Sheffield
Citizens Advice Staffordshire North and Stoke-on-Trent
City of Sanctuary Sheffield
Coalition of Latin Americans in the UK
Cornwall Refugee Resource Network
Coventry Asylum and Refugee Action Group (CARAG)
Cyfoeth Y Coed
Devon and Cornwall Refugee Support
ENTRAIDE
Evesham Vale Welcomes Refugees
Friends of the Drop In for Asylum Seekers and Refugees (FODI)
Fresh Grassroots Rainbow Community
George Rosenberg Law Ltd
Global Women Against Deportations
Gloucestershire Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers (GARAS)
Govan Community Project
Gower College Swansea
Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU)
Haringey Migrant Support Centre
Haringey Welcome
Hay, Brecon and Talgarth Sanctuary for Refugees
Helen Bamber Foundation
Hope Projects
Humans of Wolverhampton
Humber All Nations Alliance (HANA)
Indoamerican Refugee and Migrant Organisation
Islington Centre for Refugees and Migrants
Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI)
Jesuit Refugee Service UK
Journey LGBT+ Asylum Group
Jubilee for Climate
Julian House
Kashmir International
Latin American House
Law Centres Network
Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network (LRMN)
Liverpool Law Clinic
Medact Migrant Solidarity Group
Medact Sheffield
Merseyside Solidarity Knows No Borders
Migrants Organise
National AIDS Trust
New Citizen’s Gateway
North Derbyshire Refugee Support Group
Oasis Church
Out in Cov
POMOC Direct Services
Portsmouth City of Sanctuary (PCoS)
Public Interest Law Centre
Rainbow Haven
Rainbow Migration
RAPAR
RAS Voice Manchester
Refugee Action
Refugee Action Kingston
Refugee Council
Refugee Legal Support
Refugee Women of Bristol
Refugee, Asylum Seeker and Migrant Action
RefYouMe
Resistance Kitchen
Restore, a project of Birmingham Churches Together
Revoke CIC
Right to Remain
Room to Heal
Samphire – Post-Detention Support Project
Sante Refugee Mental Health Access Project
Savana
Seraphus
Sheffield Radical Mutual Aid
Six Ways Erdington Baptist Church
Solidarity Knows No Borders Yorkshire
South London Refugee Association (SLRA)
South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group (SYMAAG)
Southeast and East Asian Women’s Association (SEEAWA)
Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers
St Augustine’s Centre, Halifax
St Chad’s Sanctuary
Stafford Welcomes Refugees
Staffordshire North & Stoke-on-Trent Citizens Advice
Stand and Be Counted Theatre
Stand Up to Racism
Stand Up to Racism Calderdale
Stand Up to Racism Greater Manchester
Stand Up to Racism Sheffield
Stories of Hope and Home
Student Action for Refugees
Swansea City of Sanctuary – Reporting Support Swansea
These Walls Must Fall
Unison Manchester
University Hospitals Birmingham
University of London Refugee Law Clinic
Vauxhall Law Centre
Voice of Voiceless Immigration Detainees Yorkshire (VVIDY)
Voices in Exile
Waltham Forest Migrant Action (WFMA)
We Got to Move
Welsh Refugee Council
Wilson Solicitors LLP
Wolverhampton City of Sanctuary
Women Against Rape
Women Asylum Seekers Together (WAST) Manchester
Women for Refugee Women
Women of Colour/Global Women Strike
WTB Solicitors LLP
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