Bristol West constituent and resident Kabran due to be deported to life threatening situation in less about 6 hours.

Great news an injunction to stop Kabran Eric's Flight has been granted! This means he won't fly today, but he will remain in detention. Thank you all so much for your help. Let's keep on fight this unjust system! Kabran may be save today, but the system is broken 

Kabran's deportation cancelled less than 4 hours before the flight, system not right #‎STOPdeportations‬ @DignityBristol 

Kabran Eric is part of our Dignity group family.

Sadly despite our efforts, Kabran Eric told us he is being moved ready for deportation and doesn't think he will have access to his phone. As you can imagine we are really upset about this and extremely worried about him. He faces real danger in the Ivory Coast, due to his involvement in the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), with his brother and friends having been killed.

We are still fighting, just this morning his solicitor has made extra submissions and lodged an injunction application at the High Court and his MP Stephen Williams' office has written to the home office and over 500 people have signed his petition online and on paper in support of Kabran Didier-Eric Yao and many people have been phoning and e-mailing Kenyan Airlines. We have 6 hours left to make a fuss about this injustice. 

Please share your outrage on Twitter and Facebook and write to his MP Stephen Williams, whose office is being very supportive of Kabran. We need to share how frustrating this system is and how it needs to change.

Kabran has new evidence which hasn't been looked at yet. It does not make sense for him to be deported without even looking at this fresh evidence supporting his claim.

Talking to Kabran on the phone last week during our

Dignity Group Iftar Dinner, which he had planned to cook.

Kabran was detained on 2 weeks ago on 16th July, since then we have been campaigning and supporting him. He was given removal directions just one week ago. We believe this rushed process intentionally prevents Kabran and many others from having their case fully examined and considered.

Kabran's asylum case was refused a few months ago and since then new evidence has come to light. New material was published which added to his case and additional evidence was received. Prior his detention Kabran wanted to put in a new case, but he was not able to access legal aid and was unable to find any legal representation. Even after he was detained we spent a lot of time trying to find a solicitor willing to represent him, many were too busy or unable to take on a client in detention and eventually a friend of his found and paid for a solicitor for him.

Rushing into deporting people, whilst denying them access to legal aid and not exploring their evidence is wrong and is a sign of an asylum system which prizes removals of people over protecting those at risk from political and other forms of persecution as the UK has agreed to through the Refugee Convention and Protocol. 

Kabran update - can you contact Kenya Airlines to stop a deportation?

Kabran’s removal is scheduled for Wednesday, and we won’t find out until the last minute whether efforts from his solicitor and MP have been successful. If they are unable to cancel the deportation, the next opportunity to win time for Kabran’s fresh claim is through the airline itself - Kenya Airlines.

Many campaigns have been successful in persuading airline companies to refuse carriage, thus effectively preventing a removal. Kenya Airlines has responded to positively to public pressure in the past.

If you can, please telephone Kenya Airlines on +44 20 82831800 (London office) or +44 020 8759 7366 (Airport office, listed as Emergencies only) and ask them not to participate in the unjust deportation of Kabran Didier-Eric Yao

Please write to them at customer.relations@kenya-airways.com and UKres@kenya-airways.com and/or fax their London office on +44 020 8283 1880

To help you, we have drafted the letter below. Please feel free to use it as it is or to make any changes you see fit - unique, personalised messages are probably even more effective, but sheer volume of response is also persuasive.

If you get a response, please let us know on asylumisnotacrime [at] gmail.com.

Thank you!

The Kabran support team





Dear Kenya Airways


I am concerned about the safety of a passenger booked on your flight KQ101 to Nairobi at 20:00 on 30.07.14, and KQ520 to Abidjan 09:05 31.07.14.

His full name is Kabran Didier-Eric Yao (HO ref A1827716). He is scheduled to be deported against his will, by the Home Office, despite having a strong prima facie case for humanitarian asylum and fresh evidence to submit a new claim.

Kabran fled from Ivory Coast, where his life was in danger due to his involvement in the Ivorean Popular Front (FPI). When the FPI lost power after a disputed election in 2010 more than 3,000 FPI supporters were killed, among them Kabran’s brother.

I believe this is as strong as evidence for a direct personal threat to life is ever likely to get, and that the Home Office is acting unlawfully and against its moral duties and international legal obligations.

Kabran will no doubt be escorted onto the plane by security guards, but he is likely to be fearful and distressed - he is anticipating a life-threatening situation when he arrives, and it is only just over a year since he fled, so it is likely the situation is still very dangerous for former FPI supporters.

His very understandable fear and distress is likely to show and be distressing to other passengers, and create a very negative impression of the airline, for accepting the contract with the Home Office to remove someone so unjustly.

A petition from Bristol friends, who know Kabran from the Refugee Welcome Centre (https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/let-kabran-stay), has received over 400 signatures and is being presented to our MP today, in the hope of cancelling the deportation instruction to gain time for Kabran to present fresh evidence to support his application for humanitarian refugee status.

Please consider his safety on and after the flight, the likely distress to other passengers, and the reputational risk to your company.

It is also not only the Home Office's legal and moral responsibility to uphold international humanitarian law, it is every individual and organisation's responsibility. Complying with the order from the Home Office is no excuse, it is not "just doing a job", it is sending someone back into serious personal danger against their will, and retrospectively it might be judged unlawful.

Please refuse to transport Kabran against his will, to help make sure Kabran has a fair chance and a proper hearing for his humanitarian asylum claim.

Yours sincerely

Sign here

Share our support for Kabran

Many thanks to all those who have already signed the petition to free Kabran Eric at https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/let-kabran-stay we have over 200 signatures, lots of retweets and facebook shares and some actions which is great!

Lake District Arts Projects sends a message of support for Eric
Please send any photos of support or action to
asylumisnotacrime@mail.com

Please keep spreading the word, get your friends involved and share by email, Click to share on Facebook and Click to share on Twitter, or good old fashioned word of mouth. We don't have much time as Kabran has removal directions for 30th July, so we need to act now!

The last few days have involved lots of phoning solicitors to try and get legal representation for Kabran. It has really brought home to us the volume of people in detention who are in need of legal support, and the need for more availability of legal aid to fund immigration cases. The Home Office has created a completely unjust situation in which hundreds of vulnerable people are denied access to the help and support they need simply by bureaucracy.

In the next few days, we will be increasing the pressure on local MP Stephen Williams to intervene on behalf of Kabran, using the petition (online at https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/let-kabran-stay and some signatures we have collected on paper). Watch this space for updates on our plans to deliver the petition to Stephen Williams early next week.

No-one is free until we are all free.

Please sign and share this petition for our friend Kabran, currently detained at Campsfield: https://t.co/uKnSd54UZh via @38_degrees
— Dignity4AsylumSeeker (@DignityBristol) July 24, 2014

Freedom for Kabran

We were just recovering from the emotional rollercoaster of Hussein's detention, deportation orders and subsequent release when another friend of ours, Kabran Didier-Eric Yao, was also detained at Trinity Police Station, Bristol, and is now at being held at Campsfield. Kabran is from Ivory Coast and has been in Bristol for just over a year.

Kabran's asylum claim was rejected, but he now has evidence to make a fresh claim. However, he has been given removal directions for July 30. He has so far been unable to see a solicitor in detention and needs more time to prepare his case. Please join us in calling on Stephen Williams, local MP for Bristol West, to ask the Home Office to revoke Kabran's removal directions; release him from detention; and give him more time to prepare a fresh claim for asylum in the UK.

You can read more about Kabran's situation, and sign a petition for his realease, at https://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/kabran

Watch this space for more things you can do to support Kabran. Everyone deserves the right to freedom and safety.

We have been making signs for the Walk For Dignity!

At Bristol Lord Mayor's Tea Party

Over 100 people came to the Lord Mayor's House in Bristol on 19th June, including City of Sanctuary, Still Human, Still Here, the Lord Mayor Faruk Choudhury, Mayor of Bristol George Ferguson, asylum seekers and refugees, there was a really nice atmosphere. 

Patrick sang his song about Bristol, city of sanctuary and spoke wonderful words about refused asylum seekers whose basic human rights are violated and some people wore boiler suits with slogans about asylum seekers on them.

Mahsa, an asylum seeker who has been turned down, gave speech about the experiences of herself, her mother and her brother. She told us how she felt when the refusal letter came and her family had to leave the house without any support. She asked how she could prove herself, she was just here in UK for one year, she talked about her unclear future, not even knowing what will happen tomorrow. The government may detain them, her mother needs to be looked after and her brother has to move from place to place.

In the garden

Manesh spoke briefly about destitute asylum seekers issues, those who have not got any support such as a somewhere to stay, food to eat and how they must to go to the police station to report to the home office and give an address. He spoke how these trials can bring up a lot of mental problems and also talked about family life, because people are here for years and years and they can't see their family. He invited all the people to come to Dignity for Asylum Seekers March to raise awareness and end the destitution. 

Leaflet

This morning a team of us are meeting to take these leaflets to many different places in Bristol and talk to different people about what we are organising. We are then going to celebrate our hard work with a proper good lunch cooked by friends! Yay.

If you would like some for your work, faith, community space then please email us at asylumisnotacrime@mail.com or via facebook.

Speeches in English or many languages?

We had an interesting conversation in our meeting last Wednesday and we would be interested to hear your thoughts.

Visit to Cardiff

A group of us visited Woman Seeking Sanctuary Group in Cardiff to tell them about our campaigning history, what we have achieved so far, how we have done it and to invite them to join us in the next step - a national day of asylum seekers taking action against destitution.

Amie spoke about how when she got involved in Bristol Refugee Rights she was so shy and didn't dare speak out about what was happening but with lots of support, she began to take part in events where she told lots of people what it is like to live without anything - no rights to work, to housing, to a normal life.

Manesh spoke about how he started being allowed to go to college and how it was so important for him to learn to read and write in english. Then they turned round and told him he couldn't. He wanted to change this situation and so spoke out at a protest to stop cuts to english classes. from here he got more and more confident to take part in campaigning.

People listened attentively. They began to ask questions - aren't you scared that home office will punish you for speaking out and that it will jeapordise your case?

We were, but not any more. We know we have a lot of support and feel stronger because of this. We know people will speak out if the Home Office tries to deport any of us.

We have leaflets!

 

Hard at work planning!

Here is a sneak preview of our leaflets from our planning meeting yesterday. We will be hitting the streets distributing some of our 6,000 leaflets from Monday, so you should soon find some somewhere in Bristol near you…. Or even better perhaps you want to help out with leaflet distribution? Contact asylumisnotacrime@mail.com to join us in leaflet distributing fun!

We should be doing ourselves out of a job

Rose, a member of the dignity for asylum seekers planning group shares why she thinks the march on June 29th is so important.

Text of motion in support of destitute asylum seekers to be brought to the next meeting of Full Council on TUESDAY 15 JANUARY 2013 from 2pm in the council chambers at city hall.

Asylum seekers and supporters will be sleeping out on college green tonight prior to this motion being brought tomorrow, for those who can't sleep over, please come and visit us this evening or join us from 12pm on Tuesday 15th. The council session starts at 2pm (full agenda of meeting.)

COUNCILLOR R STONE TO MOVE:  BRISTOL A CITY OF SANCTUARY: MOTION TO FULL COUNCIL 15TH JANUARY 2013, 2PM

Cllr Ron Stone alongside other councillors from other parties, have taken up this campaign with voluntary sector organisations and destitute asylum seekers and the council will debate this motion on the 15th January. The full text of the motion is below.

Bristol A City Of Sanctuary?

Bristol City Council adopted a motion in November 2010 to support the declaration of Bristol as a City Of Sanctuary, which took place on 22nd June 2011.

By so doing, the City Council committed itself to recognising the plight of genuine asylum seekers forced to flee their home countries for expressing views or holding opinions ruling regimes disagreed with or found to be confrontational.

In exercising their Human Right of Free Speech in their own countries, many have received death threats, suffered beatings and threats to their family members, forcing them to abandon their homes, their country and all their possessions. If their cases are refused they lose financial support and accommodation. Current laws prohibit their right to work. 

This leaves them in a cycle of deprivation and poverty that is currently impossible to break. Many are forced into homelessness on the street.

Council welcomes the Glasgow City Council initiative in passing a motion, highlighting the concerns for refused asylum seekers, and lack of support and facilities UK wide.

Council asserts that if our proud declaration stating Bristol IS a City of Sanctuary is to be meaningful and worthy of it’s fine words we MUST act to improve this situation as follows:

1.      That the Mayor write on behalf of the City Council to the Minister of State deploring the government policy that forces refused asylum seekers into destitution, while they continue to fight for a safe haven from persecution.

2.      That the Mayor writes to the UK Government seeking a change of policy to allow local authorities to assist refused asylum seekers in danger of destitution, and provide equal emergency provision to refused asylum seekers as to any other homeless person in Bristol.

3.      That the Mayor calls on all Bristol MPs to support the content of this motion and to raise the matter in the House of Commons, and support a change in current laws regarding asylum applications by removing restrictions on local authorities in the support they can provide to destitute asylum seekers, and to restore their right to work.

4.      Agrees to produce a report highlighting all existing support available in Bristol including Housing Training Education Legal Advice open to vulnerable asylum applicants

5.      Believes that the City Council should work closely with the voluntary sector through a designated officer to provide help, support and advice to applicants and enable a coordinated response to be easily available to those in need, at this vulnerable times of their lives.

6.      Join the national campaign Still Human, Still Here (coalition of 29 organisations,  including the CofE and Catholic Archbishops’  Conferences, Amnesty  International and the Red Cross, who are proposing practical solutions to ending the destitution of refused asylum seekers in the UK)[1]. 

7.      Agrees to seek further support for this motion and actions via The Local Government  Association encouraging other Councils in the UK to follow Bristol’s lead.

Cllr Ron Stone. Deputy Leader Labour Group

We won £1,000 for the Campaign from Lush at the Green Gathering

                                                               Congratulations

After the demonstration a few month ago last Sunday 5th August, 'Dignity for Asylum Seekers' was invited to take part in the Lush campaigns competition at the Green Gathering. Esam and Alice talked and we won £1000.

Afterwards many people came and told they were being influenced and also cried while Esam and Alice were speaking and want to help and support. I always believed people can be really helpful  and care if we can tell them who Asylum seekers are.

Manesh

Dignity for asylum seekers

A few months after the start of the movement and amazingly asylum seekers attended many different ceremonies and events, like Refugee week, City of sanctuary, Radio, TV. We've have protests that were well attended by supporters and asylum seekers and then Ibrahim's beautiful movement and the strike against homelessness and rising confidence in them, so let's continue the challenge and be optimistic of the future.
Manesh

Meeting with Councillors about Destitution

Last Friday 20th July at 11.30am asylum seekers and their supporters spoke with Labour councillor Ron Stone who responded to the invitation to come out on to College Green to meet. 

He listened sympathetically to Ibrahim and many other asylum seekers. He signed our petition and assured the group of his support when we take the petition to the full meeting of the council on Tuesday 4 September.

Lib Dem councillor Simon Cook was away and Guy Poultney his stand in was unavailable. The group went into the foyer of the Council House and managed to just catch Councillor Negus as he was rushing off to a meeting and speak to him. Despite being told Stephen Williams MP was not at his regular Friday surgeries, but was away on holiday, he was spotted and people managed to speak to him for 25 minutes as he was returning from lunch.


This is a promising start and we now plan to ask Bristol council to follow the example of Glasgow City council in condemning the UK Border Agency's policy of destitution and eviction of refused asylum seekers; agreeing that this policy is increasing the strain on the charities and communities supporting their basic needs and asking the government to change the existing rules, which severely restrict local authorities in the support they can provide for failed asylum seekers.


This statement will be presented at 5:30pm at the council house, please come if you can and bring any petitions with signatures. All the petitions will be collected and presented to the full council meeting on 4th September.

ONLINE PETITION  

PRINTABLE PETITION

DESTITUTION VIDEO