Dear friends,

Please read this and circulate it to as many people as you can. We are
collecting letters over the next 2 weeks. Apologies if you receive it
from more than one source.

On Saturday May 19th there is a National Day of Action to Defend
Asylum Rights. One of the activities we are planning in Coventry is to
walk to the Midlands Enforcement Unit in Solihull where asylum seekers
have to go every month or every week or twice a week to sign in with
the Immigration service. They are very frightened because they are
liable to be put in detention when they go. Ilengela, the volunteer
from the Refugee Centre, was detained when she signed and was then
deported to the Congo. Some of you may know about her campaign.

The asylum system is getting harsher and harsher. In Britain currently
96% of asylum seekers are being refused on first interview and less
than half of those are given legal aid to appeal the decision. Over
the past 8 years there has been a consistent decline in the
percentages of asylum seekers being accepted. This is Government
policy and not connected to need as unfortunately war and oppression
have not similarly declined. Refusal ends in destitution, detention
and forced removal. Many cannot be returned. They are stateless and
left destitute indefinitely, unable to work or claim any financial
support. In Coventry there are an estimated 1500 refused refugees.

It is time we spoke out against this unfair asylum system by which
human rights are disregarded. So we too will report to Solihull in
solidarity with our friends, known and unknown. We want to take with
us 150 witness statements from people about someone they know which
will describe the human being behind the statistic. The asylum process
impacts on us all so if you don't know an asylum seeker write about
how it affects you personally (for example one woman said she felt
ashamed to be British because of the way we treat asylum seekers).

Please send in your letters to Penny Walker, Coventry Peace House, 311
Stoney Stanton Road, Coventry CV6 5DS. We will include a covering
letter explaining why we have brought them here and asking them to
read the letters and then forward them to the Immigration Minister. We
will also copy them and send the original one to your MP, so let us
know who that is or include your post code so we can find out (all
letters should have your name and address but not the real name of the
person you are writing about). We may want to publish some of the
testimonies – please tell us if you do not want us to do that.

If you want to join us on the walk we will be leaving from an
information stand in the Bull Yard at 11am. We plan to catch a bus
back.

Coventry events on May 19th are being planned by people from the
Refugee Centre, the Peace House, STAR and other concerned groups and
individuals. To find out more contact Penny on 02476 664616 or Jaime
on 02476 527123