Deportations of refused asylum seekers from DR Congo resumes
The Home Office has confirmed that a DR Congo family mother and three children detained in Cardiff on Monday of this week and served with imminent removal directions, will be the first DR Congo family refused asylum to be removed since 2007.
The life expectancy of the three children (if) removed to DR Congo from the UK will be reduced by 41%.

Stop Deportations To Congo / March From All Saints Park
Assemble Saturday 7th February 12:00pm
All Saints, Oxford Road, Manchester M15 6BH

The home office has deemed it safe to return asylum seekers resident in Britain to DR Congo, this despite an ongoing war, breakdown of society, corruption, severe lack of health care many could face imprisonment torture and death if they are returned.

Please don't let this happen! / Join us
Further information: Phone: 079 6061 7309 / Email:  csp_manchester@yahoo.co.uk
Demonstration: Supported by Congo Action Group, Congo Support Project, NCADC, WAST, MCDAS, RAPAR, UDPS, APARECO, Bundu dia Kongo



Coalition of campaigns protest at increase in detention in Oxfordshire

At lunchtime on this Saturday 31 January two campaigns will join up to protest at the imprisonment of innocent people in Oxfordshire and against the Government’s plan to increase this injustice. At 12 noon on Saturday 31, the regular monthly demonstration of the Campaign to Close Campsfield will take place at the main gates of Campsfield Immigration Removal Centre, Langford Lane, Kidlington.

At the end of the demonstration some of those present will proceed to ‘A Site’, Piddington, near Bicester, the location of the proposed Bullingdon Immigration Removal Centre. There they will join supporters of the Coalition Against Bullingdon Immigration Removal Centre (CABIRC) for a brief demonstration against the proposed IRC at 2.30pm.
Further information: Bill McKeith /  info@closecampsfield.org.uk



Rape as a Weapon EDM 612 Tabled by Lorely Burt
That this House condemns the use of rape as a weapon; notes the rape capital of the world is the eastern Congo where in some areas three-quarters of women have been raped; further notes that in Darfur, raped women are scarred or branded, or occassionally have their ears cut off and that this is often done by police officers or soldiers, in uniform, as part of a co-ordinated government policy; and calls on the Government to condemn violence against women, to work to highlight this abhorrent use of force in conflicts around the world and do everything that it can to prevent the systematic use of rape as a weapon.
 http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=37658&SESSION=899



Sri Lanka: Urgent Action Needed to Prevent Civilian Deaths
- The Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) should take immediate steps to allow thousands of civilians trapped in a shrinking conflict zone safe passage and to ensure that they receive desperately needed humanitarian aid, Human Rights Watch said today. Intense fighting between the Sri Lankan army and the separatist LTTE has caught an estimated 250,000 civilians in deadly crossfire, and in the past week civilian casualties have risen dramatically.
Full story: Human Rights Watch, January 28th 2009
 http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/01/28/sri-lanka-urgent-action-needed-prevent-civilian-deaths



Afghanistan elections put on hold as Taleban spreads chaos
The credibility of the international mission in Afghanistan was dealt a blow yesterday with the announcement that presidential elections have been put back by three months. The delay, which pushes the vote back until mid-August, was blamed on the difficult security conditions in many parts of the country and logistical and technical problems. It has sparked fears of political turmoil at a time when President Karzai's administration is becoming increasingly unpopular among Afghans weary of the fighting and endemic corruption.
Full story: Tom Coghlan in Kabul, The Times, January 30, 2009
 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5614029.ec