Steve his wife Juliet and their children, Divine seven and Princess 16 months are now in Tinsley House IRC. Removal directions have been set for Wednesday 11th March 2009 @ 10:30am on British Airways flight BA0075 from Heathrow Terminal 5, direct to Lagos.

Steve speaking from Tinsley House IRC this morning is fearful for his family if returned to Nigeria, a country with an appalling Human Rights record. He referred to the latest U.S. Human Rights report.Though Nigeria has a government, it has no governance, government officials at all levels continue to commit serious abuses. Extrajudicial killings by security forces; the use of lethal and excessive force by security forces; vigilante killings; impunity for abuses by security forces; discrimination against women; female genital mutilation (FGM); child abuse and child sexual exploitation; just a few of the multifarious horrors that await his family if removed.

In an email sent from Tinsley House 12:00pm today he wrote,
"kindly ask people to fight and help us from this deportation which is set for 11th of march,because if we are return back home our lives will be danger and my children will be kill for rituals, simply because my wife did not circumcise(FGM) before having the children,we have been chased round the country in Nigeria before we were finally help to the UK for protection. But to our greatest surprise,we were served a removal notice yesterday which put us in sobering distress condition. Kindly email and  pass this message round to Legal sector and organisation and whom ever is willing to help and  fight this course for us so that our lives will be saved, and we will  not  be deported back.

"Steve Sonny Umoru"



EDM 960: Let Them Work Campaign, tabled by Lynne Jones
That this House welcomes the Let Them Work campaign to allow asylum seekers permission to work while they are waiting for a decision about their claim; notes with concern that asylum seekers who fled persecution in their own countries are among the most vulnerable people in the UK and are being denied the opportunity to work to support themselves and their families, to pay taxes, and to contribute to the economy; is additionally concerned about the situation of those asylum seekers without status who are unable to return home, many of whom spend years in limbo and are reliant on charity hand-outs or forced into illegal work just to survive; is alarmed that this leaves already vulnerable people open to destitution and exploitation; and therefore calls on the Government to allow asylum seekers to work if they have been waiting longer than six months for a full resolution on their asylum claim and to ensure that permission to work remains for people whose claim for asylum is refused, but who are unable to return home immediately through no fault of their own.
 http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=38042&SESSION=899



The state they're inn / Observations on detention
While President Obama has announced his intention to close Guantanamo Bay, another, more low-key battle is being fought in the UK for the rights of detained foreign nationals. Detained Lives, a controversial report by the London Detainee Support Group (LDSG), outlines how failed asylum-seekers in the UK are routinely being detained for prolonged or unlimited periods of time.

Some of the report's findings are astounding: 188 of the roughly 1,400 detainees supported by the charity since April 2007 had been detained at Colnbrook, Dover or Harmondsworth for at least a year, 46 for more than two years and some for longer than three.

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) publishes few statistics on the duration of detention, but the findings of this small regional charity suggest that, of the approximately 3,000 people in immigration removal centres in the UK, a significant number have been there for longer than a year.

Liam Byrne, the former border and immigration minister, defined the purpose of the UKBA estate as detaining failed asylum-seekers "prior to removal" and "allowing the fast removal of those who come to Britain and break the rules". However, for many failed asylum-seekers, removal - whether voluntary or forced - just isn't possible.
Full article: Liana Wood, The New Statesman, Published 05 March 2009
 http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2009/03/immigration-detained-report



Asylum system hampered by lack of detention spaces
An "urgent" shortage of detention centre places is holding up the removal of failed asylum seekers, a senior government official warned yesterday. Sir David Normington, Permanent Secretary at the Home Office, said efforts to remove failed asylum seekers are being hampered because Britain is short of 1,400 detention spaces. He also disclosed that asylum case workers still rely on an outdated "creaking system" of paperwork due to the failed introduction of a computerised system several years ago. Figures produced by the National Audit Office suggest that one in four failed asylum seekers held in detention were successfully removed from Britain, compared to just one in ten of those who were not detained.
Full articel: By Murray Wardrop, The Telegraph, 04 Mar 2009
 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/4940446/Asylum-system-hampered-by-lack-of-detention-spaces.html



End of Bulletin:

Source for this Message:
Steve Sonny Umoru
Hansard
New Statesman
The Barnsley Chronicle
The Telegraph