Rumours of a charter flight within the next fortnight, removing UK Somali's to Mogadishu are circulating. At least one Somali in detention has been told that the UKBA 'Removals Faciliation Team' have sent a letter to his solicitor, saying he will be removed within the next two weeks by charter flight to Mogadishu via Nairobi.
If you know of any Somali's with set removal directions, they should make a Rule 39 application to ECHR, as all Somali case with the ECHR are on hold and interim relief is being given to those Somali's, with removal directions, who apply to the court.
Making an application to the European Court of Human Rights
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European nations look the other way while Greek officials abuse migrants, particularly children, to keep their borders secure
The Greek sunshine has never shone brighter than in the picture interior minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos paints of how Greece "secures the right of each foreign immigrant, at any point of entry, to apply for asylum" and "sets rules for the protection of human trafficking victims and of unaccompanied minors". The shameful reality, however, takes place in the dark of night, not at official points of entry but in Greece's border areas with Turkey, the port of Patras and the Aegean Sea where Greek border officials abuse unaccompanied child migrants and asylum seekers.
Full article: Simone Troller, Human Rights Watch, January 25th 2009
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A big, brand new, New Year, UNITY financial appeal
Happy New Year to all our supporters and friends!
Hello,
It's that time of year again when we ask people to make a donation to help us keep the Unity Centre open. Run completely by volunteers, the Unity Centre is totally dependent on donations from friends and supporters. We do not get funding from any other source. As a result we do everything we can to keep our running costs to a minimum but now and then we have to put out an appeal for more help.
Open eight hours a day, five days a week the centre provides much needed free and friendly, practical and emotional support for asylum seeker families facing detention. Over the last year, 510 different people have registered their personal details with us - more than 2 people every day that we've been open - and on average every week we have helped two families who have been detained and face forcible removal from the UK at short-notice.
Since we opened in 2006 over 1,780 families and individuals have registered with us and on average about twenty -thirty people come into the centre every day looking for help or signing in on their way to report at the Home Office.
When families have been detained, we help people contact their lawyers or to find new lawyers, arrange for people's personal belongings to be looked after, contact friends and provide much needed support and encouragement at this time of immense anxiety. And this is done entirely by a team of volunteers who give up their time for free.
It costs about £350 a month to pay the rent, phone and bills for the office. In March it will also be the Unity Centre‚s third birthday and we are hoping to raise money to get a second phone line and to buy a new computer so we can be even more effective in campaigning against the draconian Home Office policies and helping asylum seekers in Scotland.
- "To me, I really, really appreciate the wonderful job that Unity does for people. The people there are really caring and they are always there for people. God bless them." K. from Nigeria.
- "Unity takes people from the dark and brings them into the light." A. from Sudan
- "People at Unity are very, very, very, friendly. They really help people in detention. Bless them all." M. from Ethiopia.
Please make a donation to help the Unity Centre stay open and to allow it to develop the services it provides to hundreds of asylum seekers every year. Please make cheques out to "The Unity Centre" and post them to the address below.
Even better why not take out a standing order and make a small regular donation to the Unity centre every month?
Standing order attached, please fill in and return to your bank.
Please help keep the UNITY Centre open!
Many thanks!
UNITY!
The UNITY Centre
30 Ibrox Street
Glasgow
G51 1AQ
0141 427 7992
www.unitycentreglasgow.org
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The UNITY Centre is run entirely by volunteers and funded completely by donations from our supporters. We need your help! If you would like to help by making a donation or by volunteering you can find more details on our website. Thank you! UNITY!