Quellenangabe:
Stop the first mass deportation flight to Baghdad (vom 14.10.2009),
URL: http://no-racism.net/article/3141/,
besucht am 19.04.2024
[14. Oct 2009]
The first mass deportation flight from the UK to southern Iraq is expected to leave on Wednesday, 14. Oct 2009. With protest letters to parliamentarians and a demonstration in London, activist demanding for all deportations to Iraq to be stopped.
The Stop Deportation network and the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees call upon all groups, organisations and individuals opposed to this brutal action by the UK government to stand with us in calling for all deportations to Iraq to be stopped. Join us on the first public demonstration against mass deportations to Iraq this Wednesday, at 5pm, at the local immigration reporting centre, where many deportees are first arrested without prior warning whilst signing on (Communications House, Old Street, London, EC1).
Demonstration
Wednesday 14th October, 2009, 5:00pm
Communications House
Reporting and Enforcement Centre
210 Old Street, London, EC1V 9BR
'Karim', who has been given a deportation ticket, says:
'How can they be sending me back to Baghdad. There were three car bombs there on the news yesterday. I have a girlfriend, friends and a life here. I don't know anyone in Baghdad. The only people I know in Iraq are in Kirkuk, hundreds of miles away.'
Approximately 30 people are being held in immigration detention centres around London and have been given deportation tickets informing them they will be removed to Iraq sometime this week. The UK Border Agency does not release the exact time or date to detainees or their legal representatives.
A statement from the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees says:
'the government is forcing people back to a country devastated by a war it started. It is utterly inhumane and immoral. They are trying to keep their crimes secret – even the people they want to deport have not been told where they will be sent back to or when. We call on everybody to resist these deportations in any way they can.'
Notes for editors :: here
The Stop Deportation network and the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees, along with other groups and organisations, are demanding that the first mass deportation flight to southern Iraq, expected to leave on Wednesday, 14. Oct 2009, is cancelled and the detainees threatened with forcible removal are released immediately.
Over the last week, detainees in various immigration detention centres have been given 'removal directions' clearly stating they will be removed to Iraq, rather than the Kurdistan Regional Government-controlled region, which was stated in previous removals.
Deporting people to a war zone like Iraq would put the lives of many deportees at risk. As recently as the 11th October, three car bombs exploded in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, killing at least 19 people. Violence and bloodshed continue throughout the country, which saw 1,891 civilian deaths in the first six months of this year alone. There are also widespread food shortages, lack of access to clean drinking water and other grave humanitarian crises in many areas.
The British government, through its participation in the war on and occupation of Iraq since 2003, is responsible for these crises and the consequent displacement of millions of Iraqis. Instead of helping accommodate refugees fleeing war and violence, it is now is planning to send them back en masse to face their possible death.
Deportation charter flights limit refugees' access to due legal process. The UK Border Agency states that "charter flights may be subject to different arrangements where it is considered appropriate because of the complexities, practicalities and costs of arranging an operation." Charter flight deportees are told that "removal will not necessarily be deferred in the event that a Judicial Review is lodged." The emphasis, thus, is on filling the flight rather than ensuring the appropriate legal avenues have been exhausted. Detainees have also lost the right to know the date and time of their removal, making it more difficult for their legal representatives to act properly and leaving deportees in fear and uncertainty for days or weeks.
Iraqi refugees have been forcibly deported to Iraqi Kurdistan (northern Iraq) since November 2005. Mass deportation flights to Kurdistan have been removing 50-60 men almost once a month since June 2008, with the Home Office arguing that, unlike the rest of the country, the Kurdistan area is 'safe'. The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees estimate 1,000 people have been deported to Kurdistan from the UK since 2005. Despite these claims of safety, however, several people have died or disappeared following their forcible return, including Hussein Ali who killed himself two days after his arrival in 2008. Many others have been forced into hiding.
The Stop Deportation network and the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees call upon all groups, organisations and individuals opposed to this brutal action by the UK government to stand with us in calling for all deportations to Iraq to be stopped. Join us on the first public demonstration against mass deportations to Iraq this Wednesday, at 5pm, at the local immigration reporting centre, where many deportees are first arrested without prior warning whilst signing on (Communications House, Old Street, London, EC1).
If you would like to add your or your organisation's name to this statement, or for any further information, please email stopdeportation[at]riseup.net.
Other things you can do to help stop this flight:
Contact your local MP and ask them to put pressure on the UK Border Agency to cancel the deportation. You can find your local MP at http://findyourmp.parliament.uk
Contact the UKBA directly to demand the deportation be cancelled:
Privateoffice.external (at) homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
UKBApublicenquiries (at) UKBA.gsi.gov.uk
CITTO (at) homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
Contact the minister for borders and immigration Phil Woolas:
House of Commons phone number: 020 7219 1149
House of Commons fax number: 020 7219 0992
Constituency phone number: 0161 624 4248
Constituency fax number: 0161 626 8572
Please copy stopdeportation[at]riseup.net in your email correspondence.