From shiar at riseup.net Sat May 3 02:27:25 2008 From: shiar at riseup.net (Shiar) Date: Fri, 2 May 2008 19:27:25 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [noborders-brum] [Fwd: [nbuk] Callout: Picket the International Organisation for Migration 15th May] Message-ID: <51653.127.0.0.1.1209781645.squirrel@auk.riseup.net> ---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: [nbuk] Callout: Picket the International Organisation for Migration 15th May From: bristolnoborders at riseup.net Date: Fri, May 2, 2008 10:25 am To: bristolnoborders at riseup.net -------------------------------------------------------------------------- NO DEPORTATIONS TO IRAQ! PICKET THE IOM! Thursday 15th May, 12.00-2.00pm Bristol No Borders are calling for support when they picket the International Organisation for Migration's Offices, at 10 Park Street, Bristol. Groups outside Bristol can find addresses of other IOM offices at the bottom of this message. IOM PICKET CALL OUT In March this year, news was leaked to the press that the Borders and Immigration Agency would be seeking the return of 1,400 'failed' asylum seekers to Iraq. The memo read:"We consider that voluntary returns are by far the more dignified way of making a return, but if individuals fail to leave, their removal may be enforced," one interpretation of this statement could be: volunteer to go, or you will be deported. The system of ?voluntary? returns is managed by the International Organization for Migration. It wields the carrot (financial incentives) whilst the boot boys of the British Immigration Agency wield the stick of incarceration and dawn raids. Let us make this clear: They are, despite their continued protestations, a part of the forced removal system. The claim that the system they operate is voluntary in nature is undermined by the UK?s policy of withdrawing even minimum financial support (so-called Section 4 Support) from those Iraqis who fail to sign up for the Voluntary Assisted Return and Reintergration Programme (VARRP), even if they originate from the war-torn Central or Southern regions. Faced with the alternative of destitution, several thousand Iraqis have therefore returned through VARRP. A internal IOM report documents how they are mistrusted in the UK by Zimbabwean refugees. In Iraq, meanwhile, the IOM's representative states: ?Many returnees do not have adequate food or health care while their homes have often been damaged or are being lived in by other families?. The situation for those returning is grim and isn't necessarily an improvement from when they were displaced...many returnees are unemployed while only a fraction have received any form of humanitarian assistance other than some food rations." Despite this, the IOM in the UK still encourages Iraqis to return home. Worse of all, those who volunteer to return are required to sign a waiver that reads: "the IOM has no responsibility for me and my dependents once I return to Iraqi territory and I hereby release IOM from any liability in this respect". In this way, countries like the UK who want to be rid of refugees from war torn countries and unsafe countries like Iraq, Afghanistan,Zimbabwe and Somalia are shielded from any responsibility of what happens to those who are returned. The IOM have, since there inception in 1951, have been posing as a NGO who are there to assist displaced people. The reality is that they are a de facto arm of many governments deportations systems. Other than encouraging people to return to unsafe countries, and thereby avoiding shielding there host governments from a tarnished human rights' record, one of there most controversial and continuing activities is administering the immigration prison island of Nauru, for the Australian government. It's time we expose them and shut them down. Bristol No Borders IOM Offices: International Organization for Migration (IOM) 21 Westminster Palace Gardens Artillery Row London SW1P 1RR Tel: 020 7233 0001 Fax: 020 7233 3001 Free Phone number: 0800 783 2332 Park House Business Centre 10 Park Street Bristol BS1 5HX Tel: 0117 907 4777 5th Floor DBH Reception The Corn Exchange Fenwick Street Liverpool L2 7QL Tel: 0151 225 0142 Manchester ? every Wednesday morning, 9 am ? 12 noon, Friends Meeting House, 6 Mount St , Mancheter M2 5NS Bolton ? 1 st Wednesday of each month, 1 ? 3.30 pm, BRASS office, Bolton Methodist Mission, Victoria Hall, Knowsley St, Bolton BL1 2AS Blackburn ? 1 st Friday of each month, 10 am ? 12 noon, Town Hall, King William St , Blackburn BB1 7DY Centrum Offices 38 Queen Street Glasgow G1 3DX Tel: 0141 548 8116 References: "Rot Here or Die There:Bleak Choices for Iraqi Refugees in Lebanon" (Human Rights Watch Report,2007) "Zimbabwe" prepared for IOM by Dominic M. Pasura London, December 2006 "Zimbabwe: Evicted and Forsaken Internally displaced persons in the aftermath of Operation Murambatsvina" (Human Rights Watch Report,2005) "The International Organization for Migration (IOM)and Human Rights Protection in the Field: Current Concerns" (Submitted by Human Rights Watch IOM Governing Council Meeting 86th Session November 18-21, 2003 Geneva)