Fwd: [New post] News Stories (Daily) 11/04/2014

Paul V Dudman posted: " Media Centre "GENEVA (30 October 2014) – Allowing people to die at Europe's borders just because of their administrative status is a complete disregard for the value of human life, the United Nations Special Rapporte" Respond to this post by replying above this line New post on Refugee Archives @ UEL News Stories (Daily) 11/04/2014 by Paul V Dudman Media Centre "GENEVA (30 October 2014) – Allowing people to die at Europe's borders just because of their administrative status is a complete disregard for the value of human life, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, said today urging the British authorities to reconsider its decision not support search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean. The United Kingdom Government announced earlier this week they will not support any future search and rescue operations to prevent migrants and refugees drowning in the Mediterranean, stating that such operations can encourage more people to attempt the dangerous sea crossing to enter Europe. "Governments that do not support the search and rescue efforts have reduced themselves to the same level as the smugglers," the human rights expert stressed. "They are preying on the precariousness of the migrants and asylum seekers, robbing them of their dignity and playing with their lives."" tags: news BBC News - Towns 'feel under siege' from migrants, minister warns "Parts of the UK could be "swamped" by EU migrants unless rules change, the defence secretary has claimed. Michael Fallon said it was vital to impose some restrictions on the free movement of people in the EU, as many towns feel "under siege" by workers and those claiming benefits. His language attracted criticism, with Labour saying it was "desperate". A Downing Street source later said Mr Fallon "accepts he should have chosen his words better"." tags: news BBC News - I misspoke over immigrants, says Michael Fallon "Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has said he "misspoke" when warning that some areas of the UK could be "swamped" by immigrants without changes to European Union rules on movement. He told BBC Radio 5 live he had "used words I wouldn't normally have used". His comments came after Germany appeared to rule out David Cameron's plan to limit EU arrivals in the UK. Labour called the remark "desperate", while the Liberal Democrats said they were "not based on the facts"." tags: news Michael Fallon withdraws 'careless' immigration remark | Politics | The Guardian "Michael Fallon has been forced by Downing Street to take to the airwaves to withdraw his claims that British towns are being "swamped" by immigrants and their residents are "under siege". The defence secretary said on television and radio that he had been careless and had used words he would not usually use when defending David Cameron's plans for a renegotiation with the EU over the freedom of movement of workers. However, he stood by the thrust of his argument – that mass immigration from Europe is putting pressure on local services in many British towns." tags: news Tory MP Michael Fallon says claims immigrants are 'swamping' towns were 'a little careless' - Home News - UK - The Independent "But he also insisted the "large number" of migrant workers from the European Union was piling pressure on housing and other essential services. The Minister was slapped down by Downing Street last night after he made his initial comments in a television interview." tags: news David Blunkett praises Michael Fallon for 'swamped by migrants' comments | UK news | The Guardian "David Blunkett has praised the defence secretary, Michael Fallon, for warning that some communities in the UK are being swamped by migrants from eastern Europe. The former Labour home secretary, who faced severe criticism when he used similar language in 2002 over the dispersal of asylum seekers in northern communities, said that Fallon had been right to voice the "concerns of ordinary voters". "For all [the] condemnation, I believe that both Michael Fallon and I were right to speak out on this issue and to voice the concerns of ordinary voters," Blunkett wrote in a Daily Mail article. "Just because immigration is deeply controversial, that cannot mean that we should avoid talking about it."" tags: news BBC News - Immigration needed in UK, Archbishop of Canterbury says "The UK should not view immigration as a "deep menace", the Archbishop of Canterbury has warned. Part of the country's "strength and brilliance" lay in its long tradition of welcoming foreigners, the Most Reverend Justin Welby said. But the process of immigration must be managed "prudently" to avoid "over-burdening our communities", he added. He also said clergy had noticed a rise in "minor-racist, anti-foreigner, anti-Semitic, anti-Islamic" sentiment. Criticising the language often used when debating the issue, Dr Welby said people had to be "realistic" about the pressures of immigration. But the heart of Christian belief was that "all human beings are of absolute equal and infinite value", he added." tags: news Archbishop of Canterbury: 'don't demonise immigrants' | UK news | The Guardian "The archbishop of Canterbury has warned politicians not to demonise immigrants a day after a Cabinet minister suggested some parts of the country felt "swamped" by foreign arrivals. Justin Welby said on Monday that he was worried about the language used in the debate amid an upsurge of racist abuse noted by clergy across Britain. The intervention of the Church of England's leader will deepen the embarrassment for Michael Fallon. The defence secretary said on Sunday that David Cameron must challenge the freedom of movement of Europeans "to prevent whole towns and communities being swamped by huge numbers of migrant workers"." tags: news "A small step, perhaps, but a move in the right direction to help 600,000 people find somewhere to call home" | Migrants' Rights Network (MRN) "Aside from pleasant surprise that CNN had picked up on our campaign, it struck me as a pretty good description of what we as a Network have managed to achieve over the last year since the launch of our campaign in October 2013." tags: news Note to Party leaders: Misleading voters about what can and can't be done on immigration will still get you nowhere | Migrants' Rights Network (MRN) "Just as Clacton recedes into memory so Rochester looms up as the next thing to get excited about. It brings with it the dreadful thought that the entire run-up to the 2015 general election will be made up of a series by-elections provoked by Tory defections to the UKIP insurgents, ensuring a steady draft of oxygen to keep the embers of anti-Europeanism glowing fresh and bright for months to come. What will this mean for the public conversation on immigration policy? Funnily enough their historic victory in the Essex seaside town earlier in the month could open up some interesting tensions even within UKIP's seemingly intransigent ranks. The victorious defector from the Conservatives, Douglas Carswell, seems to have been at pains to make the point that strident anti-immigration is not really his bag during his interview in the Guardian last week. " tags: news New IPPR Report - Shared Ground: Strategies for living well together in an era of high immigration | Migrants' Rights Network (MRN) "IPPR's new report 'Shared Ground' explores how to support migrants and British people to live well together. The report argues for a more coherent integration strategy in areas characterised by increasing diversity and ongoing, high inflows of immigration. The report authors make eight specific recommendations, focussed on: improving data at the local level steps to combat exploitation in housing and employment strategies to improve negotiation and compromise within communities inclusive preschool provision transparent funding for groups and activities that promote inclusivity funding for 'exclusive', single-group schemes or organisations provided they are fulfilling a 'public good' a new Settlement Support Fund, financed from existing citizenship and visa fees and channelled towards high-immigration areas incentivising would-be citizens to volunteer in their community, as part of a more localised citizenship process." tags: news European NGOs launch 'Used in Europe' anti- labour exploitation campaign | Migrants' Rights Network (MRN) "La Strada International (LSI) together with 28 European partner organisations, has launched 'Used in Europe', a campaign to raise awareness on the issue of labour exploitation and human trafficking – on the occasion of the EU anti-trafficking day, 18 October 2014. The campaign 'Used in Europe' provides an online overview of major cases from the last decade in Europe, highlighted by NGOs, researchers and the media and gives insight into the situation in each country in Europe. In 2013, a total of 1823 trafficked persons were directly assisted by the eight member organisations of La Strada International. Thousands more exploited workers were assisted by campaign partners in different parts of Europe. In 2012, the International Labour Organisation estimated that 880,000 people are in a situation of forced labour in the EU alone. In some countries, the migration model and procedures reinforce the dependency and exploitation of migrant workers." tags: news Refugees on the Mediterranean: Violence and war are driving flows - not people traffickers | Migrants' Rights Network (MRN) "Public debate on the crisis in the Mediterranean has this week presented a dismaying and misleading image of the people who are making desperate efforts to get to the safety of Europe. This seems to be deeply embedded in the viewpoints of government ministers who last week announced they would be abandoning future rescue efforts to save those in trouble on Europe's seas. Immigration minister James Brokenshire told the Commons last week that Italian efforts to prevent the sort of disasters occurring off the shores of Lampedusa during the late summer of last year, had had the unintended effect of placing more lives at risk. Apparently, search and rescue efforts have encouraged people traffickers to place migrants and refugees in more unseaworthy boats in the expectation that someone will pick them up if it all goes wrong. But the notion that the attempted flight across dangerous seas undertaken by hundreds of thousands is driven by a bunch of unscrupulous businessmen looking for the opportunity to cash in on a human tragedy seems perverse in the light of what is really known about the reasons why people are packing into these rickety vessels." tags: news Parliamentary committee slams Home Office asylum record | Migrants' Rights Network (MRN) "The Parliamentary Accounts Committee has published its report on the government's record in reforming the immigration control system since its dramatic action of abolishing the UK Border Agency in March 2013. The functions of the executive agency were returned to the Home Office. In a damning statement on what has happened since that date committee chair Margaret Hodge MP said: "The Home Office scrapped the UK Border Agency in March 2013 partly because its performance in dealing with backlog cases was not good enough." tags: news UK government pledges not to save lives in the Mediterranean | Migrants' Rights Network (MRN) "The UK government has today caused controversy by confirming that it will not be providing support to future search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean, aimed at saving the lives of those irregular migrants trying to enter Europe. The Italian-led search and rescue operation Mare Nostrum was today wound up, having saved the lives of 150,000 migrants who would have otherwise drowned at sea, over the past year. The crossing has a notoriously high death rate, with many migrants setting sail in unseaworthy vessels organised by people-smugglers and traffickers. Debate is currently underway in Brussels among the EU member states regarding the future response to this humanitarian challenge. In the meantime, the EU border agency Frontex will launch a significantly more limited programme to police the Mediterranean, called Operation Triton, which will not have a search and rescue mandate." tags: news Osborne downplays row with Germany over EU freedom of movement | World news | The Guardian "George Osborne has insisted David Cameron will seek changes to how European Union freedom of movement operates and downplayed reports that Germany has warned such a move could lead the UK towards the exit. The chancellor said he has had good discussions with the Germans and they were receptive to UK proposals." tags: news Leaving the EU wouldn't solve our immigration problem - Telegraph "How do you define a great country? Tony Blair once offered a decent test: ask if people are trying to get into it, or leave it. On this basis, David Cameron's government has been a roaring success – people have been settling in Britain at the rate of 1,200 a day since he took office. For the first time in years, there are problems in Calais because people who have crossed half the globe don't want to stop at France. And while this can be a nuisance, it's hard to fault their logic: if you've come so far, why compromise? " tags: news Spain: Abandon Abusive Migration Plan | Human Rights Watch "(Madrid) – The Spanish government should immediately drop its plans to provide a legal basis for summary returns from its enclaves in North Africa, 13 human rights groups said today. The Spanish and international organizations wrote to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of migrants, François Crépeau, and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, urging them to press the Spanish government to withdraw a proposed amendment to Spain's immigration law." tags: news Do or die for the wannabe Britons - Telegraph "Adnan Khan has just one aim: to get to Britain. In the past few weeks, the 25-year-old has made 13 attempts to jump aboard a lorry bound for Dover. He has, so far, been unsuccessful, but plans to keep trying despite the risks. "I tried to go down the side of one lorry, I could easily be crushed. But I have no option, this is do or die," said Mr Khan, who is from Pakistan but is now living in a migrant camp in Calais. " tags: news Cheap immigrant labour has cost blue-collar Britain dear - Telegraph "It was cold. That much I remember well. We'd watch our breath make clouds in the freezing air and cling on to flasks of coffee to keep warm while we waited to get started. Then we'd hack off the render back to bare brick and break the ice off buckets of water to mix the sand and cement. I was in my early twenties, working as a labourer and happy to be earning a living. " tags: news Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here. Paul V Dudman | Tuesday, November 4, 2014 at 1:42 am | Categories: Refugee Archives | URL: http://wp.me/piBzM-27n Comment    See all comments Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://refugeearchives.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/news-stories-daily-11042014/ Thanks for flying with WordPress.com