Demonstration - No to fortress Europe !
Monday 16th June 2008 - 12:00pm
London office of the European Commission
8 Storey's Gate
London SW1P 3AT

(Nearest Tube: St James Park or Westminster)

Bring placards, banners.

This demonstration is organised by Barbed Wire Britain Network to End Refugee and Migrant Detention (BWB), who will hand in a letter of protest.

About the Return Directive
The Return Directive will be voted on by the European Parliament on 17th or 18th June and provides for European Union member states to:

* Detain non-EU migrants for up to 18 months - current maximum time-limits on detention are; France 32 days, Spain 40 days, Ireland 30 days and Italy 60 days.

* Detain and deport migrants including vulnerable people, unaccompanied minors and pregnant women

* Expel unaccompanied minors and other migrants to a country where they have neither family nor legal support

* Ban an expelled migrant from re-entering any part of the EU for up to 5 years.

The UK government will probably opt out’ of this legislation if it is passed. As in some respects, long-term detention (indefinite) and expulsion for up to 10 years is already in force.

However if the European Parliament passes this legislation, it will make it harder than ever to improve UK government policy on immigration in the future; we would no longer, for example, be able to compare very long periods of detention in the UK with France's relatively short time-limit of 32 days because we will all be at the 18 month time-limit.

Please email BWB if you are able to attend the demonstration - bmackeith@btinternet.com

Urgent letter writing campaign to Members of the European Parliament
With the vote on the Return Directive imminent (June 18th) we must ensure that members of the European Parliament (MEPs) know our views. Write NOW to KEY MEPs demanding they vote against the Return Directive. You can use the model letters below, or, even better, write in your own words. You can write as an individual or in the name of an organisation to:

Manfred Weber - rapporteur of the Commission on Civil Liberties, Justice & Home Affaires
(which amended the European Commission's draft directive in some ways for the worse, e.g. extending duration of permissible detention from 6 to 18 months)
Click here for the model letter to M. Weber. Email : manfred.weber@europarl.europa.eu

Joseph Daul - President of the European People's Party group of MEPs
Click here for the model letter to J. Daul. Email : joseph.daul@europarl.europa.eu

Graham Watson - President of the Liberal/Democrat Alliance of MEPs
Click here for the model letter to G. Watson. Email : graham.watson@europarl.europa.eu

Martin Schulz - President of the Socialist Group of MEPs
Click here - letter to send to M. Schulz. Email : martin.schulz@europarl.europa.eu

Your own MEP - With just a couple of clicks, you can get the email address of your MEP here

Further info on the Return Directive and the campaign against it

Contact : Bill MacKeith, Secretary, BWB, Email : bmackeith@btinternet.com

Source for this Message : Barbed Wire Britain