Tamil refugees may end up in permanent camps, say aid workers

The Government originally proposed holding the Tamil refugees for up to three years to check they were not Tigers

Sri Lankan authorities appear to be building permanent camps to house many of the 300,000 refugees from the last phase of the war with the Tamil Tiger rebels, despite promising to resettle 80 per cent of them by the end of the year.

Aid workers have told The Times that permanent buildings are being erected at the Manik Farm site where the UN says that 230,000 of the refugees are being held after the Tigers' defeat in May.

The aid workers said that they were able to do humanitarian work in four of six zones at Manik Farm but were barred from two others, including the mysteriously named Zone Zero.

"We're not allowed to work in these areas," said Rajinda Jayasinghe, the head of Relief International in Sri Lanka. "But you can see from the outside proper brick-walled buildings going up." Some aid workers said that the site was fast becoming Sri Lanka's second biggest city after the capital, Colombo, with schools, clinics and banks, where refugees have deposited more than a billion rupees.
Hannah Roberts in Colombo, The Times, July 3, 2009

Italy rapped again over immigration

Another boatload of migrants is returned to Libya

- Italy came under fire for its controversial immigration policy again on Wednesday as it returned another boatload of would-be migrants intercepted in the Mediterranean back to Libya.

On Tuesday night 89 migrants, including nine women and three children, were rescued from a dinghy 30 miles off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa and taken back to Libya, the main stepping-off point for most immigrants. The Council of Europe's Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg reiterated his criticism of the policy Wednesday, saying it made political asylum request ''practically impossible''.
(Ansa) - Rome, July 1

Continuing Conflicts that Create Refugees

June 2009 ~Nine actual or potential conflict situations around the world deteriorated and none improved in June 2009, according to the new issue of the International Crisis Group's monthly bulletin CrisisWatch. Deteriorated Situations
Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Iran, Niger, North Caucasus (non-Chechnya), Peru, Somalia, Thailand ~ full report

'charter flight landed in Dublin carrying 45 deportees from the United Kingdom and seven from Switzerland and Germany before heading for Lagos'

96 Nigerian Deportees Arrive Lagos

Ninety-six Nigerians deported from various parts of Europe, yesterday, arrived the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos.

The deportees, comprising 50 males, 25 females and 21 infants were flown from Dublin, Ireland, aboard a chartered aircraft.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the deportees were accompanied by over 150 escorts from their countries of deportation.
This Day Nigeria ~ Thursday 2nd July

'the pejorative term "dawn raid" is not one that we recognise in the UK Border Agency's activities'. Lord Brett

Asylum Seekers: Detention of Children

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to cease the detention of children of asylum seekers and their carers in detention centres for periods exceeding one week. I trust the Minister will be tempted when I say that many families are affected by the inability to return home to areas of great danger to themselves
House of Lords / 30 Jun 2009 : Column 115