charter flight

Demo in Kabul against deportations to Afghanistan

Published by NCADC on November 11, 2013 | Leave a response

A report from Saturday’s demo against deportations to Afghanistan, outside the Afghan Parliament in Kabul. From our friends at the Kabul blog, ‘Stop Deportations to Afghanistan’. On 9th November 2013 dozens of deportees and the families of those affected by deportations gathered in front of Afghan Parliament to demonstrate against deportations to Afghanistan. Afghanistan not safe Mr Ramazan Bashardost was the first person to come and talk to those who had gathered for demonstration. He then had an interview with the media. Mr Ramazan Bashardost while talking to the media held Afghan Government responsible for the lives of Afghan refugees Read the full article…

Young Afghans: audience response to Mazloom play in Leicester

Published by NCADC on October 31, 2013 | Leave a response

Post from After 18. In summer 2013 After18 hosted a theatre production of Mazloom on the Leicester leg of a national tour. Mazloom is a portrait of Asef, a young Afghan who in the claustrophobic environment of his London flat recalls the dangerous journey he made to the UK alone and his fears for his impending deportation back to Afghanistan. This closely reflects the life of many of After18′s young people, some of whom were in the audience. So, what did they make of the play and their first experience of live theatre? It was interesting, I was thinking Read the full article…

Forced removals: what we’re up against and what you can do

Published by NCADC on September 17, 2013 | 1 Response

This is the edited text of a talk given by Lisa, NCADC campaigns coordinator, at the ‘Going Back? Forced removal and voluntary returns’ conference organised by Christians Aware and After18 in Leicester, 14 September. Contents: Numbers and countries Removal and deportation When can someone be removed How the removal/deportation process works Removal of refused asylum seekers Charter flights What can be done I’ve been asked today to speak about forced removals from the UK. NCADC campaigns against injustices in the asylum and immigration system – and this doesn’t just mean trying to stop flights. When we refer to ‘forced removals’, Read the full article…

Afghanistan: key areas of SHSH commentary

Published by NCADC on September 9, 2013 | Leave a response

Still Human Still Here (SHSH) is a “coalition of over 50 organisations that are campaigning to end the destitution of thousands of refused asylum seekers in the UK”. In June this year, they issued a commentary on the UKBA’s Operational Guidance Note (OGN) on Afghanistan. The commentary identifies inconsistencies and omissions between Afghanistan country of origin information (COI) and case law and the conclusions reached by the OGN. NCADC volunteer Jacqueline has summarised the commentary on Afghanistan, with a particular focus on issues relevant to Afghan asylum-seekers in the UK. You can read the full text of SHSH’s commentary here. Read the full article…

Are the UK’s mass deportation charter flights lawful?

Published by NCADC on July 29, 2013 | Leave a response

Corporate Watch has released a new, 20-page briefing examining the lawfulness of the UK’s mass deportation charter flights, where private airlines are contracted to deport up to 80 refugees and migrants to a particular country at a time. Part of a forthcoming report by Corporate Watch and Stop Deportation examining various other aspects of this controversial programme, the briefing aims to provide campaigners and legal practitioners with some arguments and tools with which to challenge the legality of these flights. Download the briefing here Collective expulsions and Protocol 4 The main focus of the briefing is Protocol No. 4 to Read the full article…

Young Afghans in the UK: deportations in the dead of night to a war-zone

Published by NCADC on June 24, 2013 | Leave a response

This article appeared in Open Democracy (50:50) on 24 June 2013. Each year around 400 children forced by war to leave their families and homes in Afghanistan seek sanctuary in the UK. Lisa Matthews writes for Young People Seeking Safety Week on the young adults who, having rebuilt their lives, are now at threat of return. “You want to send me back to a country that does not know me, to a country that will hurt me. I only know my life now. Nothing else. In Afghanistan they are not in life. That’s not life. I have no family. I Read the full article…

Mazloom tour begins next week!

Published by NCADC on June 20, 2013 | Leave a response

We are taking the play Mazloom on a national tour, this is your chance to see it! The tour begins next week with Newcastle on 25 June. We then visit Canterbury on 26 June, Leicester on 28 June and Glasgow on 25-26 September. Full details are on the website: http://mazloom.org.uk/ Tickets are just £5 - please book your tickets in advance to avoid disappointment. You can buy your tickets online via the website. What is Mazloom? Mazloom is a portrait of a young refugee, alone in London, whose life is being torn apart by the impending prospect of deportation Read the full article…

Stop G4S: deportations and the death of Jimmy Mubenga

Published by NCADC on June 5, 2013 | 1 Response

This week - on Thursday June 6th - the world’s largest security firm G4S, will hold its annual general meeting in the City of London. A large coalition of groups, including NCADC, has called for a demonstration to be held outside the event, in protest of G4S’s varying and widespread human rights abuses. This article, by NCADC volunteer Sarah McCarthy, is the third and final piece in a series about G4S’s brutal role in the “asylum market” here in the UK. The first discussed their bungling of contracts to house asylum seekers, the second outlined the appalling conditions and treatment of Read the full article…

Human rights, torture and deportations to Sri Lanka

Published by NCADC on January 8, 2013 | Leave a response

2012 saw mass deportations of Tamils to Sri Lanka continue, despite credible evidence of torture of returnees. Lisa of NCADC South explains what’s happening, and what we need to do to stop it: The Sri Lankan civil war and asylum seekers in the UK In May 2009, Sri Lanka’s 27-year-long civil war officially ended. A war that had caused the displacement of 290,000 people and over 70,000 deaths – some figures place the total death toll as 100,000. UN figures show 40,000 of these were in the final weeks of the war. In 2011, the UN accused both sides in Read the full article…

News of the Year 2012

Published by NCADC on December 28, 2012 | Leave a response

News stories from the world of asylum, immigration, human rights and NCADC. Look out for our campaign review of the year in January! —- JANUARY The year commenced with an important legal victory for human rights, as explained by Rosalind English on theUK Human Rights Blog: People who make unsuccessful claims to enter or remain in the United Kingdom cannot be removed without being given sufficient time for a lawyer to prepare a proper challenge to their claim. The government has failed in its appeal against the Administrative Court’s finding that government policy unlawfully provided for expedited removal procedures in Read the full article…