JRS UK News, December 2004

Withdrawal of Support for Families

Section 9 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc.) Act 2004 allows NASS support to be withdrawn from asylum seeking families who have had a final refusal in their case and do not sign an agreement to return to their own country as soon as it is practicable is now in force. So far it is being implemented on a pilot scheme basis. The pilot started on December 1st in Manchester, Leeds/Bradford and parts of London.  Letters will be sent out to the families affected. Social Services will also receive details of the families NASS have identified to be part of the pilot. For further help and guidance, contact Refugee Action (www.refugee-action.org.uk)
and the Refugee Council (www.refugeecouncil.org.uk).

Around 40 families will be affected in each area.  Families will be asked to sign up to return voluntarily or face the withdrawal of NASS support.  However, as this will usually breach their human rights, organisations such as Refugee Action can help families discuss options so that they don't have to sign up to return to their country of origin.  Leaving a parent or carer without any means of support is likely to engage Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (inhuman and degrading treatment). 
Louise Zanre

Earning too much!

We have a friend from Uganda, who has been granted full refugee status. Having got status, he has diligently found himself a job. Now naturally he would like his wife and children to join him in the UK – a right he is entitled to under refugee law. In the normal course of events, the UN High Commission for Refugees (through British Red Cross) would pay for the travel costs for the family. However, our friend is very diligent and has been working extra shifts so that he can send some money home to his family to support them. Unfortunately he is now earning just over the earnings limit to qualify for UNHCR help. He has 7 children and a wife, who are living almost underground in their own country. Their visas to the UK have already been arranged. To pay for their travel will cost around £3,000 - well beyond his and our means. We have managed to secure a pledge of £500 for him. If you can offer anything to help with the travel costs for his family, please send a cheque (made payable to Jesuit Refugee Service) to the office. Please mark it (on the back or on a separate piece of paper) as being for family reunion costs. Thank you!

Visiting at Colnbrook

I have never envied St. Peter with his huge bunch of keys. Here I am now with a pouch attached to a black belt and a protruding chain, admittedly with only two keys, but one obviously a warden’s key. Not that where I go as a visiting Catholic chaplain is a prison, though the wings are designed similar to that of a prison. The inmates have more freedom to associate among themselves, and facilities for them would include cinema, gymnasium, ESOL, art, music and computer rooms, rooms for prayer and religious worship, as well as newspapers and a library of books in several languages. They cannot, however, move freely outside their own wings.

Where I visit is Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre near Heathrow. The men here are generally in their 20s and 30s awaiting removal or deportation, release on bail, or the outcome of their appeal and the hope of at least temporary admission. Some have been in detention several months, even over a year, while there is a section for more or less immediate removal. Those who have partners, children, jobs and property in this country find it especially difficult to face the prospect of removal. Can there not be found a more humane and perhaps less expensive way of treating them?

I work in a multifaith team of chaplains, but on my visiting days, I come across mainly the Muslim imam, and sometimes the Sikh chaplain. We keep very good working relationships. The security officers are helpful, and have to keep cool and calm in situations where feelings can suddenly and quickly run high. My sadness is over the fact that these young men, full of youthful energy and talents, are unable to use them. Their fears, anxieties and depression are all too palpable as you enter.

New Prayer Resources

The Bishops' Conference Liturgy Office has produced material for various Services of Exposition with themes drawn from the Cycle of Prayer. One of these - relevant to the December-January season, is "Openness to the Word of God - Migrants & Refugees", and a leaflet with material for use in a Service of Exposition can be downloaded. The centre pages can be copied onto A5, back to back, as aid to personal prayer and reflection before the Blessed Sacrament. This resource is available from:
www.catholic-ew.org.uk/liturgy/Resources/YOE/2-Migrants.pdf
If you would like a copy and do not have internet access, please contact the JRS office and we will send you a copy.

Enclosed with this newsletter is a copy of the new JRS prayer card. Please contact us if you would like more copies. A donation to cover the cost of postage would be helpful.