PRESS RELEASE . . . PRESS RELEASE . . . PRESS . . . 31
May 2007
Ms Janipher Maseko to be released from detention!
On 29
May, following a wave of public outrage against the Home
Office, social services and SERCO (the company running
Yarl’s Wood Removal Centre), Ms Janipher Maseko, an 18 year
old mother who was detained and separated from her two young
children, was told that she and her children are to be
released. Hundreds of letters, calls and other pressure
forced the Home Office to concede that they could not
justify her continued incarceration. Directions to remove
her to Uganda have also been cancelled.
In the
course of pressing for Ms Maseko to be reunited with her
children and released, it came out that other mothers and
babies had also been cruelly separated. In a letter to Lord
Avebury about a Vietnamese mother and her six-month-old
baby, Immigration Minister, Liam Byrne said:
"It is clear that the case was not satisfactorily handled.
Prechecks had failed to reveal that Mrs N was part of a
family unit. The staff involved in Mrs N's case have been
reminded on the guidance in place about making decisions
involving the separation of a family."
As soon
as Ms Maseko contacted Black Women’s Rape Action Project,
we, with the help of the International Women Count Network,
alerted breastfeeding organisations and lact-activists,
midwives, health professionals, MPs, Lords and concerned
individuals. Support letters show the depth of concern:
“As a mother myself I struggle to understand the pain and
heartbreak she has been forced to endure whilst in a
vulnerable state so close to the birth of her son”.
“The
physiological and emotional effects of separation are
immense and a civilised government should not be inflicting
such brutality on families”.
“I
am spreading the word about the disgusting treatment [Ms
Maseko] received at SERCO, and I trust that the people who
denied [her] a SHOWER and a BREASTPUMP will be made
accountable for their actions”.
“We
put these people in power, we give them the mandate to act
as they have done, we are their watchdogs, and we are the
people they must account too! Write! Write! Write!”
For
background details of Ms Maseko’s situation go to
www.womenagainstrape.net
UPDATES:
Ms W,
detained and threatened with removal whilst pursuing a
complaint against Stoke Newington Police for raping her
oldest son has been released, again after we rallied many
people to protest her treatment.
Ms M,
23 weeks
pregnant, vomiting and bleeding and clearly unfit to travel
was also facing removal when she contacted us. We suggested
she fax the Chief immigration officer to explain that she
feared she might miscarry and that she would hold them
responsible if she lost her baby. Within a few hours, she
called back to say she and her husband were being released
on temporary admission.
Ms Jacklyn Edwards,
Sadly and despite many people writing in protest, the Home
Office deported Ms Edwards, on Bank Holiday Monday, a day
the Home Office chooses to remove many people since few
solicitors are available and public support is harder to
mobilise. Ms Edwards called to thank everyone for the
support she had received, and to encourage her sisters in
Yarl’s Wood to keep fighting for their rights.
Many women still detained in inhumane conditions
For
other women left inside Yarl’s Wood Removal Centre, protests
against its inhumane regime continue. An APPEAL FOR
AMNESTY, received today, addressed to Gordon Brown and
signed by 121 women, spells out women’s situation from the
reason they are forced to leave their home countries in the
hope of finding protection to the abuse they receive from
the moment they arrive in the UK:
“We
write to you as grandmothers, mothers, sisters, daughters .
. . we are victims of torture and ill treatment having been
forced to flee our countries of origin . . . suicidal
attempts are many . . . pregnant women have lost their
babies . . . the suffering is endless . . . when it comes to
removing us we are being beaten mercilessly and bundled in
the plane and injured and in the most inhumane way you can
imagine”. Full text attached.
Women’s outstanding demands include:
Release
from detention – some of us have been
held for over two years.
No
punishment or retribution against
those protesting or on hunger strike.
Stop
sabotaging our asylum claims. Vital
faxes are withheld, staff refuse to allow us to fax
information even to our lawyer or MP and confiscate
legal rights information. 23 women signed a letter of
protest at LAW’s Self-Help Guide being snatched from
them during room searches or at other times. We are
told “you are not supposed to have this in the centre”.
Our
privacy should be respected. Male
guards come into our rooms without warning, even when we
don’t have clothes on. They search the room scattering
our underwear.
An end
to violence from staff especially when
they take us to the airport. Women have been assaulted,
handcuffed, drugged and beaten up. One woman was
stripped naked and thrown in the van. The pilot refused
to take her as she had no clothes.
Sexist
and racist guards to be sacked – we
are called ”black monkey” “nigger” and “bitch” and told
“go back to your country”.
Stop
stealing our money. We want an
investigation into how money sent by relatives and
supporters, which the authorities put into accounts,
later disappeared.
We want
our 71p daily allowance – it’s a
pittance but we are entitled to it.
No
profiteering – a pack of peanuts has
gone up from 20p to 42p.
No
fingerprinting of visitors – we’ve had
less visits since this started.
A
choice of sanitary pads – we are only
given one type but for those of us with heavy periods
they are not enough.
Better
health care – whatever our
complaint we just get an aspirin
Food we
can eat. It is the same every day –
days old re-heated jacket potatoes, uncooked rice,
partially cooked fried eggs, food with hair, dirt and
sometimes maggots in it. It’s rationed so we don’t get
enough to eat -- one tin of sardines between three
people – and the serving people are rude.
How you can support women:
*
Email or fax:
1.
Liam Byrne MP, Minister of State
for
Immigration, Nationality and Citizenship, Fax:
020 7035 4745
liam.byrne.submissions@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
2.
Meg Munn MP, Parliamentary
Under-Secretary (Women and Equality) Fax: 020 7944 5891
munnm@parliament.uk
3.
Beverley Hughes MP, Minister for
Children, Young People & Families
Fax:020 7219 2961
hughesb@parliament.uk
4.
Patricia Hewitt MP, Secretary of
State for Health, Fax: 020 7210 5410.
MB-SofS@dh.gsi.gov.uk
5.
Brian Pollett, Head of Detention
Services,
Brian.Pollett2@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
6.
Victoria Jones, Director
of Yarl’s Wood, Fax: 01234 821152
* Alert your networks, the
press and other media.
* Send donations and/or offer
other help. Make a donation to
BWRAP or
Women in Dialogue (WinD),
the charity which runs the Centre where we are based and an
emergency fund for women asylum seekers (donations to WinD
are tax deductible – more information from
womenindialogue@crossroadswomen.net ).
Lobby
your MP to sign
EDM 406
RAPE AND FEMALE ASYLUM SEEKERS,
Circulate our
Asylum from Rape Petition
Remember
to copy letters to:
Black Women’s Rape Action Project (BWRAP)
PO Box 287
London NW6 5QU
Tel: 020 7482 2496
Fax: 020
7209 4761.
Email:
bwrap@dircon.co.uk
Press
release: Stop the threatened removal
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