Tag Archives: asylum

Lord Roger Roberts writes: Don’t try to win votes by coming down hard on migrants

By Lord Roger Roberts | Sat 18th May 2013 - 12:58 pm

This year is very special: it is the 20th anniversary of the Maastricht treaty. We have, since 1993, been European citizens, each of us endowed with the rights of free movement, settlement and employment across the Union. Of course, we are anxious about the lifting of barriers for some European Union workers at the beginning of next year. I suggest that we remove all hostility and suspicion and treat them as they are: fellow citizens of the Union. If we treat them otherwise, we are asking for trouble. Facts must take prominence; scaremongering must be stamped out.

But of course we …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged eu and immigration | 4 Comments

Sarah Teather on “deeply upsetting” report on pregnant women in asylum system

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 27th February 2013 - 7:00 pm

Sarah Teather has been speaking in Parliament today about a new report by Maternity Action and the Refugee Council which highlights the treatment of pregnant women and their new babies in the asylum system. You can read her whole speech here, and I warn you it will make you upset and angry in equal and consuming measure. The description of a woman who had just given birth being made to carry her newborn baby home by foot in the snow was harrowing. There are many such similar stories in the report.

These vulnerable women suffer both poor physical and …

Posted in News | Also tagged immigration and sarah teather | 6 Comments

Lord Avebury writes… Gay asylum-seekers: we’ve come a long way, but much still left to achieve for LGBTI people around the world

By Eric Avebury | Fri 15th February 2013 - 1:28 pm

It is estimated that worldwide more than 175 million people, some three times the population of the UK, are at risk of persecution because of their sexual orientation. Seventy-six countries criminalise consensual same sex relations, among them 54 countries of the Commonwealth.

Hatred against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people is deeply entrenched in the culture of these countries, and their elected governments reflect the prejudice of the masses. They know that persecuting LGBTI people is contrary to international law, and leads to friction with donor nations.

In the case of Gambia, when EU representatives were due to …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged equalities, gay rights, LGBT rights, uganda and uk border agency | 25 Comments

LibLink: Sarah Teather – Asylum through a child’s eyes

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 8th November 2012 - 3:30 pm

Former Children’s Minister Sarah Teather was personally thanked by Citizens UK at Liberal Democrat Conference in September for her role, as Children’s Minister, in ending child detention for immigration purposes. She said then that there was much more to achieve on the way the UK Borders Agency operates.

This week she’s launched an enquiry into the support for families within the asylum system. She wrote about that enquiry and what she wants to achieve for Politics Home:

If you have never had a conversation with a young asylum seeker about their

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged home office, immigration, politics home and sarah teather | Leave a comment

Opinion: Immigration service must do more to protect human dignity

By James Harper | Wed 3rd October 2012 - 2:25 pm

The UK Border Agency’s recent decision to hire G4S and Serco to deliver the housing scheme for asylum seekers is not only a bad one in its own right. It is symptomatic of the deep inadequacy of an organisation that exists purely to deal with people, but which lacks the same standards and people-focused ethos we expect of other organisations responsible for looking after human beings.

Last week we discovered that asylum seekers in the Midlands have had their doors painted red by the company responsible for housing and accommodating them, G4S. G4S did not think this would be a problem. …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged immigration and UKBA | 5 Comments

Opinion: European countries need to work together on asylum

By Paul Haydon | Sun 24th June 2012 - 1:25 pm

The EU plans to reach an agreement over a Common European Asylum System by the end of this year, aiming to strengthen common standards on asylum, establish greater solidarity between member-states, and ensure fair and decent treatment of refugees. Currently countries on the EU’s periphery continue to shoulder the brunt of refugee flows relative to their capacity, burdening the already strained living conditions in immigration reception and detention centres.

Malta provides a case in point. During 2011 Malta received more asylum requests per-capita than any other EU country, with

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | 4 Comments

New Liberal Democrat group to help seekers of sanctuary

By Suzanne Fletcher | Thu 24th May 2012 - 11:27 am

Liberal Democrats, as a party, have a proud record of standing up for the way our country views and treats with compassion and humanity those who seek sanctuary in our country. This culminated in the ending of the detention of children in the notorious Yarlswood, and the opening of the new pre departure accommodation at Cedars, for those families with children who were sadly being returned to their country of origin.

As well as actions as a party though, there are very many individuals who are both concerned about, and working with and for, asylum seekers in their locality. This ranges …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged child detention and immigration | 4 Comments

Opinion: The need to treat asylum seekers with dignity

By Suzanne Fletcher | Mon 16th April 2012 - 10:54 am

At a meeting organised by Thrive last Friday the usually silent and ignored voices of asylum seekers and refugees were heard by those who need to hear.

For some time now those housed under a contract given by the UK Borders Agency (UKBA) to a local private housing provider had been experiencing problems that no decent person in our country would find acceptable. Some had complained to the housing provider, but been met with …

Posted in Op-eds | 2 Comments

The Independent View: The Coalition’s approach to the UK’s asylum system

By Maurice Wren | Mon 3rd October 2011 - 10:45 am

A new Chief Executive at the UK Border Agency takes office this week. The fairness and effectiveness of our asylum system will fall squarely within Rob Whiteman’s responsibility. It seems an appropriate moment, then, to look at the way the Coalition has approached this dysfunctional area of public policy.

When politicians talk about asylum, they invariably remind their audience that the UK has a proud historical record protecting people who have fled chilling human rights abuses abroad. Polls consistently show substantial public support for ensuring protection for those who need it. And these were the opening notes …

Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | 2 Comments

The Independent View: Honouring our refugee protection commmitments

By Marilyn Croser | Thu 7th October 2010 - 11:27 am

Asylum is a human rights issue. Given the tone of public debate in the last few years, you could be forgiven for not realising that, or having forgotten it. Asylum policy is about ensuring that people who have suffered appalling persecution are given the protection they’re entitled to. That’s not mentioned very often either. So it was heartening to see a room full of people at the Lib Dem conference in Liverpool for a discussion organised by the Refugee Council and UNHCR on ‘Asylum Policy: Honouring Our Refugee Protection Commitments’.

The meeting brought together Tom Brake MP, Roland Schilling (UNHCR UK …

Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Also tagged abdul turay, donna covey, julian huppert, refugee council and tom brake | 3 Comments

Hughes welcome Supreme Court ruling securing freedom from persecution for gay asylum seekers

By Stephen Tall | Thu 8th July 2010 - 2:45 pm

Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes has welcomed the Supreme Court’s ruling that two gay men who said they faced persecution in their home countries of Cameron and Iran have the right to asylum in the UK.

I am delighted this ruling recognises the rights of gay asylum seekers, ensuring their freedom from persecution around the world.

“This plight is one that my Liberal Democrat colleagues and I have campaigned on for years. It is an issue that the Coalition Government is committed to addressing as we seek to restore Britain’s reputation around the world as a leader in the

…

Posted in News | Also tagged daily express, gay rights, newspapers, peter hill, simon hughes and supreme court | 5 Comments

Colin Firth on why he’s stopped voting Labour and now supports the Lib Dems

By Stephen Tall | Tue 16th March 2010 - 4:15 pm

The book ‘Why vote Lib Dem’ – edited by Danny Alexander MP, with a foreword by Nick Clegg, and contribututions from 26 individuals – is selling fast.

Its publisher (one Iain Dale, Esq) reports that it “is outselling Why Vote Conservative by a factor of 9 and Why Vote Labour by a factor 25. Indeed, so popular is the LibDem book that we have almost sold out of the entire print run, meaning that we will have to reprint after only ten days of sales.”

He speculates that one reason might be the Lib Dems’ minor coup in persuading …

Posted in Books | Also tagged colin firth, guantanamo bay, immigration, iraq and why vote lib dem book | 7 Comments

LibLink … Chris Huhne: Britain must stop locking up innocent children

By NewsHound | Sun 20th December 2009 - 11:05 am

Over at the Independent on Sunday, Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne rails against the UK’s asylum system for combining ‘staggering bureaucratic incompetence with institutionalised cruelty’. Here’s an excerpt:

… It is one thing to stamp out abuse among asylum-seekers, but quite another to devise a system that combines staggering bureaucratic incompetence with institutionalised cruelty, for every year we are locking up hundreds and probably thousands of children, who have committed no crime, in prison-like conditions.

We do not know exactly how many, because the Government will not provide regular figures, but in June there were 470 such children, most of

…

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged children and chris huhne | 8 Comments

Social mobility: is the Coalition doing enough to encourage it?

Stephen Tall asks: "Did Nate Silver write in vain?"

Nick Clegg: "Of course the EU has to change"

"Mad, swivel-eyed loons": a top Tory on the Tories

Tag Archives: asylum

Lord Roger Roberts writes: Don’t try to win votes by coming down hard on migrants

Sarah Teather on “deeply upsetting” report on pregnant women in asylum system

Lord Avebury writes… Gay asylum-seekers: we’ve come a long way, but much still left to achieve for LGBTI people around the world

LibLink: Sarah Teather – Asylum through a child’s eyes

Opinion: Immigration service must do more to protect human dignity

Opinion: European countries need to work together on asylum

New Liberal Democrat group to help seekers of sanctuary

Opinion: The need to treat asylum seekers with dignity

The Independent View: The Coalition’s approach to the UK’s asylum system

The Independent View: Honouring our refugee protection commmitments

Hughes welcome Supreme Court ruling securing freedom from persecution for gay asylum seekers

Colin Firth on why he’s stopped voting Labour and now supports the Lib Dems

LibLink … Chris Huhne: Britain must stop locking up innocent children

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Social mobility: is the Coalition doing enough to encourage it?

Stephen Tall asks: "Did Nate Silver write in vain?"

Nick Clegg: "Of course the EU has to change"

"Mad, swivel-eyed loons": a top Tory on the Tories

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