The new frontline for the hostile environment is Glasgow. The city is on the verge of a “humanitarian crisis” after outsourcing giant Serco announced an unprecedented eviction programme, which could eventually force up to 300 asylum seekers onto the streets with nowhere to go. It plans to do this by changing the locks on the doors of the asylum seekers’ homes, starting with 18 people served with 21-days’ notice. Strict Home Office rules have left the local council paralysed to intervene. Locals are scrambling to find emergency solutions to the crisis so the “refuweegees” at risk can be protected by the city they have sought safety in. Serco manages a variety of government contracts from defence to health care, and also houses thousands of asylum seekers and refugees in Glasgow and across the UK on behalf of the Home Office. In a dramatic change of policy, it has now said it will no longer provide assistance for “failed … [Read more...] about ConsumerBusinessSpotlightConsumerBusinessSpotlightConsumerBusinessSpotlightConsumerBusinessSpotlightConsumerBusinessSpotlight Being a “failed asylum seeker” leads directly to homelessness on the streets of Glasgow
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‘The people of Glasgow won’t stand by while hundreds of asylum seekers face eviction’
Over the weekend, Serco, a private housing firm in Glasgow, announced that it would start evicting asylum seekers who had not been granted refugee status in the UK. As a result, three hundred residents will be on the streets by next Monday, with just a week to try to find new accommodation. Because of their failed refugee status, Glasgow City Council is legally unable to help those residents, many of whom do not speak English, have no money or contacts, and nowhere to go. Speaking to The Herald, Owen Fenn of Govan Community Project called the mass eviction “a brewing humanitarian crisis for Glasgow”. This is not the Glasgow I know – an accepting, multicultural city that welcomes all no matter who you are or where you come from. Despite not being Scottish and only living in the city for four years, I still consider myself Glaswegian through and through: once you live in Glasgow, you’re always a Glaswegian. While the possibility of mass eviction for the … [Read more...] about ‘The people of Glasgow won’t stand by while hundreds of asylum seekers face eviction’
ConsumerBusinessSpotlightConsumerBusinessSpotlightConsumerBusinessSpotlightConsumerBusinessSpotlightConsumerBusinessSpotlightHotel Limbo: how Ireland institutionalises asylum seekers
In direct provision centres in Ireland, refugees live on €21.60 (approximately £19) a week. “We don’t buy outside [of the centre],” says a mother in Mosney Accommodation Centre. “You can’t afford to”. Established in 1999, the Irish programme of direct provision is supposed to be a short-term solution for asylum seekers. They are housed and provided for in camps, old holiday parks and hotels, all owned or managed by contractors for the Irish state. Families are kept here while awaiting the outcome of their asylum applications. In theory, residents are not supposed to be here for more than six months. In reality, 55 per cent of those in direct provision have been there for five years or longer. Residents must sign in and out of direct provision centres if they choose to leave for a day. In a 2014 case taken to the Irish High Court by a Ugandan asylum seeker mother, it was revealed that at the Eglinton Hotel in Galway, residents … [Read more...] about ConsumerBusinessSpotlightConsumerBusinessSpotlightConsumerBusinessSpotlightConsumerBusinessSpotlightConsumerBusinessSpotlightHotel Limbo: how Ireland institutionalises asylum seekers
Immigration service to change how they test asylum seekers’ religion, sexuality
The Netherlands immigration service IND is making changes to the way they test asylum seekers' sexuality and religion. Currently the differences in cultures sometimes leads to mistakes being made, ANP reports. The IND extensively tests LGBTQ asylum seekers and asylum seekers who converted to Christianity. Gay and Christian converts are not safe in some countries, and the service wants to prevent this from being used as an excuse to get a residency permit in the Netherlands. But according to interest organizations and the D66, among others, the IND looks through western lenses when asking its questions and sometimes doesn't recognize a non-Western gay man, for example. This will now change, State Secretary Mark Harbers of Justice and Security promised. From now on the IND will look for the asylum seeker's "personal, authentic" story. According to him, this will prevent IND employees from being fooled by memorized standard stories. More money will be pushed into training employees to … [Read more...] about Immigration service to change how they test asylum seekers’ religion, sexuality
Immigration service to change how they test asylum seekers’ relgion, sexuality
The Netherlands immigration service IND is making changes to the way they test asylum seekers' sexuality and religion. Currently the differences in cultures sometimes leads to mistakes being made, ANP reports. The IND extensively tests LGBTQ asylum seekers and asylum seekers who converted to Christianity. Gay and Christian converts are not safe in some countries, and the service wants to prevent this from being used as an excuse to get a residency permit in the Netherlands. But according to interest organizations and the D66, among others, the IND looks through western lenses when asking its questions and sometimes doesn't recognize a non-Western gay man, for example. This will now change, State Secretary Mark Harbers of Justice and Security promised. From now on the IND will look for the asylum seeker's "personal, authentic" story. According to him, this will prevent IND employees from being fooled by memorized standard stories. More money will be pushed into training employees to … [Read more...] about Immigration service to change how they test asylum seekers’ relgion, sexuality