That is the view of English journalists working in Japan who expected the 28-year-old international to join a Premier League club.

Abe, who confirmed his switch to the Walkers Stadium on Tuesday, has become City’s most high-profile capture since current Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini signed for Peter Taylor back in 2001.

The Japanese-based journalists say Abe is a big star in the J-League and had been the subject of a record £3m transfer deal when he left his hometown club JEF United Chiba for Urawa Reds in 2007.

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We are delighted to invite you to the Being Heard: Human Rights and Asylum Conference. This not to be missed event takes place on the 21st of September 2010 at the University of Leicester, Kathryn & Henry  May Lecture theatre from 9am to 4:30pm

Asylum has become an increasingly polemical issue used by the media and politicians to fuel fears. The language used and the stories that are told are often partisan, giving a biased or partial account.  The aim of this conference is to explore how ‘asylum stories’ change in a shifting economic and political context; how ‘asylum stories’ get believed or interpreted; who is telling these stories and in whose interest are they being told.

Central to the conference is the theme of ‘human rights’. Increasingly hard-line and restrictive asylum policies and practices of many governments have called into question the scope of protections offered by the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. The conference will explore how the Government’s recent immigration and asylum policies have undermined basic human rights by denying support to those who do not apply for asylum at the earliest opportunity.

We look forward to you joining us on the 21st of September 2010.

If you wish to attend, please contact Carl Gudgeon (Clinical Psychology Department) on telephone 0116 223 1639 or  e-mail: cmg16@leicester.ac.uk

https://acrobat.com/#d=EDDzIOLOsAh-KIgo4DYRDA
Kind regards,

Elisha Shamba

We will train the young people and supervise them as they carry out the interviews. The audio and video recordings will be part of an educational website that will help other children learn about refugees.

If you’re willing to tell your story or know another refugee who might like to, please contact Talya.

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GPs with asylum seeker patients are asked to write medical reports for asylum cases, and are often well placed through their knowledge of their patient to provide evidence and information. However, writing full, “expert” medico-legal reports requires training and experience. A network of GPs writing medico-legal reports on asylum applicants was set up in 2008 to provide training and support for GPs. Ongoing training and accreditation in medical report writing should strengthen the role of GPs and the effectiveness of their reports at the Home Office.

Sponsored by the Department of Health, the 4th GP Medical Report Training Day will provide both new and experienced GP report writers with presentations from legal and medical experts, and with a forum for GPs to present their own reports. UKBA staff will explain the role and importance of medical reports in decision-making. Expert legal advisors will present on legal aspects, and medical presenters on recognising and documenting the physical and psychological evidence of trauma/torture. There will be a session on how to structure and present expert reports.

Attendance is free. Certificates of attendance will be provided.

Anyone interested in attending should send their name and contact details to Dr Alison Callaway to book a place:

Dr Alison Callaway (Lead GP)

The Meridian, 15 Bishop Street, Coventry CV1 1HU T: 02476-223921 F: 02476-223923

Refugees into Teaching (RiT) aims to provide free information, advice, guidance and support to refugees in the UK who wish to become qualified teachers or work in other support staff roles in UK state primary or secondary schools.

RiT is an England-wide project, funded by the Training and Development Agency for schools (TDA), and based at the Refugee Council offices in London and Leeds. The Refugee Council is a human rights charity, independent of government, which works to ensure that refugees are given the protection they need, that they are treated with respect and understanding, and that they have the same rights, opportunities and responsibilities as other members of our society.

As RiT doesn’t currently have a presence in the East Midlands, we are unable to deliver as much hands-on support as we would like.

For this reason, we are inviting charitable (or not-for-profit) organisations with a background in supporting adults into training and employment within the region to submit applications for funding to deliver Refugees into Teaching activities in the East Midlands

We are running a commissioning process for an available £20,000 to an organisation(s) that can coordinate some or all of the following activities in support of ‘refugee teachers’ over a 12 month period:

• Voluntary school placements
• Support group workshops
• Mentoring

Please see the attached commissioning documents for more information on how to apply. Closing date for applications 17th September.  Suggested delivery of activities to start on 11th October 2010 and run for 12 months.

If you would like to discuss any elements of this process or your application, please contact Andrew Lawton

RiT Commissioning – Accompanying Notes

RiT Commissioning – East Mids specification

RiT Commissioning – Application Form – FINAL

Refugee Council
Refugees into Teaching – Project manager

240-250 Ferndale Road, London. SW9 8BB, 020 7346 1167

www.refugeesintoteaching.org.uk

It’s as common a question as remarking on the weather.   And ultimately our work or professions is part of the way we define ourselves and how others characterise us.  I am a teacher. I am therefore a professional. I am contributing positively to society.

What happens to your identity when your right to work is taken away?

Despair, desolation and even destitution.  These are some of the ways that asylum seekers are impacted while waiting for a decision on their request for asylum in the UK, sometimes for months and even years.

Perceptions of refugees coming to Britain for economic reasons, a free handout or taking British jobs or are simply untrue. Asylum seekers are looking for a place of safety.

Since 2002, almost all asylum seekers in the UK have been prevented by the Government from working.  As a result, they are forced to rely on minimal state support, as little as £5 a day, or left destitute.

The belief that asylum seekers are unskilled or uneducated is also wrong.  Past studies have shown that the majority of those seeking asylum are highly qualified people who have been successful in their home countries.

There are currently over 1000 refugees working in the UK as doctors, dentists or nurses.  Many more medically qualified asylum seekers are not allowed to work, despite possessing much-needed skills.

Further disproving these types of misconceptions is the Department of Work and Pensions’ findings that show almost a third of refugees have contributed to British society by doing voluntary work since their arrival.

Take action

Think it’s unfair that asylum seekers cannot work?  Let your concerns be known!  Write to your MP.  You can do this quickly and easily by joining the Still Human Still Here campaign to urge the government to get behind more sensible rules for asylum seekers to allow them to work if they’ve been in the UK for more than six months.  Make your voice heard, join the campaign!

The deportations were halted in April 2009 following an influx of those fleeing political instability and economic meltdown in Zimbabwe.

An estimated two million Zimbabweans are thought to be in South Africa.

Their presence is one reason cited for outbreaks of xenophobic attacks in recent years.

Sixty-two people were killed in such attacks in 2008 and there were fears of renewed violence after the end of the football World Cup in July.

Human rights groups have condemned the South African government’s decision, the Associated Press news agency reports.

Zimbabwe exile groups fear that anyone forced to return could still face persecution.

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