Refused asylum seekers tortured in the DRC

For almost a decade, concerns have been raised about the post-return experience of asylum seekers who have been refused sanctuary in the UK and removed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The inhuman and degrading treatment of these Congolese is described in a new report, Unsafe Return. Yet the British embassy has been unable to find any evidence of ill treatment amounting to torture.

Read more

Source: Guardian

Unsafe return

By Frances Webber| Institute of Race Relations

A new report on returns to the DRC challenges the government’s assertion that refused asylum seekers are not at risk.

In Unsafe return: refoulement of Congolese asylum seekers, Catherine Ramos examines the experiences of seventeen Congolese refused asylum seekers returned to Democratic Republic of the Congo and finds that most of them were subjected to some sort of ill-treatment, including detention, rape and sexual abuse, beating and extortion. They are considered ‘traitors’ for claiming asylum abroad. Even if they get through the airport, they run the risk of being arrested later.

Allegations of ill-treatment on return to Congo are not new. For over a decade, reports from NGOs, refugee and human rights groups have claimed that refused asylum seekers returned to the DRC are regularly detained and ill-treated. In 2005, a BBC investigation found that ‘failed asylum seekers were beaten and locked away in prison without trial or hiding in fear and no one appears to accept responsibility for checking if they are safe’. In 2008, witnesses from NGOs, the BBC journalist who conducted the investigation and two respected academic experts on the DRC gave evidence to the immigration tribunal on the risks facing refused asylum seekers removed to Ndjili airport, together with three former DRC officials (including two former immigration officers from the airport). A dossier of cases monitored by rights organisations was presented, containing consistent allegations of detention and abuse, including rape and beatings. But the tribunal found reasons for rejecting all this evidence. Refused asylum seekers, it held, were inherently unreliable witnesses, since their asylum requests had been rejected, so nothing they said about their treatment on return home could be taken on trust. The BBC journalist was insufficiently rigorous in her investigation of her informants. The experts, at least one of whom was generally impartial, had unaccountably veered into contention and equivocation in their reports. The DRC officials had exaggerated. The tribunal found that refused asylum seekers were likely to be detained for questioning, might have their possessions stolen by officials and would probably have to use bribery to be released, but that, provided they could pay, they were unlikely to be abused. Payment to avoid further detention and abuse was seen as perfectly acceptable. The Court of Appeal upheld the ruling.[1]

In response to parliamentary questions in 2009 and 2011, ministers have said that ‘no evidence’ has been found of mistreatment of returnees. The responses provoke the question: where have they looked? Embassy staff abroad are not renowned for their vigorous investigation of human rights abuses – a rare diplomatic exception, Craig Murray, the ambassador to Uzbekistan, was sacked in October 2004 after his forthright denunciation of the Uzbek government’s gross human rights abuses. The normal response to allegations of ill-treatment is a discreet and courteous query to the interior ministry of the relevant country, and a totally unquestioning acceptance of the assurances given in return. Unsafe return challenges the UK authorities’ complacent reliance on flawed country information, the lack of proper monitoring by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the situation in Kinshasa, the failure by the government to institute proper monitoring of the fate of returnees despite the flow of consistent allegations. The report is careful and thorough. Is it too much to hope that immigration judges will take its allegations seriously, the next time the safety of the DRC is considered?

—-
FOOTNOTE

Unsafe return: refoulement of Congolese asylum seekers, Catherine Ramos, Justice First (http://justicefirst.org.uk/), November 2011. Download a copy of the report here (http://justicefirst.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/UNSAFE-RETURN-DECEMBER-5TH-2011.pdf) (pdf file, 292kb. [1] BK (Failed asylum seekers: DRC CG) [2007] UKAIT 00098 (http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIAT/2007/00098.html#para69), upheld in the Court of Appeal as BK (Democratic Republic of the Congo) v SSHD [2008] EWCA Civ 1322 (http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2008/1322.html)

New report documents brutal experience of refugees deported to DRC

A shocking new report documents the post return experience of 17 Congolese men and women who were forcibly removed to DRCongo from the UK between 2006 and 2011.  Eleven of these were clients of Justice First a charity working with refused asylum seekers in the Tees Valley.  Nine children were removed with their parents or with their mother.

The returnees trusted the integrity of those associated with Justice First and confided details of their post return experience to them.

A pattern of imprisonment and ill treatment emerged which was corroborated by similar reports from other UK civil society groups that had maintained contact with clients.

Read more

Source: ICN

Quagmire in east set to blight DRC elections

(IRIN) – More than three years ago, peace accords signed in the South Kivu provincial capital, Goma, were supposed to signal the end of violence and displacement in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, as the country heads for general elections in November, armed factions continue to destabilize the country.

This report online: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=93302

Congo Support Project funding appeal

By Melanie Singhji

The Congo Support Project is struggling to secure funding for its vital services.

After recent grant applications were rejected, money for the everyday running of the Project, which provides a voice for the Congolese community in Britain, has become extremely tight, and there are increasing concerns about the possibility of continuing to offer the services upon which its users heavily rely. Seeing around 150 people a month, the Project provides support and interpretation services for people facing the bewildering rules of housing, education, employment and benefit systems. For those still seeking asylum or being held in detention, the Project offers legal, emotional and moral support, and provides assistance in bail and asylum applications.

Based in London and Manchester, the Congo Support Project has been working since 2007 to raise awareness about the plight of the Democratic Republic of Congo and those that flee to Britain. By informing public opinion about the current human rights abuses, and the political, humanitarian and socio-economic situation of the country arising from political repression and persecution, the Project has been able to raise awareness of the need for asylum, and of the dangers of deporting Congolese refugees back to the DRC. The Project was integral in the campaign of 2007 that successfully forced the Home Office to temporarily suspend deportations to the country and grant leave to remain to many Congolese families.

You can support the project by contacting CSP Manchester on 0161 835 1285. Alternatively, you can email: [email protected] (mailto: [email protected] )

Congo Support Group ( http://www.congosupportproject.co.uk/)

Humanitarian aid delivery in DRC under threat

Read more

DRC army accused of crimes against humanity

IRIN

Read more

Aid workers battle to help desperate refugees

IRIN – With at least 67,000 refugees in southwest Uganda, the government and aid workers are still battling inadequate resources in what a UN official described as a “silent emergency”.

“We can hardly meet international standards of indicators such as water, health and food,” Nemia Temporal, deputy representative of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Uganda, told IRIN on 8 March. “For instance, we are delivering 15 litres [of water] per person per day instead of the standard 20l.”

After years of protracted conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with large influxes to neighbouring countries, the situation of the majority Congolese refugees is no longer considered that urgent by the wider aid community, Temporal said.

Read more

Sanitary project changes lives of refugees in Uganda

IRIN – A project using papyrus and waste paper to make sanitary pads has changed the life of Evelyne Banyamisa, who fled rebel violence in Bunia, north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2003 when she was only 13.

After leaving the DRC, Bamanyisa ended up in south-western Uganda where she has been living as a refugee. She was separated from her parents as they fled Bunia, and Banyamisa, her elder brother, a younger sister and a niece, arrived in the Kyaka II refugee camp where they lived together as a family until 2008 when her brother disappeared.

“I don’t know where he went; I have reported his disappearance but I have not so far heard anything; right now I am taking care of my sister, my niece and an orphan who I decided to take in as she did not have anyone to help her,” Banyamisa, now aged 20, told IRIN on 7 March.

Read more

Fighting for peace in DRC’s Kivu region

(IRIN) – A year ago, Goma town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was temporarily home to tens of thousands displaced by fighting between government forces and various armed groups. Now, many have returned to their villages.

“It does not mean peace has come to Kivu region,” a military observer in Goma, capital of North Kivu Province, said. “Some villagers are relatively safer, but the general situation is still very volatile.”

Goma hosted about 140,000 displaced people (IDPs) in camps at the height of violence in North Kivu in 2008 and 2009, according to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR. In early 2009, some started voluntarily leaving the camps and now 77,000 have left.

Read more

Next Page »