21st Century Vision

Civil society initiative on asylum and immigration

Among the most urgent issues identified by the Enfield Civil Society Forum – which met for the first time on 17th February – was the way asylum and immigration issues were being exploited in the run up to the general election. Local politicians were claiming that ‘99% of asylum seekers were fraudulent and were economic migrants’, that ‘the effect of [asylum seeker costs] amounts to a three per cent increase in your council tax’ and that the local primary care trust was ’encouraging asylum seekers – many of whom by the Government’s own figures must be bogus – to take full advantage of the NHS’. Indeed the three Enfield Conservative parliamentary candidates were reported in the Enfield Gazette to have ‘united to criticise the cost of asylum-seekers in Enfield’. Immigration, of course, was ‘out of control’.

The council leader himself opined that ‘people are …conscious that [asylum seekers] are tapping into services they are also using and feel it is unfair those people have not long been residents and have not directly contributed to the service’.

There was no attempt to understand the reasons people seek asylum or migrate, still less the framework of international law, conventions and rights governing asylum and refugee issues. Nor was there the slightest sign these politicians understood the historical significance of asylum (not even in the 1930s) or immigration (despite its cultural impact and importance for postwar economic growth). The role of war, arms exports and free markets in displacing populations was passed over in silence. There was no mention of the rights enjoyed by UK citizens to seek opportunity anywhere in the EU, nor the huge numbers of British people who had emigrated worldwide in the past. No one recalled the positive annual contribution to the national income (£2.5bn at the last count) of migrant workers, nor the fact that (according to the National Farmers’ Union) parts of agriculture and horticulture would be forced to close down without migrant workers, nor migrant workers’ importance for the NHS today and the future of the welfare state. Worst of all, none of these comments showed the slightest appreciation of the poverty, racism and often violence to which our asylum system frequently condemns those who seek British protection. Indeed the commentators were prepared to make this worse in the pursuit of electoral advantage.

Most contributions to this ‘debate’ came from local Conservatives, but when Labour nationally replied (7th February) with its ‘five year strategy’, it was apparent its aim was to sound even more restrictive than its opponents. Visa applicants were to be fingerprinted and refugees were to be made permanently insecure through time limits on their status. Labour migration would aim to select primarily the most highly-trained workers (precisely those like doctors and nurses crucial to health and development in their home countries), while the less skilled would never acquire residence and have no right to be joined by their families.

To counter this unprincipled ‘race to the bottom’ between the major parties, the Civil Society Forum has promoted a ‘joint statement on asylum and immigration’ which has now been adopted by thirteen organizations and faith groups and is being considered by many more. The statement – text below - will be launched at an event at Community House, Edmonton, on Thursday 14th April, when through community participation and media coverage it is hoped to impress upon political activists that there are real costs as well as imagined advantages to playing the xenophobic card in the general election.

The launch event is restricted to organizations which have endorsed the statement. If you live in Enfield and agree with it, please make sure any organization you belong to has considered it (020 8882 3621 for further information).

Read Statement .....

General Election Hustings

Enfield Southgate Constituency

The Enfield Civil Society Forum is holding a General Election Hustings for Candidates in the coming General Election on

Monday April 18th, 7.30 to 10.00pm at Trinity-at-Bowes Methodist Church

Candidates attending include:

David Burrowes (Conservative
Trevor Doughty (Green)
Ziz Kakoulakis (Liberal Democrat)
Sally Miatt (UK Independence Party)
Stephen Twigg (Labour)

Questions can be asked of all of these Candidates through the member organisations of the Enfield Civil Society Forum or directly from the Floor of the Hustings.

For more information then contact the Enfield & The Barnets United Nations Association on 0208 882 3621

Asylum and Immigration

Members of the newly formed Enfield Civil Society Forum recently issued this statement on asylum and immigration.

As leaders and representatives of community organizations and faith groups with deep roots in the Enfield community we wish to register our profound concern at the persistently negative emphasis of references to asylum and immigration issues in the current pre-election campaign.

We wish to point out that –

The right to asylum in time of need is a universal human right under international law and the UN Convention on Refugees

Many who came to the UK as immigrants and refugees have made major contributions to its life and culture

The right to free movement of labour within the European Union is enjoyed by all UK citizens. In the past British citizens went in search of work and prosperity all over the globe

Labour migration is part of the international economy and greatly beneficial to the UK economy at the present time

Because they are younger than the general population, refugee and immigrant groups make and will continue to make an essential contribution to the social security of an ageing population

Asylum seekers, refugees and in many cases new immigrants often live in poor conditions and with limited access to rights and services enjoyed without question by the wider population. Any electoral campaigning which aims to or has the effect of threatening their security and physical safety while within the Enfield community can only be described as reprehensible.

Asylum, refugee and immigration issues should of course be debated within a healthy democracy, but that debate should proceed on the basis of the full range of information, and with due concern for the interests of all concerned. A persistent and one-sided emphasis on the costs (often exaggerated) outside the wider context of rights, obligations and benefits is inevitably sterile and unhelpful.

The Attorney General Did Change His Mind

Foreign Office official's resignation letter reveals that Attorney General did change his mind on legality of Iraq war

The Independent reports that documentary evidence has emerged showing that the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, changed his mind about the legality of the Iraq war just before the conflict began. The damning revelation is contained in the resignation letter of Elizabeth Wilmshurst, a legal adviser at the Foreign Office, in which she said the war would be a "crime of aggression". She quit the day after Lord Goldsmith's ruling was made public, three days before the war began in March 2003.

The critical paragraph of her letter, published yesterday under the Freedom of Information Act, was blanked out by the Government on the grounds that it was in the public interest to protect the privacy of the advice given by the Attorney General. But last night the contents of the paragraph were leaked, and Tony Blair was facing fresh allegations of a cover-up. There has long been speculation that Lord Goldsmith was leant on to switch his view, and to sanction the war - and confirmation of that would be devastating for the Prime Minister.

See full article ..

Wholescale Reform Necessary, Says Annan

Kofi Annan, United Nations secretary-general, on Monday proposed the most wide-reaching reforms ever in the UN's 60-year history, but warned they would work only if countries accepted his ideas as a comprehensive package. The report to the 191 members of the UN General Assembly was released on Sunday six months before world leaders meet at UN headquarters for a summit called by Annan. In its introduction, he urged the leaders to "act boldly" and adopt "the most far-reaching reforms in the history of the United Nations".

“In any such list, there are items which seem more important to some than others, while others consider them essential. The temptation is to treat the list as an à la carte menu,” he told the UN General Assembly.

He added that cherry-picking of individual proposals would not work. “If you need the help of other states to achieve your objectives, you must also be willing to help them achieve their objectives,” he said.

Expansion of the 15-member Security Council into one comprising 24 countries may prove one of the toughest nuts to crack. Mr Annan offers two options: one that would create six new permanent seats and three new elected rotating seats. The other would create eight “semi-permanent” seats, and one additional elected seat.

Japan, Germany, Brazil and India have launched a joint bid for permanent seats; but each faces opposition from regional rivals.

In Tokyo on Saturday, Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, offered support for Japan's seat but not for the others. That left Germany puzzling over the implications for its own bid, although Karsten Voigt, co-ordinator for transatlantic relations in the German Foreign Ministry, said: “At the very least, the comment means the US is principally in favour of an enlargement [of the Security Council].”

Although he recognised that consensus over enlargement of the Security Council might not be possible, Mr Annan urged countries to act anyway. Enlargement of the Security Council would have to be ratified by two-thirds of the General Assembly including the five permanent members of the Security Council.

One of the major proposals calls for the creation of a Human Rights Council, possibly as a principal organ of the United Nations like the Security Council or the General Assembly, to replace the Geneva-based Commission on Human Rights, which has long faced criticism for allowing the worst-offending countries to use their membership to protect one another from condemnation.

"Human rights must be incorporated into decision-making and discussion throughout the work of the organisation," Annan said. "The creation of the council would accord human rights a more authoritative position."

One of the most hotly awaited parts of the report was Annan's recommendation for changes to the 15-member Security Council, the most powerful UN body now dominated by the post-World War II powers -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France, who all have veto power.

The report calls for an expanded, more representative Security Council, but Annan did not endorse a specific plan, instead backed two options proposed in December by a high-level panel.

One would add six new permanent members and the other would create a new tier of eight semi-permanent members: Two each from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.

He urged the General Assembly to decide on Security Council expansion before the September summit, preferably by consensus but if that is impossible by a vote.
The Security Council's authorisation of the use of force has also been an issue. It refused to authorise the US-led war against Iraq and the war in Kosovo against the forces of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic, decisions that angered some countries.

The report said the Security Council already has the authority under the UN Charter to use military force, even preventively, but it needs to work more effectively. Its decisions on whether to use force should be guided by a series of assessments: How serious is the threat? Could it be stopped by non-military action? What's the purpose of military action? Is it proportional to the threat? Is there a reasonable chance of success?

In cases of genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, Annan urged all states to accept that there is a "responsibility to protect" those being killed, which requires collective action.

Currently, the report noted that half the countries emerging from violent conflict revert to conflict within five years. To prevent the return to war, Annan called for the creation of a Peacebuilding Commission to help win the peace in post-conflict countries.

On the issue of combating terrorism, Annan proposed a five-point strategy: Dissuade terrorism, deny terrorists access to funds, deter states from sponsoring terrorism, develop the capacity of states to defeat terrorism and respect human rights.
For years, a comprehensive convention against terrorism has been held up over a definition of terrorism, with some countries arguing that one nation's terrorists are another's freedom fighters. Annan said the debate must end and all countries must accept that resisting occupation "cannot include the right to deliberately kill or maim civilians".

He called for adoption of a convention by September 2006 with the definition of terrorism in the high-level panel's report. It said terrorism includes any act "intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a Government or an international organisation to do or abstain from doing any act".

Annan also called for swift adoption of a global treaty against nuclear terrorism and swift negotiations on a treaty to halt the spread of the highly enriched uranium and plutonium needed to make nuclear weapons.

In the area of development, the secretary-general urged all rich countries to establish a timetable to reach the goal set 35 years ago of earmarking 0.7 per cent of gross national product for development assistance no later than 2015, starting with a significant increase no later than 2006.

The United States currently has one of the lowest levels, about 0.15 per cent.
At the same time, the report calls on developing countries to adopt a program by 2006 to cut extreme poverty in half, ensure primary education for all children, improve health care and halt and reverse the AIDS pandemic, all by 2015.

Malloch Brown dismissed media comments that the report was "a panicked response" to the UN's problems, noting that it is based in part on the conclusions of two UN-commissioned panels on meeting global security threats and on achieving goals to reduce poverty and disease adopted at the last UN summit in 2000.

Its release comes ahead of a report by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, expected later this month, on his investigation into the activities of Annan and his son, Kojo, who worked in Africa for a company that had a contract for the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq.

Asked why the United Nations did not wait for the Volcker report's release, Malloch Brown said the reform proposals were promised to world leaders in March. As for the Volcker report, he said of Kofi Annan, "Certainly, we hope it will exonerate him."

Paying the Price

How the arms trade impacts on children around the world

Over the past few years there has been growing concern amongst governments, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), and the United Nations about the effect of armed conflict on children. This is due in large part to the work of Graca Machel, wife of Nelson Mandela. In her ground breaking 1996 report for the United Nations, Graca Machel reported that around the world "millions of children are caught up in conflicts in which they are not merely bystanders, but targets." 1 More recently she stated:

"Wars have always victimised children and other noncombatants, but modern wars are exploiting, maiming and killing children more callously and more systematically than ever."2

CAAT has watched this growing campaign with mixed feelings. On the one hand we are overjoyed that something is at last being done on behalf of children everywhere who suffer because of armed conflict. On the other hand we are dismayed that one of the major causes of armed conflict around the globe - the international arms trade - has to a large extent been overlooked. CAAT believes that if we really want to prevent millions of children from being seriously harmed and killed in armed conflict, one of the first things we need to do is to abolish the deadly trade in armaments.

Even a very brief look at statistics on the impact of war on children gives us some idea of the problem. According to UNICEF, in the last decade child victims of armed conflict include

2 million children killed
4-5 million children disabled
12 million children left homeless
More than 1 million children orphaned or separated from their parents
Some 10 million children traumatised.

This means that, on average, more than 2,000 children are being killed, maimed or disabled by war every single day.

Whilst being caught up in war is a terrible experience for anyone, for children it can be a truly devastating experience from which they never recover. As United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, commented in a recent report.

"Children are disproportionately affected by armed conflict and their needs merit our concerted attention, as both the Security Council and the General Assembly have affirmed. Children, caught in the midst of critical stages of personal development are affected by war more profoundly than are adults."

See full article ..

Judicial Reforms Needed to Ensure Justice for Victims of Sexual Violence

In eastern Congo’s conflict, government troops and rebel fighters have raped tens of thousands of women and girls, but fewer than a dozen perpetrators have been prosecuted by a judicial system in dire need of reform, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on the eve of International Women’s Day.

The 52-page report, “Seeking Justice: Prosecution of Sexual Violence in the Congo War,” documents how the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has taken insufficient steps to prosecute those responsible for wartime rape. Human Rights Watch called on the Congolese government and international donors, including the European Union, to take urgent steps to reform Congo’s justice system.

Despite the peace agreement and broad-based transition process in the D.R. Congo, which began in 2003, soldiers of the national army and armed groups continue to perpetrate sexual violence in the eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Orientale. In 1998, armed conflict broke out among the Congolese government, several neighboring countries and various rebel factions. Since then, combatants on all sides have subjected tens of thousands of women and girls—as well as a far smaller number of men and boys—to sexual violence.

“Sexual violence has shattered tens of thousands of lives in Congo, but fewer than a dozen victims have seen their assailants prosecuted,” said Alison Des Forges, senior advisor to Human Rights Watch’s Africa division. “The Congolese government must reform its justice system to prosecute wartime rape effectively.”

An increasing number of victims of sexual violence are demanding justice. “My husband does not want to live with me any more because I was raped by the Mai-Mai,” said one woman who, along with 11 others in Shabunda, South Kivu, was gang-raped by combatants belonging to the Mai-Mai, a local Congolese armed group opposed to foreign occupation. “The perpetrators must be punished,” she said.

The International Criminal Court may prosecute a small number of cases of sexual violence. At the same time, the vast majority of such crimes will have to be tried in Congolese courts. However, the Congolese judicial system is in disarray. Judges and prosecutors generally fail to treat sexual violence as a serious offense. Superior military officers are not held accountable for crimes committed by combatants under their command.

The handful of rape trials that have taken place have frequently resulted in violations of the rights of the accused and the victims. In one case in Bukavu, the defendant was not given an opportunity to choose his own legal representatives. Of his two lawyers, he met one the day before the trial, the other the day of the trial itself.

Support for victims is virtually non-existent: While publicly testifying against a soldier who had raped her, an eight-year-old girl was retraumatized by the proceedings. Little preparation time, guidance or psychological support was given in the face of significant pressures. In addition, victims who bring charges receive no special protection from police or judicial authorities.

“The Congolese government must make judicial reform a priority,” said Des Forges, “Support from international donors such as the European Union is essential for this effort.”

Current national laws on rape and war crimes are inadequate and inconsistent with the requirements of international humanitarian and human rights law. The Transitional Parliament is considering a new law on crimes of sexual violence. A ministerial committee is also considering a law on Congolese cooperation with the International Criminal Court.

Human Rights Watch called for measures that would assist victims of sexual violence in Congo. Women and girls who have suffered crimes of sexual violence must have their medical and psychological needs met. The report looks at the medical emergency surrounding widespread rape and calls for improved health services for victims, including those infected with HIV/AIDS.

A woman told a Human Rights Watch researcher how, in May 2004, she watched her 13-year-old niece being raped by dissident combatants from the RCD-Goma (Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie, or Congolese Rally for Democracy–Goma) under Laurent Nkunda.

“Four men raped her. They had spread her arms and legs and held her down,” the woman said. “I had been with her but hid in a banana tree and watched what happened. Afterward she started to vomit blood, we brought her to Kirotshe hospital, and she died two days later.”

Darfur - The Tragedy Goes On!

More than 180,000 people have died from hunger and disease during the last 18 months of the Darfur conflict, the United Nations said yesterday, as negotiations continued at its New York headquarters to break the deadlock on a new security council resolution to impose sanctions on the Sudanese government.

Brian Grogan, a spokesman for Jan Egeland, the UN emergency relief coordinator, said an average 10,000 Sudanese civilians were dying a month, much higher than earlier estimates. They were victims mainly of starvation or of disease in refugee camps after being driven from their villages by Sudanese soldiers and government-backed Janjaweed militiamen. The estimates exclude those killed in the fighting.

Khartoum accused the UN of producing the figures as a ploy to get the security council to take action against Sudan, and demanded evidence to back up the numbers.

The Sudanese foreign minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, said: "Jan Egeland was here - I met him [and] he never mentioned this number."

Mr Egeland said last week that an estimate of 70,000 was too low but did not indicate what he regarded as a more realistic figure.

Nearly a year after the UN described Darfur as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, there is no sign the scorched-earth campaign against black African villages is over.

Hundreds of new refugees are flooding into overcrowded camps such as the giant settlement at Kalma in south Darfur, which housed fewer than 10,000 people this time last year but now houses 100,000.

See full story …

India Hosts G20 Meeting

India began hosting the first G-20 meeting yesterday after preparing a paper articulating the developing countries' stand for the on-going WTO negotiations, including the contentious agricultural issues.

The two-day meeting beginning in New Delhi on March 18 will also take stock of the state of play in the negotiations in Geneva, since the WTO framework agreement was signed in July last year.

"We should not allow a few (developed) countries to arrogate themselves to set the rules for multilateral trade," Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said, adding the G-20, though a diverse grouping, will formulate strategies to ensure level-playing field for developing countries.

The meeting assumes significance, as it would look at critical areas like formula for tariffs reduction in agriculture and the special and sensitive products that needed to be pushed in WTO negotiations.

It would also look at an end date for export subsidies, which resulted in artificial prices of farm products of developed countries denying market access to developing countries.

"As per an Oxfam study, six European countries' farm producers were given one billion dollar subsidy in 2003 so that their products could be dumped in world markets because of artificially low prices," Nath said.

He also cited a Minnesota (USA) study, which showed that in 2003, American wheat was exported at 28 per cent below the average cost of production. The corresponding figures for corn and soyabean, cotton, and rice were 10 per cent, 47 per cent and 26 per cent respectively.

The Hustings Idea Grows

We have sent out questions to most of the candidates in four North London Constituencies on issues ranging from the Middle East to Human Rights and Climate Change to Development. Simon Radford of Enfield Liberal Democrats was the first to send in his answers. Simon has his own Weblog that charters the course of his election campaign in Enfield North.

You can visit his Weblog here...

Iarla Kilbane-Dawe the Liberal Democrat candidate for Edmonton is now the second person to send in his answers to us. His answers will appear daily topic by topic on our UK Hustings Weblog beginning tomorrow.

Visit our UK Hustings Weblog here ...

The Enfield & The Barnets United Nations Association, together with a number of other organisations representing an embryonic Local Civil Society Forum, also plan to hold some actual realtime Hustings with audiences during the election campaign. Again we have contacted the candidates to see if they will take part. So far we have had positive responses from Stephen Twigg, Andy Love, Simon Radford and Lionel Zetter. We hope that the others will join us so that this combined project of both online and realtime hustings is a success.