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Please forward this to people and organisations that you may know who may be willing to refer people With Thanks in advance Jacqui L Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2011 11:54:36 +0000 To: From: [log in to unmask] Subject: Stateless People In The UK )))))))))))))))))))))) Freemovement - Say No to Removals/Deportations )))))))))))))))))))))) Stateless People In The UK Asylum Aid in conjunction with the UN Refugee Agency is conducting research into stateless/non returnable persons in the UK. NGOs/faith/community group can refer people, individuals can refer themselves, but all must use attached referral form. Please be clear this is research only, Asylum Aid will not be able to provide legal assistance. Travel expenses will be reimbursed for anyone attending an interview. Who are we and what is this about? Asylum Aid, an independent, national charity conducts research in order to highlight issues of concern and seek changes in government policy that will better protect individuals' rights. We are working with the UN Refugee Agency to carry out research on the issue of statelessness in the UK. Our research aims to find out the number, situation and profile of stateless persons in the UK and analyse UK law, policy and practice relating to stateless persons in light of the UK's international treaty obligations. Findings will be published in a report next year identifying recommendations to ensure better protection of stateless persons in the UK. What does being stateless mean? A stateless person is someone who does not enjoy citizenship - the legal bond between a state and an individual - with any country. They find themselves marginalized, often unable to obtain identity documents, to travel, access health or education or even marry. There are at least 12 million stateless persons worldwide, including over 600,000 living in Europe. It is currently not known how many stateless persons are in the UK. What causes statelessness? Statelessness is caused in many different and complex ways. Simply put, the main causes are: 1 Non-recognition or deprivation of citizenship due to arbitrary or discriminatory practices in countries of origin. Examples of individuals who may be affected by this: Eritreans from Ethiopia, Bidoons from Kuwait, Biharis from Bangladesh, Rohinyga from Burma, Banyarwanda from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kurds from Syria and Lebanon, and Palestinians 2. Transfer of territory (when a new country is formed) can alter the nationality status of citizens of the former state, leaving individuals without citizenship. This occurred for example following the break-up of the former republics of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and the USSR. Examples of individuals who may be affected by this: Ethnic minorities (e.g. ethnic Russians, ethnic Serbs and Roma) from succession states. Also ethnic Eritreans from Ethiopia and Palestinians. 3. Technical or other issues such as differences in nationality laws between states, problems caused by gendered nationality laws, or where people lack the documentation necessary to prove their citizenship (e.g. a previous failure to register a child's birth so there is no proof of where or to whom they were born). Examples of individuals who may be affected by this: This depends on individual circumstances but can include: woman left stateless as a result of marrying a foreign national, children to whom mothers are unable to pass their citizenship, unregistered births (e.g. due to armed conflict) and cases of adopted, surrogate or trafficked children. 4. In addition to stateless persons, we are interested in 'unreturnable' persons who may include refused asylum seekers or other migrants in situations where their country of presumed nationality is not able or willing to provide travel documents or to permit their return home. Examples of individuals who may be affected by this: Algerians, Chinese, Eritreans, Indians, Liberians, Iranians and Palestinians. Also victims of trafficking. Sometimes stateless individuals will receive protection by being recognised as refugees, but where not, they may be left in limbo-like situations unable to get on with their lives. How will the research be used? The UK has ratified two international conventions relating to statelessness but these obligations are not fully incorporated into UK law, and there is no procedure to decide who is stateless. The numbers and profile of stateless persons in the UK is currently unknown and so is the extent to which the government is complying with its obligations under international law. Our research aims to fill this gap by gathering data and through indicative examples, describe the situations stateless persons find themselves in. We will then make policy recommendations to government which may hopefully lead to positive change for stateless people. To capture information we need to undertake a series of semi-structured interviews with stateless persons, and to examine their immigration case files How can you help? We need your help to identify stateless persons who are willing to be interviewed for our research. - Interviews will take place between now January 2011 and the end of April 2011 and will last approximately one to one and a half hours. - Interviewees will be asked questions about how they became stateless (this might include family history, place of birth and countries of previous residence) and their experience of living in the UK as a stateless person (including any periods spent in detention or destitution). - Interviews can be undertaken in a convenient location for your client; a private room for this will be required (if this is not available, we can help arrange this). - Interpretation will be provided where necessary. - Where possible, if you or the interviewee has access to their immigration case file we would also like to ask for their consent to review this. - Travel costs will be reimbursed, and interviewees may receive additional compensation for their time. - The research will be conducted in full accordance with the Social Research Association's ethical guidelines (available on request). All information will be treated in confidence and the identity of interviewees will remain anonymous. Interviewees will be able to withdraw their participation at any stage. Please complete the short research referral form Attached if you are able to refer stateless persons available to be interviewed. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your time For any other information about the project please contact: Chris Nash [log in to unmask] and Lucy Gregg [log in to unmask] Tel: 020 7354 9631 ext 221/222 End of Bulletin: Source for this Message: As per URLs-- To unsubscribe/remove yourself from this list, send a blank message to: [log in to unmask] and in the subject line put remove Disclaimer: Freemovement's news service is an important part of our work in educating the public on immigration, asylum and anti-deportation issues. As part of that work our mailings hosts news and views from different individuals, organisations and campaigns working in the same field as us. The contents of named/signed articles are the sole responsibility of the author/s and should not be taken as endorsement of any kind. Freemovement takes no responsibility for the content of external websites linked from this message, or for the content of news items on the news-feed pages. Links to other sites should not be taken as endorsement of any kind. Freemovement reserves the right to omit or edit the whole or any part of material submitted for publication. Content on Freemovement website: All contents are the property of those facing deportation and their supporters Texts which are attributed to Freemovement, may be republished or redistributed by any means free of charge. Any use of photographs and graphics on this website is expressly prohibited, without permission of the owner/s. You must check whether written content contained in other articles in this message or on this website may be republished or redistributed without the express permission of the relevant third party provider. ___________________________________ The Community Psychology List has a new website/blog at: http://www.communitypsychology.co.uk/ There is a threaded discussion forum: http://www.communitypsychology.co.uk/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi There is a twitter feed: http://twitter.com/CommPsychUK To post on the website blog, forum or twitter feed, contact Grant or David at the email addresses below. David Fryer ([log in to unmask]) or Grant Jeffrey ([log in to unmask]) To unsubscribe or to change your details on this COMMUNITYPSYCHUK list, visit the website: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=COMMUNITYPSYCHUK