Most detainees are taken away by G4S as they go for the routine signing at UKBA (UK Border Agency)’s centres across the UK. Once they arrive at these detention centres they would be lucky if they could contact their solicitors. Their plight gets worse if they are on Legal Aid which is provided by the LSC (Legal Services Commission). Most firms of solicitors who take up Legal Aid cases treat their clients like chicken runs. They read out the Riot Act worse than the UKBA itself and when dealing with their cases they send the least efficient barristers to plead their appeals.
by Pearl Thevanayagam
(June 18, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Security Alert Level – High. In all the detention centres in the UK housing failed asylum seekers along with common criminals awaiting deportation, this sign is clearly displayed. Burly men who are mostly White of G4S contracted out to these centres strut about with handcuffs and heavy duty keys dangling from their hipsters to cells and rooms for legal visits. All the furniture are fixed to the floor and you dare not lean against the wall since a deafening alarm would go off round the whole block.
Despite such strict security a Tamil failed asylum seeker committed suicide by strangling himself with the duvet on Wednesday (June 15, 2011), the night before was to be deported along with 25 others on a charter flight to Sri Lanka where they would invariably be taken in for questioning and inevitable torture.
Most detainees are taken away by G4S as they go for the routine signing at UKBA (UK Border Agency)’s centres across the UK. Once they arrive at these detention centres they would be lucky if they could contact their solicitors. Their plight gets worse if they are on Legal Aid which is provided by the LSC (Legal Services Commission). Most firms of solicitors who take up Legal Aid cases treat their clients like chicken runs. They read out the Riot Act worse than the UKBA itself and when dealing with their cases they send the least efficient barristers to plead their appeals.
Detainees are often kept in single isolated cells and only let out at meal times or during visits by solicitors or relatives. The British treat their animals better than failed asylum seekers.
One firm of solicitors requested me to come along to a detention centre to inform their client who was already on hunger strike that they could do nothing to stop her deportation last December. The firm would be paid handsomely for doing this. I naturally refused to go along and instead got her relatives to contact a fee charging solicitor who immediately got an injunction in court against her deportation.
Many failed asylum seekers are cheated by their own solicitors to whom they would pay around £3,000 and they are unaware they could seek legal aid or they could change their solicitors.
Working for the (EJN) Exiled Journalists Network I have made many visits to detention centres and managed to stay deportation orders of three journalists from Algeria, Iraq and Sri Lanka with the help of NUJ (National Union of Journalists), sometimes by directly contacting UKBA and in the case of the Sri Lankan appearing as expert witness in his appeal hearing.
The main obstacle failed asylum seekers face is being unable to speak English. Very often interpreting is done over the telephone and one does not necessarily get a Sri Lankan Tamil interpreter. UKBA has in its pool many Tamil interpreters and particularly over the telephone very serious errors can occur if one has a Madrasi or Malaysian interpreter.
The various NGOs assisting Tamils hardly provide them with legal assistance and I have found many offices not answering telephone calls during office hours. Yet they receive massive grants from donors such Evelyn Oldfield, Princess Diana Trust, Open Society Institute and many others.
The UKBA cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the plight of deported asylum seekers since it has ample evidence of how they would be treated once they reach Sri Lanka. Siobahn McDonagh MP could not have put it better when she said `UK has blood on its hands’.
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