UK immigration bill could create 'climate of ethnic profiling' – UNHCR

UN refugee agency condemns bill which seeks to restrict access to benefits and force temporary migrants to pay for services

The UN refugee agency has condemned David Cameron's proposed immigration laws over fears they could stigmatise foreigners, deny housing to people in need and create a "climate of ethnic profiling".

In a highly critical document, the office of the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, António Guterres, raised concerns that the immigration bill will damage communities and lead to the marginalisation of refugees and asylum-seekers.

It comes after Tories reacted angrily to the UN's special investigator on housing, Raquel Rolnik, who warned earlier this year that the bedroom tax was causing "shocking" hardship in parts of the UK.

Cameron has proposed the immigration bill in order to crack down on illegal immigrants, restricting access to bank accounts and private housing, as well as forcing temporary migrants to pay for public services such as the NHS.

However, the commissioner is worried that legal refugees and asylum-seekers will be caught up in the new restrictions, as landlords, GPs and banks will find it difficult to interpret their immigration status. The commissioner said these protected groups would suffer discrimination if the legislation went ahead.

"The provisions of the bill appear likely to result in asylum-seekers, refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection being stigmatised in the public mind and in their being denied access to housing or bank accounts," the UNHCR said in a briefing note to MPs.

"The UN high commissioner for refugees is concerned that if introduced, such measures could contribute towards a climate of misunderstanding and ethnic profiling that could undermine the longer-term prospects for integration of such persons and prove detrimental to social cohesion.

"Additionally, the UN high commissioner for refugees is concerned that the types of documentation carried by asylum-seekers, refugees, beneficiaries of subsidiary protection and stateless people can be varied and complex, and landlords and other service providers are likely to misinterpret the legality of their status.

"It will also impose an additional administrative burden on them. These challenges may have unintended consequences such as the denial of housing and other services to asylum-seekers, refugees, beneficiaries of subsidiary protection that result in their marginalisation and inhibit their integration in the United Kingdom."

The UNHCR, which is currently working with 10 million refugees in disaster zones such as Syria, also raised concerns about changes to the UK legal system after Theresa May, the home secretary, said she wanted to make it easier for illegal immigrants to be deported before they have the chance to appeal.

The Home Office declined to comment specifically on the UNHCR's concerns.

However, a spokesman pointed to a statement from October by Mark Harper, the immigration minister, saying: "The immigration bill will stop migrants abusing public services to which they are not entitled, reduce the pull factors which draw illegal immigrants to the UK and make it easier to remove people who should not be here."

Labour has said it backs some principles of the immigration bill but will try to amend some of the details. During scrutiny of the legislation, Helen Jones, a shadow Home Office minister, said she was concerned that British citizens from black or ethnic minority communities would be targeted for checks by banks and GPs "even though they may well have been born here".

"The worry I have is that if someone comes in from a black or ethnic minority background, the bank will not know whether they have leave to remain in the UK. The suspicion is that the bank will say 'produce a document' – a passport or whatever. "What will happen if that person does not have a passport?" she said. In response to the UNHCR, David Hanson, shadow immigration minister, said it was "disappointing that the government has voted against Labour's proposal to pilot this scheme and will instead plough on regardless".

"We've said repeatedly that whilst it's important that people who are here illegally are found and removed from this country, there are concerns over the workability and efficacy of these proposals."

 

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Border screening results in ten thousand arrests

Ten thousand wanted criminals have been arrested at the border as a result of e-Borders, an advance passenger screening programme.

e-Borders is a system by which air carriers and operators of vessels submit passenger and crew details electronically prior to travel from and to the UK. There are now an average of 52 arrests per week at ports and airports across the country for a range of crimes, immigration and customs offences as a result of the screening system which was introduced in 2005.

381 million passengers have been processed through the system since 2005, which has resulted in over 10,000 arrests for murder and rape, seizures of Class A drugs, and the refusal of entry to the UK for immigration offenders and overstayers.

Immigration Minister Damian Green said: ‘The government is doing more than ever before to protect the UK’s border. By checking passenger and crew information before, travel law enforcement agencies can apprehend those trying to evade justice. ‘From 2013 the new dedicated Border Policing Command, part of the National Crime Agency, will further strengthen security at the border, providing leadership and coordination based on a single national threat assessment and strategy.’

How it works:
122 carriers on over 3,000 routes provide passenger data to e-Borders. The UK’s National Border Targeting Centre screens the passenger and crew data and generates alerts as a result of intelligence and targeting.

The suspects wanted by the UK Border Agency, police, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and HM Revenue & Customs can then be apprehended before entering or departing the country.

Student visa clampdown

New rules and a clampdown on abuse of the student visa system mean nearly 500 colleges will no longer be able to bring new international students to the UK to study.

The colleges – a number of which were bogus and did not offer genuine courses - could have brought more than 11,000 students into the UK to study each year.
 
New UK Border Agency have raised the standards education providers must meet to sponsor international students. So far, 474 colleges have lost their right to recruit international students after they failed to sign up for the new inspection system.  The new standards will help ensure genuine international students get a good quality education in the UK.

A related UK Border Agency investigation into more than 100 colleges has led to 51 having their licences revoked. The investigation followed a surge in applications from South Asia just before the English language requirement rules were tightened earlier this year. More than 4,500 of these applications to study have been refused or withdrawn as a result.
 
Officials encountered evidence of clear abuse. One student interviewed to test his English skills answered almost every question with the word ‘hello’. At another college, staff turned off the lights and hid when inspectors called, and one college was unable to provide any timetables of classes or registers of students enrolled. A Norfolk-based college had students whose home address was recorded as Glasgow.

Immigration Minister Damian Green said: ‘Widespread abuse of the student visa system has gone on for too long and the changes we have made are beginning to bite.
 
‘Too many institutions were offering international students an immigration service rather than an education. Only first-class education providers should be given licences to sponsor international students.’

Further measures to tighten student visa rules are due in April 2012. The post study work route, which allowed overseas students to work after graduation will be closed and students wishing to work will need to apply for a work visa. There will also be new time limits on student visas and tougher rules on work placements.

The UK Border Agency will monitor the behaviour of all sponsors and take action against any that are not complying with standards of education provision or immigration control.

A limit on non-EU workers coming to the UK has already been introduced. Restrictions on the right to settle here will be outlined shortly alongside reforms to the family migration route which will promote integration and reduce burdens on the taxpayer.

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Don’t be fooled by unofficial websites

People ordering birth, death and marriage certificates were warned by the Registrar General today not to be fooled into paying more through unofficial websites.

The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint from the Registrar General about third party websites misleading customers into believing that they were ordering from the government’s own website.

Three times more expensive on unofficial sites

Customers applying for replacement birth certificates can be charged up to £74.99 for an unofficial ‚express’ online service.

The same express service is £23.40 via the Identity & Passport Service official website.

The standard certificate service is available for even less - £9.25.

There is just one official online certificate ordering service for England and Wales.

‘It is always quicker, cheaper and safer to deal directly with the General Register Office for certificate orders.

‘While other outlets can be found online, there is no reason to pay over the odds and I would urge customers to look at the official site first before ordering anywhere else.’

Africa’s business opportunities are increasingly on show in Britain.

Its message is being carried to London’s financial community and industrialists by a series of conferences and seminars.  Presentations of business opportunities in the African economy are the subject of increasing numbers of showcase events attracting large audiences of both African and European investors, financiers and entrepreneurs.  The recent Ugandan Convention reported in this magazine was targeted at emigrants wishing to return to the land of their birth or Diaspora as the traditional return journey home is known.  Significant national figures including the Ugandan Parliament’s Speaker, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and other African politicians and business people delivered a positive message to those considering investing their skills and money back into their homeland.  

October was a busy month for Africa’s showcases, an East Africa’s Global Trade and Investment Forum was held in London’s Royal Commonwealth Club and a Sierra Leone Investment Conference was hosted in the Daily Telegraph offices.  The Reuters prestigious “Annual African Capital Markets Conference” was held in their offices for the 5th year running.  The cream of Africa’s banking fraternity spoke on Foreign Direct Investment and other business matters and indicating how the African economy was growing (unlike Europe’s).  They allied their remarks to descriptions of how the establishment of peace and prosperity was making all this economic development possible.  The financial sector’s banks, economists and financiers showed growing sophistication in the management of Africa’s capital markets as well as its oil and mining resources.     

The most recent of Africa’s showpieces held here in London was the UK – Senegal Investment Forum which occurred last week.  Its Conference brochure listed a number of supporting partners including SN Mineral & Mining and Tora Gold as well as the Dangote Group.  This last company is a conglomerate and the largest quoted company on the Nigerian Stock exchange and was awarded the African Business of the year in 2011. It has donated over US$ 2 million to United Nations programmes in Africa during the year.  

The United Nations also plays its part in showcasing African business needs and opportunities.  Its role in the World’s economy requires it to encourage more British company’s to supply grant aided goods and services to Africa.  This was the reason for a series of seminars on the subject have been held in London and also Paris hosted by the UN in the last months.  The range of goods and service contracts placed by the many agencies of the UN amounted to US$ 5 billion last year.   If you wish to see your product or service listed as a supplier in their UN Global Market System, send us an email message to the address below.  We will send you details of some of the more recently placed contracts and help to find new ones suitable for your company.   Bidding for contracts with a value running from a few thousand dollars to large major contracts requires you to register with the UN’s Global Market data base.  Registration is free and it affords you many export opportunities into the African market.  Email us for details.

Peter Matthews
The Foreign Direct Investment EEIG
peter.matthews23@btinternet.com
 

Send Money Africa: Helping the Diaspora Send Money Home

Do you send money home to Africa?  If so, you are one of an estimated 30 million Africans worldwide who could benefit from the World Bank’s Send Money Africa database and website. Send Money Africa  helps the Diaspora make informed choices by providing information on the costs and speed of money transfer services offered by banks, post offices, and money transfer operators in 27 African markets.

Costs involved in sending money to Africa vary widely among providers and from one country to another. Moreover, the cost structure of the money transfer market -- which involves both exchange rate margins and up-front fees -- makes comparing transaction costs a complex and time consuming operation. However, on the Send Money Africa website, senders and recipients can quickly evaluate providers and make good decisions with a few clicks of the mouse.

The World Bank estimates that, if the cost of sending money could be reduced by even five percentage points relative to the value sent, recipients in developing countries would receive over $16 billion more annually than they do now. This easy-to-use web tool is a first step towards putting more money back in the hands of senders and receivers in Africa and stimulating enhanced competition in African remittance markets. The team plans to expand the site to include information for additional African remittance markets over the coming year.

Send Money Africa is part of the African Institute for Remittances (AIR) project, which is managed by the World Bank’s African Diaspora Program. It is an initiative in which the World Bank and selected development partners -- the African Development Bank, the International Organization for Migration and the European Commission -- are collaborating to facilitate the African Union Commission (AUC) and its member states in establishing the AIR. The project is funded by the European Commission and implemented by the World Bank.

www.sendmoneyafrica.worldbank.org