HOW UK FOREIGN INVESTMENT CREATES ASYLUM SEEKERS

PUBLIC SEMINAR

Sunday 8 December 2002 1-6pm

Kurdish Community Centre
11 Portland Gardens
London N4

Tube: Manor House (Piccadilly line)
Bus: 29, 141, 341


What has been the impact of Western investment in key communities such as the Kurds, Colombians, Afghans and Tamils?

What’s behind the threats to abolish the 1951 Geneva Convention, the only legal protection for people fleeing persecution and oppression?

How does the British Government contribute to human rights violations?

Why are UK backed infrastructure projects (such as dams and oil and gas pipelines) anything but benign?

How do arms sales support repressive regimes?

How is the ‘War on Terrorism’ being used to criminalise communities?

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Asylum seekers are increasingly demonised as ‘economic migrants’ in search of easy welfare. But the vast majority are fleeing social or economic oppression. The seminar will examine the broader links between enforced migration and globalisation, as well as how the ‘War on Terrorism’ is demonising those forced to migrate.

Corporate-led trade liberalisation ensures that labour costs are kept punishingly low throughout the developing world, subjecting millions to destitution. Similarly, the IMF's structural adjustment programmes imposed on weaker economies benefits Northern consumers and local elites at the expense of the lives of the poor in the South. Meanwhile, life is being made increasingly intolerable for those forced to migrate by such policies.

Speakers from a number of asylum communities will tell their own stories as to why they have been forced to flee their countries. The seminar will also explore how the UK Government supports human rights abuses through its investments overseas, the arms trade and government support for destructive infrastructure projects.

The seminar is an initiative of the Ilisu Dam Campaign and participants and supporters include:

Lord Rea, Lord Dholakia, Lord Avebury, John Austin MP, John McDonnell MP, Rudi Vis MP, Alan Simpson MP, Marta Hinestroza (lawyer from Colombia), Gareth Peirce (lawyer), Nick Hildyard (The Cornerhouse), Mark Thomas, George Monbiot, Jean Lambert MEP, Friends of the Earth, Campaign Against the Arms Trade, Dr. G. Siddiqui (Leader of Muslim Parliament), Mary Dines, Jenny Jones (Green Group of Greater London Assembly), Liz Fekete (CARF), Frances Webber (barrister, CARF, Statewatch), Fazil Kawani (Asylum Rights Campaign), Greg Muttitt (Platform), Sarah Sexton (The Cornerhouse), War on Want, Mike Marqusee (Stop the War Coalition), Colombia Solidarity Campaign, Kurdistan Solidarity Committee, Peace in Kurdistan Campaign, Kurdish Community Centre – Haringey, Halkevi (Kurdish-Turkish Community Centre, Kurdish Theatre Group, Nasser Butt (Chair, Ethnic Minorities Liberal Democrats), Mirander Watson (Artist), Tom MacGowan (Kent Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers, Campaign to Closedown Dover Arrivals Centre), Afghan Residents in the UK, Tamil Refugee Action Committee, A. Sivanantham (Tamil People’s Forum), Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers, Campaign to Stop Arbitrary Detention at Yarls Wood, Robert Biel (Development Planning Unit, University College London), Professor Laurence Lustgarten (Faculty of Law, University of Southampton), Teresa Hayter (Barbed Wire Britain), Tony Benn, Bruce Kent, Stephanie Harrison (barrister and Campaign against Criminalising Communities), Les Levidow (Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Campaign against Criminalising Communities), Christine Blower (NUT), Alain Hertzmann (AMICUS_MSF London Region, in a personal capacity), Stephen Smellie (UNISON, Lanarkshire), Phil Micellaf (FBU, International Committee), Onay Kasab (UNISON, Greenwich), Stewart Hemsley (Chair of Pax Christi), Angela Barber (Photographer), STAR (Student Action for Refugees), Andreas Gavriliedis (Greek-Kurdish Solidarity), Dr M.A. Helmandi, C.K. Bandara (Journalist, BBC Sri Lanka) and others.


This seminar is part of an ongoing project to build links between refugee communities and environmental and anti-globalisation campaigners and other interested organisations and individuals; to understand each others concerns better and strengthen separate and joint campaigns.

Please indicate whether you would like to participate in this seminar or project, and how it is relevant to you:



Name:
Organisation:
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Telephone:
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Would you like to be added as a supporter of this initiative? Yes/ No

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Please return to:
Ilisu Dam Campaign/Refugee Project: Box 210, 266 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7DL
Email:  ilisu@gn.gn.apc.org
Website: www.ilisu.org.uk

For further information, please contact either:
Rochelle; 07876 771 576,  rochelle.harris@ukonline.co.uk
Estella; 020 7586 5892,  estella24@tiscali.co.uk