Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

UGANDAN WOMEN'S HUNGER STRIKE IN YARL'S WOOD NOW IN THIRD WEEK

Legal Action for Women | 10.08.2005 20:04 | Oxford

.

Action Alert : UGANDAN WOMEN'S HUNGER STRIKE IN YARL'S WOOD NOW IN THIRD WEEK


STOP PRESS:



As the hunger strike goes into its third week, women in Yarl’s Wood are being penalized by being prevented from sending faxes about their legal case to Legal Action for Women and other groups and the Crossroads Women’s Centre. Faxes are free whereas phone calls use women’s precious money. The management says women can only contact their lawyers, but many women have no lawyer and need help finding one or getting a second legal opinion. Rape survivors have also been prevented from contacting Black Women’s Rape Action Project and Women Against Rape, depriving them of specialist help that may have a direct bearing on whether the legal case that is made to the authorities on their behalf is accurate and complete.



Women are also facing other harassment. Male guards entered the room of Harriet Anyangokolo, the spokeswoman for the hunger strikers, late at night without knocking, once when she was in her underwear and once when she was naked. Ms Anyangokolo was so traumatised by this, especially as it brought back horrendous memories of the rape in detention she suffered in Uganda, that she attempted suicide. Women Against Rape is protesting vigorously at this sexual intimidation which can lead to rape or sexual assault unless it is stopped immediately. Suicide watch is being used to harass women. At night when officers come to check on them they wake and frighten by shining torches in their face. Ms Anyangokolo’s room has been searched and all her personal belongings and papers left in disarray. Another woman was taken to hospital after vomiting blood; she now faces removal tomorrow.



Alistair Burt, MP for Yarl’s Wood visited women yesterday and will be pursuing a number of complaints about the conditions in Yarl’s Wood.



Please write urgently to protest (see details below).



For press interviews please call: Legal Action for Women

Tel: 020 7482 2496 minicom/voice Fax: 020 7209 4761

E-mail:  law@crossroadswomen.net





BACKGROUND:

A number of Ugandan women are on hunger strike in Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre in Bedfordshire. Like the Zimbabwean hunger strikers, they are protesting against being removed and demanding that their asylum claims are reconsidered in light of the conditions in Uganda as well as against the conditions in detention.



One woman, Harriet Anyangokolo is now very weak after 21 days on hunger strike. Nine other women have been striking for 16 days.



The hunger strike comes as Anne Owers, HM Inspector of Prisons condemned the lack of facilities for children in Yarl's Wood and the fact that their welfare is "invisible"and therefore ignored by the authorities.



The hunger strikers are asking for urgent messages of support, insisting that removals to Uganda be stopped immediately and for improvements in conditions at Yarl's Wood.



The women say:



"Despite Uganda being cited as one of the safer and more stable African countries, we were raped, beaten, imprisoned and then forced to flee for our lives. If we are returned, our lives will be in great danger.



The civil war continues with many deaths. The peace process aimed at ending the eighteen-year conflict in Northern Uganda is at a standstill because neither the Ugandan government nor the insurgent Lords Resistance Army (LRA) are committed to finding a negotiated solution;



The Ugandan authorities hold "suspects" incommunicado in unrecognised detention centres, commonly referred to as "safe houses", where security agencies use torture to extract information from their victims;



Many people are being killed by the government secretly and there is no investigation into these deaths. One example is that nothing was done after mass graves were discovered in the suburbs of Kampala in 2002;



LRA atrocities against civilians predominantly in the North continue to rise in number and viciousness, including kidnapping of children on a nightly basis. Many children are forced into the LRA army and girls as young as six are raped;



Although opposition political parties have been started and their presence has been used as proof that Uganda is democratic and safe, severe restrictions have been imposed on their activities. There is no freedom of assembly or freedom of speech. Many journalists are being detained and newspapers being closed down. Peaceful rallies have been disrupted by the police using tear gas and rubber bullets;



Despite these government abuses, the current President Museveni, is trying to amend the constitution to allow him a third term in office;



A number of us are HIV positive and are due to be deported shortly. Home Office assurances that medical treatment is available to people with AIDS who are deported, are not true. Channel Four recently interviewed a doctor from the hospital often cited by officials and adjudicators as providing this medical care. She confirmed that they did not have medication to give to patients for free and that the aid given does not reach victims. Just the tests alone cost the average monthly wage of a civil servant and we don't even have jobs or housing to return to;



The government claims that treatment for HIV positive people has resulted in a decrease in the numbers of people with AIDS. But the truth behind those figures is that a combination of poor nutrition, lack of sanitation and clean water, means that within four years of an HIV diagnosis many people are dead. It's people dying not any treatment provided that is the cause of the drop in numbers.



People who have been deported to Uganda have been taken into detention and disappeared.



The Yarl's Wood authorities, in response to women's complaints, tried to claim that they provide a caring environment - but women have shocking evidence that this is not the case:



"When any of us go to the doctor or nurse we get sent away with pain killers no matter what we complain of. Blood tests and other vital information about our illnesses forwarded by NHS facilities go missing, and there is no urgency about making sure we are getting the help we need. For example, one of us is suspected of suffering from TB but no progress has been made in her diagnosis or treatment. Even when someone tries to commit suicide, they get no psychiatric assessment;



Racist abuse from staff is a daily occurrence. We are called "black monkeys" who "don't deserve to be here" and "don't belong here". Staff punish anyone they take a dislike to for no reason, for example withholding personal belongings of one woman who told the officer he was racist. When women try to complain, the officers refuse to allow them to speak to senior managers or if they do get the chance to make an official complaint, they always find in the officers' favour and then we get labelled a liar on our record;



Most of us are constantly having to change lawyers to try and find someone who will genuinely help us. Many lawyers demand money - up to £1000 even to look at our case. Lawyers lie to us about when they are coming to visit and then don't show up, or say they're going to do something and don't. A lot of women get deported because their lawyer did nothing. Nothing happens to those lawyers, they just move on to the next woman;



We don't get enough food and what we get is tasteless, often burnt, undercooked or a day old. It gives us stomach ache but when you complain you get targetted. The last meal is at 5.30pm and then we get nothing until 8am the following morning;



Even when our removal is cancelled we are still sometimes taken to the airport. One of us had to physically resist because the guards wouldn't believe her. The next time she was taken in handcuffs. Other women have been attacked or humiliated by guards pulling them along the ground so that their clothes are ripped off. One semi-naked woman was sat on by male guards and badly hurt as a result but when her lawyer tried to pursue what happened the CCTV footage of this deportation had mysteriously disappeared! Another woman was deeply traumatised when she saw officers apparently strangling a young man they had already stripped naked as they dragged him away. She was terrified he had been killed and said it was that kind of violence she had fled in Uganda."



A month ago, Legal Action for Women launched "For Asylum Seekers and their Supporters - A Self-help Guide Against Detention and Deportation". Since then over 40 women have contacted us from Yarl's Wood Removal Centre, and we are starting to get requests for help from Oakington Accommodation Centre. A number of women had or have imminent removal dates. Some are among the hunger strikers.



Black Women's Rape Action Project who with Women Against Rape have been helping many of the women who are rape survivors says:



"Some women haven't been able to speak about the rape they suffered, including the most horrendous accounts of gang rape and repeated rapes over long periods whilst held in prison, until they contact us. UNHCR and Home Office's guidelines specify that vulnerable people shouldn't be detained but don't mention rape. Survivors face an uphill battle to be recognised as torture victims and are systematically disbelieved, abused and treated with hostility by the Home Office and the courts."



ACTION:

Write to:

· Immigration Minister Tony McNulty, Fax: 020-7219 2417; Telephone: 020-7219 4108

· The Women and Equality Unit, 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET, Telephone: 0207 215 5000;

Email:  info-womenandequalityunit@dti.gsi.gov.uk

· Yarl's Wood Centre Manager, Ray Reveley, Telephone: 01234 821000; Fax: 01234 217438



Send us a copy of your letters, and to Harriet Harman (Solicitor General)

Email:  harmanh@parliament.uk &  lslo@gtnet.gov.uk;

Fax 0207 271 2430 or Tel: 0207-219 2057.



For more information contact: Legal Action for Women

Crossroads Women's Centre PO Box 287 London NW6 5QU

Tel: 020 7482 2496 minicom/voice Fax: 020 7209 4761; 07958 152 171;

E-mail:  law@crossroadswomen.net




Legal Action for Women
- e-mail: law@crossroadswomen.net

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech