No Deportations to Iraq: Demonstrate Saturday 17th 2pm
Stop Deportation | 15.10.2009 12:14
The first deportation to Baghdad deported around forty people early on Thursday the 15th October on a specially chartered plane provided by Air Italy . This marks a shift in government policy which since 2005 has sent people back to Iraqi Kurdistan but not to Iraq . Now they have begun, deportations to Iraq are sure to continue putting the lives of many in danger. Demonstrate on Saturday to build resistance to deportations to Iraq !
Deporting people to a war zone like Iraq puts the lives of many deportees at risk. As recently as the 11th October, three car bombs exploded in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi , killing at least 19 people. Violence and bloodshed continue throughout the country, which saw 1,891 civilian deaths in the first six months of this year alone. There are also widespread food shortages, lack of access to clean drinking water and other grave humanitarian crises in many areas.
The British government, through its participation in the war on and occupation of Iraq since 2003, is responsible for these crises and the consequent displacement of millions of Iraqis. Instead of helping accommodate refugees fleeing war and violence, it is now sending them back en masse to face their possible death. Charter flight deportations in particular limit detainees legal recourse and are especially violent –see www.stopdeportation.net for more information.
We call upon all groups, organizations and individuals opposed to this brutal action by the UK government to stand with us in calling for all deportations to Iraq to be stopped. Join us to demonstrate against mass deportations to Iraq this Saturday the 17th October, at 2pm, at Parliament Square .
If you would like to add your or your organisation's name to a statement against deportations to Iraq [see www.stopdeportation.net], or for any further information, please email stopdeportation@riseup.net.
Other things you can do to help stop future deportations:
Contact your local MP and ask them to put pressure on the UK Border
Agency to cancel the deportation. You can find your local MP at http://findyourmp.parliament.uk
Contact the UKBA directly:
Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
UKBApublicenquiries@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk
CITTO@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
Contact the minister for borders and immigration Phil Woolas:
House of Commons phone number: 020 7219 1149
House of Commons fax number: 020 7219 0992
Constituency phone number: 0161 624 4248
Constituency fax number: 0161 626 8572
Please copy stopdeportation@riseup.net in your email correspondence.
Statement against Deportations to Iraq signed by:
- National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, UK
http://www.ncadc.org.uk
- Coalition to Stop Deportations to Iraq
http://www.csdiraq.com
- Asylum Support and Immigration Resource Team (ASIRT), Birmingham
http://www.asirt.org.uk
- SOAS Detainee Support Group (SDS)
http://www.soasdetaineesupport.org.uk
- SOAS Students' Union, London
http://soasunion.org
- SOAS Stop the War Society
http://soasstopthewar.blogspot.com
- No Borders UK
http://noborders.org.uk
- No Borders London
http://london.noborders.org.uk
- No Borders Oxford
- Campaign Against Immigration Controls (CAIC)
http://caic.org.uk
- Remisus, Liverpool
- Stop the War Coalition, UK
http://www.stopwar.org.uk
- Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!
http://www.revolutionarycommunist.org
- South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group (SYMAAG)
- Latin American Workers' Association
- Citizen Orange
http://www.citizenorange.com/
- developing partners
www.developingpartners.org.uk
- no-racism.net
http://no-racism.net
- Jeremy Corbyn MP
- John Mc Donnell MP
Stop Deportation
e-mail:
stopdeportation@riseup.net
Homepage:
http://www.stopdeportation.net