Failed asylum seekers 'have no right to free health care' - Court of Appeal
Failed asylum seekers are not entitled to free treatment on the NHS, three judges at the Court of Appeal ruled yesterday. But hospitals can make up their own minds on whether to treat them if they have no money, said the judges. Lord Justice Ward said: "Because most of those who suffer are invariably penniless and destitute and quite unable to pay for the treatment they need, their predicament has become a legitimate cause of widespread concern." He said to receive free health service treatment, the patient must have resided lawfully in the UK for at least a year.
Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com - Monday 30th March 2009
Full article:  http://tinyurl.com/cfq66t



Britain's 'shameful' failure to respond to UN calls for aid
The UK has been singled out for its "shameful" failure to send aid to the world's worst refugee crisis unfolding on the remote border between Kenya and war-torn Somalia. A flood of refugees fleeing the relentless conflict in Somalia has crossed into the already poverty-stricken north of Kenya prompting an emergency appeal from the UN for fresh funds to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. The UK is among a handful of rich nations who have so far ignored the UN call for $92m and have failed to offer any assistance according to the respected NGO Human Rights Watch.
By Daniel Howden in Nairobi, The Indpendent, Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Full article:  http://tinyurl.com/cdmahk



Kenya: End Abuse and Neglect of Somali Refugees
- Hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees in Kenya face abuse by corrupt and violent police and a rapidly growing humanitarian emergency in the world's largest refugee settlement, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Kenya should immediately rein in abusive police and grant new land for additional camps, while the United Nations and international donors should urgently respond to Somali refugees' basic needs.
Human Rights Watch Monday 30th March
Full article:  http://tinyurl.com/dmkvmz



'Worse than the Taliban' - new law rolls back rights for Afghan women
Hamid Karzai has been accused of trying to win votes in Afghanistan's presidential election by backing a law the UN says legalises rape within marriage and bans wives from stepping outside their homes without their husbands' permission. The Afghan president signed the law earlier this month, despite condemnation by human rights activists and some MPs that it flouts the constitution's equal rights provisions.
Jon Boone in Kabul, The Guardian, Tuesday 31 March 2009
Full article:  http://tinyurl.com/cqcer3



Tinsley blockaders plead guilty to 'Aggravated trespass'
Seven anti-deportation campaigners who blockaded an immigration detention centre at Gatwick airport earlier this month pleaded guilty yesterday to 'aggravated trespass' at Crawley Magistrates Court. Six of them locked and glued themselves to the gate of Tinsley House on 17th March in an attempt to prevent Iraqi refugees being taken to Stanstead airport to be forcibly deported on a special charter flight to northern Iraq later that day. All seven have been released on conditional discharge and ordered to pay the court fees. Two other protesters, who were also arrested on the action, have pleaded not guilty and are due in court again soon.
Background:  http://tinyurl.com/c9fh9x and  http://tinyurl.com/dy3shw



End of Bulletin:

Source for this Message:
24dash.com
The Indpendent
Human Rights Watch
The Guardian
Stop Deportations