CitizensUK Diaspora Caucus Demands Dignity and Respect

On 28th November, 433 Diaspora Citizens and guests gathered at the magnificent Church House in the heart of Westminster to celebrate the achievements and progress made in the past year in our struggle for dignity and respect, and for the recognition of migrant and refugee rights as equal citizens. The Forum is one of the key Citizens UK members driving organised action for change. Our Executive Director, Zrinka Bralo, co-chaired the Assembly with Sam Sunday and Floyd Mutambiranwa, which not only celebrated our successes but also set out the agenda for the next year.

So what have we achieved working together over the last year? It was amazing to be reminded at the Assembly of the story of migration to the UK which goes back thousands of years and to trace it forward to our contemporaries and to success stories such as Mo Farah and the Olympics. Equally important business for the Assembly was to recognise the leaders who support those experiencing difficulties and discrimination as a result of their immigration status. Barbara Nalumu, Patricia Chinyoka, Surrey Lane People’s Organisation in Battersea, Puck de Raadt, Felicia Tay, the Nottingham CITIZENS team, Valley CITIZENS for Sanctuary, Metasebia Ketsela, Active Horizons and Dawn Chenurwa were all recipients of Citizens UK Diaspora Oscars, CUDOS for achievement and leadership in campaigning to end the detention of children, to provide better legal advice, for better treatment by the authorities, for the living wage and for safer cities.

We heard moving and powerful testimonies – Felicia and Puck told us about what it’s like to be taken advantage of by a doggy lawyer and why we need to fight for good legal advice. Clifton told us what it’s like to be stopped and searched three times a day in front of your own house every time you go out. Calynn’s testimony reminded us that even if you’re a Fulbright scholar, speak English, work and pay taxes, you still cannot marry a British Citizen and exercise your right to a family life without the government’s intrusion. Ela and Ali told us of their campaign to get Albanian and Somali recognised as official GCSE languages. Eulises, an academic and journalist from Colombia moved us all with his testimony of the challenges he faced in his attempt to integrate, learn English, contribute and rebuild his life after fleeing persecution while making pizzas to earn a living and we watched the cartoon, ‘Barbara the Brave’ depicting Barbara’s experience of the campaign to end the detention of children.

It was a meeting which celebrated, but also a day that Diaspora Citizens took a stand and agreed to take action on the three themes that had emerged from our house meetings.

[h4]CITIZENS UK Diaspora Caucus, demand that:[/h4]

[h4]1. We must be treated with dignity and respect by the authorities.

2. The value of our languages, traditions and cultures must be preserved and recognised.

3. Everyone must have the opportunity to build a better life for them and their family and to contribute to the common good of the community.[/h4]

At the end of the Assembly, Father Sean Connolly on behalf of Citizens UK accepted the report by the National Independent Commission on Enforced Removals (NICER). This report was commissioned by Citizens at the 2011 Diaspora Assembly. Father Sean Connelly and Mr Paul Underwood, respectively the priest and head teacher of the children of Jimmy Mubenga, who died, while being restrained by escorts from Group 4 Security (G4S), on an aircraft during his enforced removal to Angola had turned to Citizens for help.  The Commission chaired by Lord Ramsbotham, handed over the report and recommendations on how to ensure that what happened to Jimmy Mubenga never happens again. Mr Geoff Vinall, the CEO of Reliance, the new escort contractor agreed to work with Citizens UK to end the use of unnecessary force in the removal process and to improve the recruitment and training practices to develop pain-free restraint training and introduce independent evaluation and monitoring of forced removals.

The NICER Report will be handed over to the Immigration Minister, Mark Harper MP on Thursday, 6th December which is also St Nicholas Day; St Nicholas was the patron saint of children and the original Santa Claus. Citizens UK want to celebrate this day by giving the Immigration Minister the gift of our recommendations as an early Christmas present. Paul Undrewood, one of the Commissioners invited the Assembly to honour Jimmy’s memory and show support for change by joining him and the others for the action at 2pm next Thursday, December 6th at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster.

The Assembly ended with Cynthia Masiyiwa, a young leader from Active Horizons rehearsing us all in a new version of We Wish You a Merry Christmas, which we will be singing for the Immigration Minister on the 6th:

We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Good tidings to Mark we hope that you’ll start;
To make things much NICER and meet with us soon;

Oh, bring us a safer system;
Oh, bring us a safer system;
Oh, bring us a safer system that’s pain-free for all,

We won’t go until we get one;
We won’t go until we get one;
We won’t go until we get one, so meet with us soon,

We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

 

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