Latest News from Positive Action in Housing

Independent
By Jerome Taylor

For nearly four years, Britain’s construction and hospitality industries have flourished thanks to the influx of an estimated one million Polish workers – but now Poland wants them back. The Warsaw government is so worried about a national labour shortage in the professions that it plans to advertise in the UK to encourage expatriate Poles to return to the country that many of them left after it joined the European Union.

According to Polish media reports, the adverts will soon appear in English and Polish-language newspapers in this country. They are part of a wider campaign by the newly elected government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who swept to power six months ago with a pledge to encourage migrant workers to return.

However, there is mounting evidence that many Poles are already heading back east, particularly because the current weakness of Britain’s currency means they are getting fewer zlotys for their pounds.

Mr Tusk’s administration has produced a brochure that it plans to give away with Polish newspapers and at the many Polish cultural centres across Britain. The Handbook for Re-Emigrants advises Poles how to find accommodation back home and apply for special loans.

After Poland joined the EU in May 2004, an estimated two million people – about 10 per cent of the population – left to find work, predominantly in Britain and Ireland. But while the British and Irish economies benefited from the influx of cheap and willing labour, Poland suffered acute staff shortages, particularly in the building and and hospitality trades.

Of major concern to Warsaw is the lack of skilled construction workers needed to build new football stadiums before the European championships in 2012, which Poland and the Ukraine will host jointly. The government estimates that up to 200,000 extra workers are needed to complete the multibillion-euro projects earmarked for the event.

In the past year, the Polish government has introduced a series of measures aimed at encouraging Poles to return. It has abolished a rule which meant migrant workers were liable to pay taxes both in Britain and at home. Mr Tusk’s government also wants to grant a five-year amnesty to those who have failed to pay taxes in Poland while working abroad.

His opponents say this proposal is unconstitutional but, if approved, it will no doubt prove attractive to thousands of expats who have put off returning because they fear they will be receive a large tax bill when they arrive.

Estimating how many Poles return home each year is difficult because the government does not record the figure. However, many analysts believe that east European immigration to Britain may already have peaked. The numbers of east European migrants approved to work in Britain dropped from 227,875 in 2006 to 206,905 last year – a fall of nearly 10 per cent.

This may be because employment prospects in Poland have improved dramatically since it joined the EU. The current unemployment rate is 10 per cent – half what it was four years ago. Currency exchange rates may also have an effect on migration. When Poland entered the EU in 2004, £1 was worth seven zlotys; now it is worth only 4.2 zlotys.

Wojiech Pisasrki, a spokesman for the Polish embassy in London, believes there is evidence to suggest that the number of Poles coming to the UK may be the same as the number who are going home. “The process of leaving has already started,” he said. “Immigration to Britain is not as attractive a prospect as it was a few years ago.”

Jacek Winnicki, a Polish lawyer who has settled in London, said he doubted that an advertising campaign would encourage many of his countrymen to return.

“Work is just one of many factors behind why people chose to live where they do,” he added. “I don’t think an advert saying ‘come back to Poland’ will work, but I do think it will make Poles think and maybe a few will be tempted to leave.”

By Paul Kirby
EU reporter, BBC News

After years of dispute, the EU has struck an accord on the detention and deportation of illegal immigrants.

“We have 10 to 12 million illegal persons in the EU… they are modern slaves,” said German MEP Manfred Weber, who described the deal as a “big step”.

He said there would be a six-month limit on detention for most people and a readmission agreement would have to be struck before they were sent home.

A final decision will now have to be made by MEPs and member states.

The deal was hammered out by the Slovenian Presidency of the EU, along with members of the European Commission and the parliament, but it is opposed by some MEPs.

The Socialist group has refused to give its consent to the accord, saying it objects to some of the terms.

“We have serious reservations about numerous aspects of the text, particularly on the duration for which immigrants can be held in detention centres,” said French MEP Martine Roure, who took part in the talks in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

While France currently has a 30-day limit on detention, some EU countries such as Malta have an 18-month maximum and seven others, including the UK, have no limit.

Instead of the agreed six-month limit on detention with a possible further year for exceptional cases, the Socialists believe there should be a lower limit with an absolute maximum of six months.

But Dutch Liberal MEP Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert told the BBC News website that while the agreement was not perfect, it was definitely a step forward.

“They (the Socialists) are acting politically irresponsibly and are completely immature,” she said.

British Green MEP Jean Lambert said that the difficulty for some French MEPs was that while some countries would have to reduce their limit for immigrant detention, France would substantially increase its own.

Although the agreement was far better than if it had been left to governments to negotiate, she said the Greens would probably vote against it because of some of the provisions.

“If you’re married to a British citizen but don’t have the right to stay and are forced to leave, you can now find yourself banned for five years,” she said.

The Socialists are also concerned about the treatment of unaccompanied children.

But Manfred Weber, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on the return of illegal immigrants, said that social services would be responsible for the return of children rather than the usual authorities.

The plight of illegal immigrants has become a major issue in a number of EU countries. In Germany, campaigners complain that if an illegal immigrant goes to a hospital for treatment, doctors are required to inform the authorities.

That, says Mr Weber, leads to a situation in which many do not seek treatment.

In France earlier this month, Malian immigrant Baba Traore died after jumping into the River Marne while trying to escape from police east of Paris. He fled when he was asked for his identity documents.

Protesters took to the streets demanding rights for immigrants and the closure of detention centres.

The French government, which takes up the EU presidency in July, has made reaching a European immigration pact a priority.

Italy’s incoming interior minister, Roberto Maroni, has called for “more rigour” against illegal immigration, speaking of a need for “more cleansing and more police”.

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said that the new agreement meant that there would now be an effective return policy across the EU which, until now, had not been in place.

“If you want to make a serious effort to come up with a comprehensive package on migration, you cannot ignore that we have to tackle the problems of illegal migration,” he said.

by Wendy Miller

MORE than 1000 people have joined the fight to allow a family of asylum seekers to live in their adopted Glasgow home.

Concerned families in Cardonald want Ignatius Massey, 41, his son Sharon, 13, and daughter Ruth, 11, to be given the right to stay permanently in the South Side community.

Hopes are high that the community campaign will pay off after the family were released from a detention centre at the weekend.

They are now back in Cardonald’s Tarfside Oval awaiting a review of their case.

Their release comes just days after local people gathered more than 1000 signatures for a petition which is now with the UK government’s Immigration Minister Liam Byrne.

Initially taken to Dungavel detention centre, the terrified family were later transported to another centre in England to await deportation to Pakistan.

But their friends and neighbours in Cardonald insisted they should be set free, and their application reconsidered.

South Side campaigner Brendan Gill who has visited Ignatius and the kids in Dungavel says they have suffered enough and deserve to live in a community where they feel safe.

Attacked by Muslim extremists in their Pakistani home, Ruth was burned on the leg with a hot iron. She was just nine years old at the time.

Two days after the horror incident the children’s mother Severine suffered a brain haemorrhage and died.

Mr Gill, 60, said “This is a man who has already lost his wife and seen his daughter being attacked.

“They wanted to send them back to Pakistan where they have been persecuted just for being Christians.

“Ignatius is a quiet man who wants only the best for his children. He is very well-respected in this community.

“An appeal had been lodged with the Court of Session and we are hoping and praying this is successful.”

The petition, signed by 1000 Cardonald residents, calls for the family to be allowed to remain in the community permanently. It was organised by the local Justice and Peace Group.

Since moving to Tarfside Oval last May the Masseys have become fully-integrated members of the community.

Ruth is a pupil of Cardonald Primary while her brother Sharon is at Lourdes Secondary and the family worship at Our Lady of Lourdes Church.

They fled their home in Karachi, after enduring years of religious persecution at the hands of Muslim extremists.

The Justice and Peace Group operate Cardonald volunteer project The Friendship Cafe where each Tuesday asylum seekers and refugees from Pakistan, Congo and other countries meet friends there and get legal and financial advice.

Publication date 22/04/08

Forty years ago, when Enoch Powell delivered his “rivers of blood” speech, I was a lecturer in Birmingham. Of course, racism was widespread at the time - but Powell put his finger on a button that unleashed fear and fury.

At one meeting, I tried to debate with him. I can still see his bulging eyes and sweating face as he tore me to bits.

Handsworth was the district with the highest number of what were then called “residents born in New Commonwealth countries” - in other words, black people. I helped as a volunteer and met mothers who said that the lack of daycare stopped them getting jobs - and then they were blamed for living off the state. We acted together to found a daycare centre which, all these years later, still exists.

Have things got better? In some ways. The churches are now more likely to criticise racism than reinforce it. More black people are in managerial, professional and political posts, although not enough. Ours is still a society in which it is an advantage to be born white.

Racism always finds some outlet. As a boy, I recall the baiting of Jewish people in east London. Years later, Sir Keith Joseph - in some ways a humane man - asked me if the Irish really were “breeding like rabbits”. Then arrivals from the West Indies became the focus of attack. Today the targets are economic migrants from eastern Europe and asylum seekers fleeing from persecution.

Many politicians are supporters of racial equality. Yet in May 2007, Labour Party minister Margaret Hodge proposed that local, British-born families should get social housing over new immigrants. The Conservative immigration spokesman Damian Green agreed and added that his party was calling for an explicit annual limit on the number of immigrants.

Both Hodge and Green failed to point out that the shortage of public accommodation stemmed from Margaret Thatcher’s policy of selling off council housing.

Last week in Glasgow, I visited the excellent Positive Action in Housing, a voluntary agency that concentrates on supporting immigrants and asylum seekers. Last year, 123 of its users, 18% of the total, reported racial harassment, including repeated verbal abuse, physical attacks, damage to property and an arson attack. Victims often felt they could not go out at night, kept their children from using public play areas and sometimes asked to be re-housed. Positive Action has responded by working with immigrants, asylum seekers and agencies to create the confidence and knowledge to enable victims to report incidents to the police. One result is that the Glasgow Housing Association has improved the training of concierges and frontline staff.

As a boy in London, a young man in Birmingham and an old man in Glasgow, I realise that immigrants from different cultures and of different appearance can provoke hostility. Yet they can also bring about unity. In the church I attend, an African family became part of the body. One Sunday, they announced they had been granted asylum. We wept and cheered.

In Cardonald, a family from a war-divided state were suddenly removed by immigration officials. But their children had become so integrated into the school and community that it was residents who campaigned for their return.

Racism must be countered and unity promoted at the grass roots. Politicians should be there.

Bob Holman is a retired professor of social policy and community worker in Easterhouse, Glasgow

http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/features/display.var.2213991.0.Speaking_from_experience_Bob_Holman_on_racism.php

by Wendy Miller, Evening Times

AN ASYLUM seeker family has won the right to return to the Glasgow community they call home.

But the future is still uncertain for single mum Sharon Sylvie Nasuna and her two-year-old son Shaun, who were due to be deported on Sunday but have won a temporary reprieve.

Sharon and Shaun are relieved to be welcomed back into Kennishead, on the city’s South Side, where they have lived for nine months.

But they know they could still be sent back to Uganda at any time.

Sharon fears she will be tortured and imprisoned if she returns to her homeland and has submitted a fresh asylum application to stay on in the community she loves.

Lawyers have secured a judicial review - and the family was released from Dungavel on Saturday morning - just hours before they were due to board a flight to Uganda.

Neighbours and friends in Kennishead, devastated at the family’s removal last week, are delighted to have them back.

Community representatives presented Sharon and Shaun with a welcome home’ cake on their arrival at the drop-in centre, a weekly gathering of asylum seekers, refugees and Glaswegians.

Caroline Lang, of Greater Pollok Integration Network, who had been visiting the family in Dungavel, said: “We are so relieved they have been released. Sharon is really happy to be back in Kennishead but she is still very scared.

“The community is over the moon to have her and Shaun back.”

Since arriving in Kennishead last July after fleeing political persecution in Uganda, the 31-year-old former hairdresser has thrown herself into community life.

A member of Kennishead Asylum Seeking Women’s Group, Sharon also visits South Side schools to give talks on the cultural differences between life in Uganda and Glasgow.

Caroline said: “Sharon is a fully integrated member of our community. She and Shaun see Kennishead as their home.

“She wants to stay here where she feels safe. She received a letter recently telling her there were wanted’ posters up for her in Uganda - simply because she’s a member of the opposition party.”

Greater Pollok Integration Network supports asylum seekers and refugees and promotes community integration.