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
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 
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