Still We Rise

Following last week’s episode on the criminalisation of seeking asylum, today we take a deep dive into the prosecution and conviction of Ibrahimah Bah. Is he a scapegoat? Is he a victim of political imperatives? Our Guest is Frances Webber, Author of Borderline Justice, Barrister and board member of the Institute of Race Relations for over 40 years. The facts of this case raise serious questions and the prospects of an appeal loom large. Every Individual must be afforded a fair trial and the principles of justice and fairness demand that all including those who don’t have power and are the most vulnerable in society have access to justice. Frances gives us a masterclass in how the judicial system sees and treats people seeking asylum. One hopes that the courts uphold the dignity and rights of all individuals, regardless of their circumstances, notwithstanding the UK Governments' unilaterally ‘rewriting’ the Refugee Convention and violating international law in that vein the organisation Captain Support is helping 175 people who face prosecution to find legal representation. On the 12th of March 2024, they launched a letter-writing campaign calling for Mr Bah to be freed. You too can play your part.

In this episode, we confront a disturbing reality unfolding, the criminalization of people seeking asylum, Britain of course is still a signatory to the Refugee Convention, a document it once championed. A recent report published by the Centre for Criminology at the No Such Thing As Justice Here lifts the veil on this criminalization law. One key feature of this report is the seminal trial of a Senegalese National, Ibrahima Bah whose age is contested, his birth certificate says he is 17 years old. He stands accused of steering a dinghy boat, in which tragically, four people perish, lost to the unforgiving depths of the sea. Bah, a person seeking asylum, now finds himself ensnared in a web of injustice. His testimony at Cantebury Crown Court paints a harrowing picture: forced at gunpoint to navigate perilous waters by people traffickers, compelled by circumstances beyond his control. And yet, his narrative is not one of solitary suffering. It finds echo in the voices of those who, against all odds, made it to the shores of Dover, bearing witness to the horrors endured on that fateful voyage. What emerges is a stark indictment of a policy forged in the crucible of fear and intolerance. A policy that casts aside the principles of compassion and humanity, instead wielding the heavy hand of criminalization against those in their most vulnerable hour. And perhaps most chillingly, this policy finds its architects not in the distant halls of power, but in the children of immigrants themselves, Priti Patel, James Cleverly and Rishi Sunak who know all too well the struggle and resilience upon which migrating to this country is built upon. And so we must confront the uncomfortable truths that lie at the intersection of law and morality. For in the story of Ibrahima Bah lies not just a singular injustice, but a reflection of a broader crisis of conscience—one that demands our attention, our empathy, and our collective resolve to set things right.

In this episode, we confront a disturbing reality unfolding, the criminalization of people seeking asylum, Britain of course is still a signatory to the Refugee Convention, a document it once championed. A recent report published by the Centre for Criminology at the University of Oxford titled No Such Thing As Justice Here lifts the veil on this criminalization law. One key feature of this report is the seminal trial of a Senegalese National, Ibrahima Bah whose age is contested, his birth certificate says he is 17 years old. He stands accused of steering a dinghy boat, in which tragically, four people perish, lost to the unforgiving depths of the sea. Bah, a person seeking asylum, now finds himself ensnared in a web of injustice. His testimony at Cantebury Crown Court paints a harrowing picture: forced at gunpoint to navigate perilous waters by people traffickers, compelled by circumstances beyond his control. And yet, his narrative is not one of solitary suffering. It finds echo in the voices of those who, against all odds, made it to the shores of Dover, bearing witness to the horrors endured on that fateful voyage. What emerges is a stark indictment of a policy forged in the crucible of fear and intolerance. A policy that casts aside the principles of compassion and humanity, instead wielding the heavy hand of criminalization against those in their most vulnerable hour. And perhaps most chillingly, this policy finds its architects not in the distant halls of power, but in the children of immigrants themselves, Priti Patel, James Cleverly and Rishi Sunak who know all too well the struggle and resilience upon which migrating to this country is built upon. And so we must confront the uncomfortable truths that lie at the intersection of law and morality. For in the story of Ibrahima Bah lies not just a singular injustice, but a reflection of a broader crisis of conscience—one that demands our attention, our empathy, and our collective resolve to set things right.

The Illegal Immigration Bill will withdraw the UK from the international refugee framework established after the ravages of the Second World War and the Holocaust. Dr. Peter Walsh is candid and forthright in his analysis, when this Bill becomes law, it amounts to Britain opting out of the Geneva Refugee Convention. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has called the legislation a de facto Asylum Ban and without an international court that can pronounce on the legality of this remarkable step, refugees who arrive through irregular means face the prospect of not having their claims heard, rather they will be detained and deported to either their home country or Rwanda. Dr. Walsh is clear; this legislation is designed for deterrence. Will it work? The Bill is novel, its legality is in question. The Home Secretary has conceded she’s uncertain about the answer. Fantastic insight and analysis.

This week we are joined by Dr. Emelie McDonnell, a human rights and refugee advocate, with experience and expertise in human rights, refugee, and international law more broadly. We look at Britain’s diminishing rights record through the lens of Human Rights Watch whose work across the world is well-established and respected. Britain has set itself on an extraordinary path with a raft of domestic legislation that criminalises people seeking asylum who arrive without prior authorization, in breach of its obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention. Not only that, it plans to outsource the processing of Refugees to Rwanda, a country with a very poor rights record. Domestically plans to repeal and replace the Human Rights Act are afoot. It’s a truly precarious time for would-be Refugees. Emilie McDonnell talks us through the implications, she’s clear, these changes are egregious and a flagrant disregard of international law. An instructive compelling listen

Over the last few months Nicola Kelly, a former Home Office Staffer and now journalist focused on UK immigration and asylum policy and human rights, has been looking at what’s going on at the Home Office and the department its’ become today. She reveals a culture of fear that emanates directly from Priti Patel's office, civil servants who feel morally compromised by strident policy positions, not least the Rwanda Policy. Morale is the lowest it’s ever been. Faced with backlogs of over 100,000 asylum cases, Afghans living in hotels for over a year, Channel Migrants dumped in Napier barracks. The department is too slow, too bureaucratic, too defensive and too hard-hearted. A compelling Listen.

Bill of Rights Synopsis Dominic Raab has set Britain on a course of travel that indulges its worst Brexit excesses. He famously said he didn’t believe in social and economic rights and so it is no surprise that he sought to repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a Bill Of Rights Raab asserts that this Bill will give people more rights to free speech and limit ‘bogus’ human rights claims. Not so says Liberty’s Director Martha Spurrier. This Bill does nothing but limit and restricts people's access to their rights, it pits the British courts which she laments as ‘increasingly conservative’ with the Strasbourg Court and deliberately sets them up for a collision course Martha gives us a historical masterclass on the vital role that the Human Rights Act has played in securing people's rights and holding public authorities and the Executive accountable A compelling listen.

A Decade ago, the Former Prime Minister Theresa May introduced the most draconian internal border controls on people who she thought were living in Britain without permission. This onerous policy and accompanying legislation resulted in what we now know as the Windrush Scandal. British citizens, particularly those from former colonies were caught up in papers please checks at GP Practices, DWP Offices, in the NHS and landlords became border guards, mandated to verify documents demonstrating a right to stay in the country. Schools were checking children's documents. It was a horrendous decade of state-directed discrimination which resulted in the deportation of citizens and ultimately the resignation of the then Home Secretary Amber Rudd. Maya Goodfellow an Academic and Author of Hostile Environment- How migrants became scapegoats joins us to provide her analysis and reflections on this architecture of oppression. She is candid and forthright. Her analysis lays bare how discrimination is sewn into Britain's statutory landscape.

Clause 9- is the Deprivation of Citizenship. Who is a citizen in Brexit Britain or as we often hear, Global Britain? Well, Priti Patel has shown her hand and through the Nationality and Borders Act has Executive Power to exempt herself from notifying you if she deems that your continued enjoyment of citizenry is not conducive to the public good, that it is not in the public interest. With a stroke of a pen and time-limited appeal rights, anyone deemed to have fallen foul of this broad power can now be stripped of their British Nationality. There is a caveat and an interesting one, so long as you qualify for dual nationality, you’re within her crosshairs. Alba Kapoor from the Race and Equality Think Tank, The Runnymede Trust joins us to explain the implications of the contentious Clause 9.

Over the last six months, many a Guest have lamented the Offshoring proposals in the government's New Immigration Plan. What appeared remote and a figment of either Priti Patel or some home office bureaucrats' fertile imagination has materialised in the form of a memorandum of understanding with the Rwandan Government. We speak to Dr Anne Neylon, a Law Lecturer at the University of Liverpool whose insight and analysis on the Rwanda Deal came to the fore in her Blog https://criticallegalthinking.com/2022/04/19/the-uk-rwanda-and-the-spectacle-of-deterrence/ So this Bilateral (political) agreement will operate outside Domestic and International law. People who arrive in Britain to claim asylum without prior authorisation face the prospect of screening tests which will determine whether their Asylum Claim is admissible. Should they be found to have no grounds nor protected characteristics, they face a one-way ticket to Rwanda, whom for the princely sum of an initial £120Million will accept this human cargo from Britain. This ‘spectacle of deterrence’ as Anne so succinctly asserts, emulates the precedents set in Guam & Guantanamo Bay by the Americans, Nauru and Papua New Guinea by the Australians. Its Neo-Colonial in its expression and a dangerous assault on the spirit and letter of the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention. Anne’s analysis at this moment is critical, instructive and is a learning opportunity for those who are minded to resist this shift to a bygone era.

The invasion of Ukraine has caused the largest displacement of people in Europe since the end of World War 2. Britain has responded to this tragic set of circumstances by using its best endeavours and asked its citizens to sponsor a Refugee whom they should house for at least 6 months. 200 000 people have signed up, at the time of recording, under 4000 visas had been processed. This social experiment in Human kindness and openness of heart is fraught with numerous challenges. We speak to Louise Calvey, Refugee Actions Head of Services and Safeguarding. She’s unequivocal, the scheme is poorly designed and a charter for traffickers, malign & unsavoury characters. That they will exploit this scheme is inevitable, the Government's laissez-faire, find me a Refugee on Facebook scheme will create extraordinary challenges for an unprepared kind population. A comprehensive and compelling listen.

The invasion of Ukraine has caught the UK public's gaze in a way that no other recent war has. Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen’s brutal wars have resulted in the displacement of millions of people, and yet some have had to seek sanctuary by risking their lives, not least on flimsy dinghies on the channel. Not only do they face a hostile welcome, but a Nationality and Borders Bill that seeks to criminalise them but not so for Ukrainian Refugees. They’ve had empathy on a scale Britain hasn’t seen before, the mainstream media has framed their plight with compassion and humanity. We speak to Steve Valdez Symonds from Amnesty International, they have a proud record of advocating for the rights of all Refugees and Migrants. Most of the people they work with have had to endure an inhumane hostile welcome all over Europe. We ask, what’s changed? So why are Ukrainian Refugees seen as different?

This week we speak to the Refugee Council Chief Executive, Enver Solomon who is unequivocal, the Nationality and Borders Bill is an attempt to ‘drive a coach and horses through the Refugee Convention’ and will create a two tier system of deserving and undeserving Refugees. So are some Refugees more equal than other Refugees ? Listen.

Back in 2012, the then Prime Minister Theresa May, when setting out a remarkable new policy position on Border Enforcement, said, ‘ The aim is to create, here in Britain, a really hostile environment for illegal immigrants. This policy resulted in the deportation of British Citizens from the Windrush generation who came to this country to rebuild the NHS but could not provide paperwork to prove their legal status. This shameful policy and the legislation that underpins it has not been repealed, but rather its tentacles have within their grasp people who've come to this country to seek sanctuary. We speak to the people who are working to dismantle it. It's a challenging listen, Solidarity.

What is life like as an Asylum Seeker? Why does Britain have an inhumane Asylum system? Why will Britain not expend all the patience and care and thought she possesses to help people in fear for their lives? The dynamics of prejudice, dehumanisation and maltreatment are hardly without historical precedent, they can be traced back to centuries of the slave trade, colonialism and Imperialism authored on this island. So it’s not so much that any of this is new, it is the realisation that the deliberate and calculated nature of the mistreatment serves an incendiary electoral purpose. Beneath the ‘taking back control’ slogans and toughening up the border regime is an inconvenient historical truth. When Britain led the drafting of the 1951 Refugee Convention in the aftermath of the horrors of the second world war, they didn’t envisage that those who’d be arriving on its shores to seek protection would come from outside Europe, hence its initial temporal and geographical restriction, this changed when African, Asian and some Middle Eastern countries signed the 1967 protocol. What Governments of every colour have demonstrated through hostile Immigration rules is their uncomfortable with this reality, but rather than be grounded in truth, they’ve over two decades created a hostile and inhumane Asylum system. So what is one confronted with when they arrive on Britains shores to claim Asylum? We speak to three young women whose lived experience is harrowing. The system is broken and no one should have to endure the hostility and indignity.

In this episode, we lift the veil on life inside the controversial Napier Barracks. Some members in society are systemically denied the right to basic rights, deprived of the right to a private space to sleep, denied the liberty to contribute economically, not seen as worthy enough to be protected from Covid infection, literally reduced to a Number! Amir was known in Napier Barracks by his room Number, dehumanised in the land of Magna Carta, his movements were surveilled day and night, merely because he fled to Britain to seek protection. He gives a harrowing instructive account of Britain stepping to the edge of the precipice, thank goodness He survived to share his Lived experience of abuse at the hands of an overreaching Home Office. If this doesn’t prompt you to start an action to close these Barracks, perhaps you’re part of the problem. Shut Down Napier Barracks Now!

Will Priti Patel really Criminalise Asylum Claims? Colin Yeo is unequivocal, Priti Patel plans to jail people who arrive through irregular means or without Pre Authorisation. The Nationality and Borders Bill currently going through Parliament and it makes the most extraordinary changes to how Refugees can claim Asylum in Britain. Stark and inconceivable! How will this affect the prison system? Colin Yeo a Barrister at Garden Court Chambers and founding Editor of the Free Movement Blog, breaks the Bill down to its simplest elements. A Must Listen!!! Visit https://www.freemovement.org.uk/author/colinyeo for more of his work.

We speak to Bella Sankey, Director of Detention Action, in this episode, we discuss the harsh detention and deportation scheme the UK enforces on people seeking asylum. Last year 24 748 people were subject to indefinite Immigration Detention. In the land of the Magna Carta, people can be held by the state in prison-like conditions with no time limit. In the past 3 years, the British Government has paid out £24million to 914 people whom the courts have deemed were unlawfully detained. How did we get here? https://detentionaction.org.uk/

Daniel Trilling spent six months interviewing politicians, civil servants, frontline staff, lawyers, judges, campaigners and ordinary people caught up in the system to ask one simple question: What's up with the Home Office? It culminated in this Guardian Article Long Read article titled. Cruel, paranoid and failing: Inside the Home Office. We spoke to him about this seminal piece of journalism.

In this conversation with Sonya Sceats Chief Executive of Freedom from Torture, we discuss the Nationality and Borders Bill which makes the most far-reaching changes to the UK Asylum System. Sonya is clear that these changes represent a fundamental challenge to the principle of Refugee protection as provided for by the Geneva Refugee Convention of 1951. She asserts that this Bill breaches International Law and its two-tier system is an affront to fundamental tenets of International Human Rights and a regrettable regressive step. We discuss the return of Institutionalised Asylum Accommodation, criminalisation of vulnerable people merely seeking Sanctuary not least the appalling and incendiary proposals on offshoring. For more info please visit - https://www.freedomfromtorture.org/