http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/index/ en Copyright 2013 2013-06-14T16:28:06+00:00 http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/refugee_week_is_coming_get_involved_now/ http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/refugee_week_is_coming_get_involved_now/#When:14:55:25Z Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)0,p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?‘http’:‘https’;if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+’://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js’;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, ‘script’, ‘twitter-wjs’);Refugee Week runs from 17th-23rd June this year celebrating the huge contribution refugees have made to the UK. There will be events up and down the country with highlights including, screenings of ‘I am Nasrine’ at Picture House cinemas and a concert in Birmingham with fantastic Senegalese musician Diabel Cissokho. Go to the Refugee Week website to see the full listings and find out what is happening near you. Get involved! This year the Celebrating Sanctuary festival in London will see an Embassy for Refugees installed on the South Bank. It is going to be fantastic day with music from African desert blues band Etran Finatawa and folk singer Sam Carter. The Embassy itself will host talks around sanctuary and the arts, architecture, history and law as well as spoken word performances. For more information see the Celebrating Sanctuary page STAR is getting involved with a stall at Celebrating Sanctuary London, on the South Bank, 16th June 2pm-7pm. Make sure you come and say hi! If you’re getting involved in Refugee Week let us know now by contacting Jack at our national office. 2013-05-31T14:55:25+00:00 http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/two_major_student_led_conferences_taking_place_this_weekend_in_london/ http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/two_major_student_led_conferences_taking_place_this_weekend_in_london/#When:16:23:28Z UCLU STAR is holding a conference on the issues faced by refugees in the health system whilst SOAS Detainee Support group have a two day conference dealing with immigration detention. Both events are a must see for anyone interested in the asylum system in the UK. For more information about either event click on the links below. UCLU Student Action for Refugees Health Conference 28th April 2013 ‘A Future Without Immigration Detention?’ 26th & 27th of April 2013 at SOAS 2013-04-23T16:23:28+00:00 http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/star_week_was_fund-tastic/ http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/star_week_was_fund-tastic/#When:16:32:17Z Our first ever STAR Week was a massive success! 13 groups came together to raise vital funds so STAR can keep on helping refugees. In our first STAR Week you raised over £1500! Congratulations to the fabulous 13 for making our first fundraising week a great success! Highlights Liverpool STAR staged a warehouse party for 150 Warwick hosted an international charity dinner with food from 9 different countries Manchester STAR welcomed 70 to their music night The Great STAR Bakeoff saw 6 groups selling their yummy homebaked goodies Bradford’s Pub quiz tested knowledge and brought in the cash Leeds and Sheffield used the magic of the silver screen to raise money through film nights We’re super excited about the next Fundraising Week, 4th-10th March 2013, and can’t wait to see how big you can make this one! We’re already planning some brilliant bucket shaking to collect those pennies, get in touch with STAR National now to find out how you can get involved! With your help STAR will continue to improve the lives of refugees in the UK. Spotlight on Exeter STAR Exeter STAR pulled out all the stops and held an ‘End of Year Party’ during Fundraising Week, which raised well over £200! Jodie, Exeter STAR and student trustee, shares her experience: “We had around 150 people attend and had performances from several local bands, Breakdancing Society and World Music Choir. Food, decoration and other entertainment, including a photo booth, were provided by Saudi, Latin American and Greek & Greek-Cypriot Societies, and it was all amazing! We had to put a LOT of time into the event and found the hardest part being the actual publicity. We found the best way was via facebook (of course) and through all the societies and bands etc that worked with us. If another group were to put on a similar event I would say try to get as many people involved as possible as it helps to be able to share the workload and spread the word, and have everything organised well in advance. And make sure you’re always promoting the fact that it is in aid of charity as that always gets the best response! Also, try to think of as many ways to raise extra money as possible. We had a recommended donation of £1 for the cloak room and sold raffle tickets, the prizes for which were all donated.” To donate to STAR, click here 2013-01-24T16:32:17+00:00 http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/coalitions_claims_of_success_in_their_mid_term_review_are_not_all_good/ http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/coalitions_claims_of_success_in_their_mid_term_review_are_not_all_good/#When:17:05:56Z The Coalition Government announced two successes with it’s management of the asylum system in the mid term review last week, that they had ended child detention and have ‘worked through the legacy asylum cases and are resolving asylum cases more quickly’. Sadly, those of us working with asylum seekers know that these important changes are still some way off. It is clear that there are still huge failings in the way in which asylum legacy cases are managed, as we wrote here. Moreover children seeking refugee protection in the UK are still detained. Cedars Cedars Centre was opened by this Government in 2011 and exclusively detains families, including children, pending removal from the UK. A recent report on Cedars by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons felt it necessary to make the recommendation that UK Border Agency (UKBA) and G4S (who run Cedars for UKBA) should never use force when removing children or pregnant women. It cites a pregnant woman subjected to “substantial force” by G4S employees including being dragged out of her wheelchair. UKBA, however, have refused to accept the recommendation, stating that without the ability to use force, removals could be delayed. UKBA appear be giving precedence to their own targets over the welfare of vulnerable people. They further added that they could not rule out physical intervention with regards to children. The Refugee Children’s Consortium have said: “We are appalled that the Border Agency continues to use physical force against children and pregnant women when removing them from the UK, despite the grave concerns raised by the Prison Inspectorate” and have also called upon UKBA to produce a published policy on the use of force against children. As well as rejecting the Prison Inspectorate’s recommendation to never use force against pregnant women and children, UKBA have also rejected their recommendation to delay the removal of detainees who allege assault during removal when the assault is supported by medical evidence. UKBA say that these complaints can be investigated after the detainee has been removed. However, asylum seekers often become difficult to trace once they have been removed as they may be forced to go underground, or may be detained upon arrival in their home country. This means that, in practice, any investigation after removal is difficult. Detention Detention as part of the asylum system is wrong and STAR is committed to campaigning against it. Seeking asylum is a human right, not a crime. STAR Action Week 2013, which runs from 18-24th February, will see the launch of a new campaign against detention. You can find out more about our detention campaign here. 2013-01-16T17:05:56+00:00 http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/report_criticises_the_ukbas_handling_of_asylum_legacy_cases/ http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/report_criticises_the_ukbas_handling_of_asylum_legacy_cases/#When:15:51:52Z The UKBA have been heavily criticised for the way they have been dealing with the backlog of asylum cases. By not addressing asylum legacy cases effectively, UKBA force asylum seekers to live in uncertainty and poverty. It is no secret that there is a huge backlog in asylum legacy cases (asylum cases submitted before March 2007) and a recent report by the Independent Chief Inspection of Borders and Immigration has identified a huge number of problems and failings. On average, asylum seekers in this situation have been left awaiting a decision for 7 years, and this is often despite making efforts to contact UKBA. This problem is emphasised by the fact that, at one point, there were over 100,000 unopened pieces of post in relation to legacy cases. As a result of such startling inefficiency, it isn’t surprising that everyone from MPs and immigration lawyers to asylum seekers themselves has complained that they have not received responses to letters sent to UKBA, or, when they have done, they have received them weeks or months later. On top of this problem, the report highlighted a number of other issues. A particular concern, and one where it has been suggested that UKBA has misled Parliament, is the way in which UKBA has been handling of cases that have been put into the ‘controlled archive’. Cases are put in the controlled archive and stated as being concluded after efforts have been made to locate applicants and deal with claims. It has been found that sufficient efforts are not being made to successfully locate, contact and deal with claims and the fact that the number of cases in the controlled archive rose from 9,000 in July 2010 to 98,000 in September 2011 demonstrates this. There has also been a general shift away from granting Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in legacy cases. Instead, those who are granted asylum are often given Discretionary Leave to Remain (DLR) for 3 years. This means that after 3 years, those with DLR have to reapply to remain in the country and there is no guarantee that this reapplication will be successful. More generally, the report also highlights a number of general quality assurance and customer service failings. There appear to be a number of factors that have caused this, particularly the lack of UKBA resources, but the result is that some of the decision-making in asylum claims appears poor and inconsistent. Here at STAR we regularly encounter the problems faced by asylum seekers as a result of UKBA decisions. Asylum seekers awaiting a decision and those granted DLR do not have Equal Access to higher education, something STAR is campaigning to change. STAR members also work with vulnerable asylum seekers and refugees across the country and have seen for themselves the damage that is done by the long wait for a decision to be reached. It is vital to acknowledge the impact that UKBA procedural failings have on asylum seekers themselves. Many asylum seekers with legacy cases have had their initial asylum application rejected, often incorrectly and without a full consideration of the facts, and have ended up in limbo awaiting the decision of an appeal. For all those affected by the backlog of legacy cases, day to day life can be one of poverty and uncertainty. Asylum seekers are not allowed to work and have real difficulty in accessing government support, which when it is given is in the form of no-choice accommodation or a small amount of financial help. Many receive little or no government assistance and are simply left destitute, often homeless and incredibly vulnerable. Once in this situation, it becomes even more difficult to chase UKBA for a decision on their case, meaning asylum seekers are unable to move on with their lives here, but also unable to return to their countries of origin. It is clear that the delay in process is often the fault of UKBA, particularly given the evidence of the recent report, and that this is adversely and critically affecting the lives of many vulnerable asylum seekers. The system has to improve, and the system has to improve soon. Click here to read the full report 2012-12-20T15:51:52+00:00 http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/star_week_so_far/ http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/star_week_so_far/#When:16:52:44Z Help STAR keep up its good work for refugees by donating! Donate by text: text STAR56 and the amount you want to give to 70070 It’s STAR Week!!! When we all get out and raise money so 5,000 university students who volunteer with STAR can keep on helping refugees to rebuild their lives by teaching English, running homework clubs, campaigning for change and much, much more. With your money STAR will stay independent and keep on making the UK a safe and welcoming place for refugees. We want to raise £9,000 and STAR students from across the UK are fundraising like mad to get there! We’ve had some great events so far and have many more to come over the next few days! Check out the programme, get involved, hold an event and most importantly get online and donate! What have we been doing so far? Loads of STAR groups have done amazing work over the last few days. Warwick STAR held an international charity dinner on Saturday night and Bradford had a pub quiz on Monday. On Wednesday night Manchester held a really successful music night, and a few weeks ago the Liverpool group threw a massive warehouse party bringing in £200! Other STAR groups have also been busy and there have been bake sales at 7 different universities, with one raising over £110! What else is going on? 2012-12-06T16:52:44+00:00 http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/its_star_week_donate_to_star/ http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/its_star_week_donate_to_star/#When:17:37:25Z “ 2012-12-03T17:37:25+00:00 http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/star_conference_2012_mind_blowingly_amazing/ http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/star_conference_2012_mind_blowingly_amazing/#When:17:10:43Z The annual STAR conference took place on the 17th and 18th of November and in the words of Irene from Warwick STAR it was “mind blowingly amazing!” We’‘ll be sharing the learning, the fun and the photos over the next few weeks. To hear more about it from Irene check out the Warwick STAR website 2012-11-29T17:10:43+00:00 http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/star_marches_with_nus5/ http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/star_marches_with_nus5/#When:16:31:55Z STAR’s Equal Access campaign to open Universities to students seeking asylum took to the streets of London for the NUS (National Union of Students) demonstration against fees and cuts today. The NUS is calling for ‘a properly funded tertiary education system, accessible to all’. STAR’s presence drew attention to the way in which asylum seekers are denied access to pursuing education at tertiary level because they are charged the fees applied to international students. Without permission to work or access to student loans, asylum seekers have no means of paying the higher fees. In between the chanting and drumming, bearing balloons and banners STAR members spoke to students about the Equal Access campaign, gathering over 150 signatures on petitions demanding that asylum seekers be charged home fees. Find out more about the equal access campaign here 2012-11-21T16:31:55+00:00 http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/star_marches_with_nus2/ http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/star_marches_with_nus2/#When:16:31:46Z STAR’s Equal Access campaign to open Universities to students seeking asylum took to the streets of London for the NUS (National Union of Students) demonstration against fees and cuts today. The NUS is calling for ‘a properly funded tertiary education system, accessible to all’. STAR’s presence drew attention to the way in which asylum seekers are denied access to pursuing education at tertiary level because they are charged the fees applied to international students. Without permission to work or access to student loans, asylum seekers have no means of paying the higher fees. In between the chanting and drumming, bearing balloons and banners STAR members spoke to students about the Equal Access campaign, gathering over 150 signatures on petitions demanding that asylum seekers be charged home fees. Find out more about the equal access campaign here 2012-11-21T16:31:46+00:00