Today in the Netherlands the Healthcare Inspectorate (de Inspectie voor de Gezondheidszorg, IGZ) announced that they have started an investigation into medical care in the country’s detention and deportation centres
The IGZ say that the investigation is to check whether conditions have improved since 2009 when several recommendations were made in a report. They have denied that a detainee’s suicide two weeks ago has had any bearing on their decision to start the investigation.
Today 22/01/13 Dutch migration activist Joke Kaviaar was handed a 4 month prison sentence by a court in Haarlem for ‘incitement’.
Joke says that she will appeal the decision at a higher court and that she will not silenced.
Joke’s support group 13 September, which was set up after Joke’s arrest have said that this sentence was expected given the current political climate in the Netherlands. Read their press release (in English) about the sentence here.
A 26 year old Algerian has been sentenced to two years imprisonment 4 men escaped from Palaiseau CRA on 16/12/12. He has been charged with attempting to escape and assaulting police officers. He has also been ordered to pay €1200 to the police in damages.
NU reports that Russian opposition party activist Alexander Dolmatiov has committed suicide in a migrant prison (‘detention centre’) in Rotterdam.
Dolmatov was a member of ‘Another Russia’ and was arrested last year after taking part in a large demonstration in Moscow against Vladimir Putin.
Dolmatov’s girlfriend has told Russia media that Dolmatov texted her earlier today so say his asylum application in the Netherlands had been rejected.
Yesterday Sunday 13th January the 37 sanspapiers on hunger strike in Lille since 02/11/12 decided to suspend their strike following promises from the préfecture to look at their cases.
The hunger strikers have been sheltering in the courtyard of Saint-Maurice church after they were evicted from inside the building.
Last Wednesday the préfecture met with a delegation from the hunger strikers. In a press release sent out on Thursday, the préfecture stated that it would look at the asylum cases of the hunger strikers and will try to process the most urgent cases within 14 days.
On Saturday there were numerous demonstrations across France in support of the hunger strikers.
A Gambian man has filed a legal complaint after he was forcibly injected with sedatives on a Swiss charter deportation, Le Temps reports.
Around 100 refugees, 35 of whom are on hunger strike, are currently occupying the Votivkirche (church) in Vienna, demanding their regularisation. (See photos here).
The refugees were formerly staying in the protest camp in a park in the city but this was evicted in the early hours of 28th December. This led to solidarity protests in Vienna and a number of other cities including Berlin and Salzburg.
See a timeline of the refugee camp protest here.
4 sans-papiers who were detained at Paiaiseau CRA (detention centre), south west of Paris, escaped last night (16/12/12), reports Le Point.
According to sources, around 7pm on Sunday an officer was called by a detainee to the common room to sort out the TV reception. When he arrived, he was surrounded and knocked to the floor by 5 detainees. They took his magnetic badge which is used to access different parts of the CRA. While the officer was held down by one detainee, the 4 others went to the delivery area of the centre, climbed the fence and escaped.
The detainee who had helped the escape of the four has been placed into custody. Police and the gendarmarie are still searching for the four escapees – an Algerian, a Romanian and 2 Tunisians.
The CRA of Palaiseau is a male-only centre with a capacity of 40 places. In 2011 750 foreigners in ‘irregular situations’ were detained there, mostly Romanians, Tunisiens and Moroccans. It was renovated in 2011 and is surrounded by a 4.5m high fence with movement detectors and surveillance cameras.
On Friday 30th November 2012 a certificate was signed by the Dutch government and the PPI-consortium Poort of Schiphol confirming the completion of a ‘justice’ complex in Schiphol Noord-West outside Amsterdam. Since then various parts of the ‘justice’ system have moved into the complex.
The new migrant prison (“detention centre’) there has around 450 places for new and ‘failed’ asylum seekers and people without papers. Zaandam and Oude Meer (Schiphol Oost) detention centres will be closed and dismantled.
The monument to the 2005 Schiphol Fire, currently outside the Oude Meer detention centre, will be moved to anothér location nearby.
For the last two weeks there have been around 50 refugees in a protest camp in Vienna.
Tomorrow afternoon (10/12/12) people from the camp. alongside supporters, will march from the camp to UN HQ.
The demands that the refugees want to present to the UNHCR are:
* We demand the right to asylum for all our reasons of flight. As in our countries, there is no safe life for us due to many different reasons.
* We demand the right to work.
* We want access to German courses and to professional education.
* We don’t want to live in isolated camps, but in places with human conditions.
* If Austria refuses to accept us, we demand from the institutions of the UN to support us to get our fingerprints deleted so that we can travel to a safe country where we can live and stay.