Tuesday 24 January 2017

Home Office Eritrea guidance softened to reduce asylum seeker numbers

The government downplayed the risk of human rights abuses in one of the world’s most repressive regimes in an attempt to reduce asylum seeker numbers despite doubts from its own experts, internal documents have revealed.
Home Office documents obtained by the Public Law Project detail efforts by the government to seek more favourable descriptions of human rights conditions in Eritrea, an east African country that indefinitely detains and tortures some of its citizens as well as carrying out extrajudicial executions and operating a shoot-to-kill policy on those caught trying to flee the country.
The notes relate to a high-level meeting that took place in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, in December 2014, between senior Eritrean government officials and a UK delegation led by James Sharp, the Foreign Office’s director of migration, and Rob Jones, the Home Office’s head of asylum and family policy.
A diplomatic telegram written by the then UK ambassador to Eritrea, David Ward, says the meeting was held to “discuss reducing Eritrean migration” and sought to find evidence on human rights “to evaluate whether we [the UK] should amend our country guidance”.
The discussions focused on how to reduce the number of Eritrean asylum seekers granted refugee status in the UK and how to deter more Eritreans coming to the UK to claim asylum. UK officials were concerned that the UK’s high grant rate to Eritrean asylum seekers of about 85% would attract more Eritreans to the UK.
UK officials agreed to look at giving Eritrea aid in exchange for Eritrea agreeing to soften some of its human rights abuses. The Eritrean government appears to have agreed to limit forced military conscription to 18 months but said it would do this informally rather than by making a formal announcement. Reports from human rights watchdogs this month found that the problem of enforced and prolonged military conscription is as bad as ever.
The documents also reveal that UK officials warned that they still had concerns after the meeting about the human rights situation in Eritrea. One of the documents disclosed to the Public Law Project, entitled Informal Report of UK Visit to Eritrea 9-11 December 2014, states: “If [Eritrean] government representatives are to be believed the risk of persecution or mistreatment in Eritrea is lower than our country guidance suggests. But independent verification of their description of the situation in Eritrea is difficult to find. Further evidence is likely to be required before a significant reduction in that rate [of grants of asylum] can be supported.”
A partially redacted email sent on 17 December 2014 states: “The story on the penalties for those returning to Eritrea for evading national service or illegal exit was less clear. Non-governmental interlocutors acknowledge the possibility of extrajudicial detention on an arbitrary basis.”
A parliamentary answer in the House of Lords in January 2015 confirmed that the visit to Eritrea had taken place and said that discussions had involved “topics including the current drivers of irregular migration, ways to mitigate it, and voluntary and enforced returns”.
Lord Bates, a Home Office minister, added: “We are now considering how best to use the information gathered during the visit to develop our approach to managing migration from Eritrea.”
But despite the doubts about a real improvement in the human rights situation expressed by UK officials in the internal documents, the Home Office went ahead in March 2015 with issuing new guidance to those making decisions on asylum seekers stating that the human rights situation in Eritrea was not as bad as previously thought.
Country guidance issued by the Home Office is highly influential on both ministry officials and judges making decisions on asylum claims. This guidance is expected to contain independently verifiable evidence.
As a result of the new guidance the levels of grants of asylum to Eritreans plummeted from 85% to 60%. However, 87% of those refused under the new guidance had their refusals overturned by judges on appeal.
The 2015 guidance impacted on Eritrean children in Calais who hoped to come to the UK at the end of last year. The Home Office used the lower grant rates as a reason for excluding almost all Eritrean children in Calais aged 13-15 – the initial grant rate for Eritrean asylum seekers between March 2015 and June 2016 was below 75%.
However, a significant case in the upper (immigration) tribunal last October, known as a country guidance case, found that the new Home Office guidance on Eritrea was not credible. The Home Office has acknowledged the reality of the human rights situation and withdrawn its flawed guidance.
Alison Pickup, the legal director of the Public Law Project, said: “It is of fundamental importance to the integrity of the UK’s asylum system that decisions on refugee status are based on fair, objective and informed assessment of conditions in their country of origin. The Home Office has a legal duty to ensure that the information given to decision-makers is as accurate, up to date and complete as possible. This disclosure suggests a troubling lack of impartiality and objectivity in the selection of information to be provided to asylum decision-makers about one of the most secretive and repressive regimes in the world.”
In relation to the Home Office exclusion of Eritrean children in Calais, she said: “The Home Office’s exclusion of Eritrean refugee children on the basis of a statistic which is the result of its own flawed guidance is a tragedy.”
Safe Passage, part of Citizens UK, was working with refugee children in Calais before the camp was closed last November. The Citizens UK leader, Jonathan Clark, the bishop of Croydon, said: “It is hugely concerning that the Home Office appeared to have been willing to set aside their own concerns that they were not being told the truth about ongoing human rights violations because of a policy to reduce numbers. This faulty evidence contributed to many vulnerable children from the Calais refugee camp [being] denied sanctuary in the UK through the Dubs scheme.
“As the government considers its policy towards unaccompanied children in Greece and Italy we urge them not to rule out children from countries such as Eritrea, but help the most at risk.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “The UK has a proud history of offering asylum to those who need it. Each application is carefully considered on its merits against background country information, ensuring only those with a genuine claim for asylum receive a grant.
“We continually review our country information and guidance to ensure it is up to date, accurate and relevant, so that staff can make fair and considered decisions. The most recent update to the guidance on Eritrea was made last year as a result of a fact-finding mission in 2016. We work closely with countries such as Eritrea to discuss migration matters.”

The Guardian has approached the FCO for comment.   source   https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jan/22/home-office-eritrea-guidance-softened-to-reduce-asylum-seeker-numbers

An Eritrean from Beit Mekhaa in Asmara who fell deeply in love with Fatin Hamama A Fatin Ha

 An Eritrean from Beit Mekhaa in Asmara who fell deeply in love with Fatin Hamama


A Fatin Hamama film that shaped the destiny of an Eritrean from Beit Mekhaa in Asmara.

قصة الارتري من اسمرا , مساعد سائق اللوري الذى وقع في حب فاتن حمامة عندما شاهد احد افلامها في كسلا في اواخر الاربعينات وترك كل شئ وذهب الي القاهرة علي امل ان يتزوجها

Thousands loved Fatin Hamama (1931 – 2015), the famous Egyptian and Arab icon who passed away three days ago. Mesfun Maare, the Eritrean truck-driver assistant from Beit Mekhaa in Asmara was no exception. He fell in deeply love with Fatin Hamama; and travelled all the way to Cairo to see her.
Mesfun used to work as an assistant with an Italian truck driver. This was during the late forties or early fifties. They used to go from Asmara to Kassala. When they reach the city, Mesfun was allowed to do whatever he wanted, but had to come back late in the evenings and sleep in the car to guard it. He used to go the to the cinema and watch Arabic films. It was in one of those films that he saw Fatin Hamama and fell deeply in love with her. He was not only obsessed with her love, but he wanted to marry her. He thought he would die if he did not meet her. So, one day, he went back to the driver, asked for all his savings and told him that he will go to Cairo to meet Fatin. The driver tried to persuade him to stay and showed him the task was impossible. Every body else whom Mefun shared the story with laughed at him but he was determined to fulfil his wish.
He started his journey from Kassala and reached Wadi Halfa after a lot of difficulties. He was told there that to be able to go to Egypt, he needed a passport. He went to the immigration office and applied for Sudanese citizenship. He claimed he was a Sudanese from the Shukria tribe. The immigration officer questioned him, but at last he said he was suspicious that Mesfun was either a Habashi (Abyssinian) or Somali and did not approve the application. He asked for witnesses. Mesfun was very upset, went to a tea shop and asked for tea and was smoking heavily. The tea shop owner observed that Mesfun seemed disturbed and asked what the problem was. Mesfun told his story and the owner broke into laughter. Upon the insistence of Mefun that he would die if he did not meet Fatin, the owner said he will help him and arranged with a relative of his to smuggle him to Egypt. He arrived in Cairo after many difficulties. In Cairo he stayed in a small hotel that was owned by an Armenian woman. He gave her all he money he had. He used to tell his story to every one he met and they all laughed at him. After staying for about 2 weeks the lady told him that he has consumed all his money and told him to leave the hotel, penny less.
He left the hotel wandering what he would. Later he came near a garden and while he was praying, ‘St. Michael help me’ he heard voices in Tigrinya and moved towards the source. He found two young guys who turned out to be Safi Imam Musa and Imam Osman Aberra. He was so happy and told them his story. They were also surprised to meet him and astonished about his story. They told him that he can stay with them and took him home. They were students and he used to prepare food for them.  He found a Sudanese friend afterwards and they used to walk long distances on foot. One day while walking they saw a crowd at a Cinema in Roxy neighbourhood and went there. There he saw his dream woman, Fatin. She was coming to open one of her films. He immediately went to her and told her that he came all the way from Abyssinian to see her. She was touched, thought he was one of her fans and gave him a card with her signature on it. That was a treasure that he rounded in plastic and kept for years and showed it to everyone he met.

Months later he came across a company with a placard ‘Fiat’ on it. He went there and met the Italian manager who gave him money and told him to come back after 3 months. The Italian manger arranged for him to work with an Italian company in Sinai and in 1967 during the Arab-Israeli war he was forced to go back to Asmara and later worked in Massawa. He worked there until 1974 when things deteriorated due to the liberation war. He left for Sudan in the hope of going to Saudi Arabia, but he was caught by the EPLF and enrolled in the liberation army. He was not a man born to fight and kill and tried several times to escape. He was imprisoned several times, but later they realised he was a hopeless case and  was allowed to go to Sudan where he stayed in Port Sudan in the late seventies. He used to tell his story to everyone he met, and my friend Jelal Aberra was one of them. source   https://hedgait.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/an-eritrean-from-beit-mekhaa-in-asmara.html

TIGRE PEOPLE: THE SECOND LARGEST FORGOTTEN TRIBE OF ERITREA



The Tigre are an nomadic-pastoralist ethnic group residing in Eritrea and Sudan. They are related to the Biher-Tigrinya of Eritrea and to the Beja people of Sudan. They are mostly Muslims and they are distinguished from other regional peoples by the fact that they possess hereditary slaves. Historically, most of the Tigre have been scattered between Eritrea’s northern highlands and western lowlands. They have somewhat shifted into Sudan in search of water and grazing lands.
readmore