refugee and migrant justice

sufi

lala
o bollocks
have worked with these folks for the last 15 years more or less (in their former incarnation - refugee legal centre)... they are bona fide and what they say about funding is sadly absolutely right,
shame
support them
 
Last edited:

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
don't know anything about the specifics of this case, but having had to suppress my laughter/disgust at the amount barristers are paid when sorting out our finances here, money which is then reclaimed through legal aid, well...such fees must be a huge drain upon the pool of legal aid funding that is available...little wodner there are shortfalls/delays in other parts of the system.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
i do some work with refugees - being left in legal limbo is no joke. and the time lag between claims being processed and decisions made is already pretty poor. it seriously plays havoc with their lives/heads. met one guy this week who was escaping torture because of his political alliances and so had a passport with a diff name (ie if he was caught back home he would have been detained so you need diff names) when he arrived here and ended up in prison for several months for it.
 

sufi

lala
Urgent action

forced into administration yesterday, demonstrate tomorrow,

staff have apparently been paid early, which will be their final paycheque and are expecting to clear their desks within the next week.

The UNITE union has called an urgent protest in response to Refugee and Mirgrant Justice being shut down due to a funding crisis caused by the structures of legal aid. without such lawyers migrant workers and their families are in desperate problems and open to exploitation and bad advice. this is real emergency for migrants and for the most vulnerable in particular

Demonstrate Against Likely Closure of Refugee and Migrant Justice – Defend Legal Aid


Refugee and Migrant Justice (RMJ), the largest provider of specialist legal advice for asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants in England and Wales, went into administration on June 16 2010.

This is a result of cuts in Legal Aid over recent years and changes in the way in which Legal Aid providers are paid. RMJ used to get paid monthly, but is now only paid after each case is closed – many cases last many months or even years. No charity can be expected to wait that long for payment and many law centres are finding it difficult to cope with the new payment system. David Cameron’s claims to value the work of charities rings very hollow indeed.

RMJ (formerly the Refugee Legal Centre) was founded in 1992 and in the last year alone has helped over 11,000 people. Closure would mean that many thousands of vulnerable people will be left without legal representation. Many will face being returned to countries where they face persecution and their lives are in danger.

So far the Ministry of Justice has declined to help RMJ. UNITE is calling for RMJ to be saved and for proper Legal Aid funding to ensure that the most vulnerable members of society have real access to justice.

Cuts in public spending are affecting the poorest people right across our society. But these people did not cause the economic crisis and should not be made to pay for it.

UNITE, the union that represents RMJ’s 340 staff, has called a demonstration outside the Ministry of Justice at 4pm on Friday 18th June 2010. Please join us.

Ministry of Justice
102 Petty France
London SW1H 9AJ

Tubes: St James’s Park and Westminster

For further details, please contact Rachael Maskell, Unite National Officer, Community and Non Profit Sector: 07768 693933
http://tinyurl.com/2cbhn5e

Background:

Refugee and Migrant Justice goes into administration
http://www.freemovement.org.uk/Media-2/RMJBust.html

Denying child asylum seekers a legal lifeline
http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/jun/16/child-asylum-seekers-legal-aid

Save Refugee and Migrant Justice
http://www.freemovement.org.uk/Media-1/RMJ.html
 

matt b

Indexing all opinion
forced into administration yesterday, demonstrate tomorrow,

staff have apparently been paid early, which will be their final paycheque and are expecting to clear their desks within the next week.

:(
 

sufi

lala
Urgent appeal: 24 Hours to Save Refugee and Migrant Justice

A consortium of charitable trusts and city law firms, supported by Simon Hughes MP, are putting together a proposal to Government to save Refugee and Migrant Justice (RMJ). The proposal asks the Government to at least pay the money that it would have to pay anyway on insolvency on the understanding that this will be matched with up to £1,000,000 by way of grants, secured loans and donations to meet cash needs to finance work in progress.

We need concrete commitments for these funds today or as early as possible tomorrow – actual cash can come a bit later. So far today, we have been pledged £134,000. Significantly more could follow from charitable trusts and others we are already talking with. But at this point it is clear that this is going to be a very considerable challenge without some additional help.

The aim of the plan is to enable, with full transparency and without prejudicing the position of creditors, a 3 month period in which the Government can consider whether it might change the payment system, there might be time to look at some innovative solutions with the Office of Civil Society and banks and RMJ would demonstrate that it had a viable forward business model. If all that fails, at least it would provide time for an orderly transfer of our clients’ cases. We have 10,000 clients, including 900 unaccompanied children who may otherwise be left in limbo.

We are appealing for donations, however small, to help save RMJ and secure its services over the next three months. If funds from both Government and other funders can be agreed, RMJ’s administrators would, in principle, support the proposal to take RMJ out of administration.

To make a pledge, or for further information, please telephone Kathleen Commons on 07872 161 271 or email savermj@gmail.com
or check facebook group SAVE REFUGEE AND MIGRANT JUSTICE: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=124701990894435


About Refugee and Migrant Justice

Refugee and Migrant Justice is committed to securing justice for asylum seekers and other migrants in the UK.

We are the largest specialist provider of advice and representation to asylum seekers and other migrants needing protection or other help to secure their human rights.

As well as helping individual clients, we use our considerable expertise to campaign for positive changes.
 

scottdisco

rip this joint please
cheers guys.

was telling a close mate the other day about gumdrops' story ^ - 'ckin unbelievable, Kafka esque 'mare
:(
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
whats the best thing to do? just pledge? i cant attend the demo but want to know what else you can do.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/21/scandal-britain-turn-back-refugees-create

This is not a party political point. These changes came about as a result of policies ushered in by New Labour, borne of many years of pandering to populist demagoguery. Asylum seekers emerged during the mid-nineties as a confected scapegoat in the British polity – all the more easy to demonise since relatively few people had ever met one. "Minorities are the flashpoint for a series of uncertainties that mediate between everyday life and its fast-shifting global backdrop," writes Arjun Appadurai in his book Fear of Small Numbers. "This uncertainty, exacerbated by an inability of states to secure economic sovereignty in the era of globalisation, may translate into a lack of tolerance of any sort of collective stranger."
 
Last edited:

sufi

lala
as far as i know that's it,
not on facebook so i don't know whether there is a running total somewhere?
 

scottdisco

rip this joint please
Katie Commons on Facebook 4 hours ago said:
So far, the SAVE RMJ pledge campaign has raised £189 600 since 2pm yesterday. This is amazing, but we are still a far way off from the £1 million pounds we need. Please, everyone, spread the word about our campaign!
Thank you so so much for all your help and support

certainly pledge if you've not done so, and can do
 

highhhness

one does
and the time lag between claims being processed and decisions made is already pretty poor

this is really only part of the problem. key issue is the quality (or lack thereof) of intial decision-making - Home Office has sped it up, but routinely makes poor initial decisions on asylum claims. appealing these decisions eventually takes cases into the mainstream legal system, which is where the really long delays (at least recently) are happening. If there was a proper legal aid system with sufficient time allocated to presenting asylum cases then proper decisions would be made first-time - thus reducing appeals, related legal costs and individual support costs (asylum seekers can't work), not to mention those with good claims being forcibly returned. complete financial and humanitarian no-brainer.

pledged, in any case, really hope they make the total.
 
Top