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Petition Tag - home office
1. BMH UK campaign - deletion of innocent records from Police National Database 
This online petition is calling for a commitment from Government for ensure that the Protection of Freedoms Bill ensures that the records of all innocent people are deleted from the Police National Computer (PNC) and Police National Database (PND) at the same time that their DNA is deleted.
Unless the PNC and PND records are deleted at the same time as well as any photos, up to a million innocent people will still retain the status of a criminal.
These records can be used to refuse someone a visa or a job simply because they have a record of arrest. This can also lead to stigma and discrimination when accessed by officers on the beat.
For the past three years Black Mental Health UK has been campaigning against the way the DNA database has criminalised black Briton.
The DNA profiles of 37% of black men and 77% of young black men, aged between 15 and 34, have been estimated to be on the National DNA Database. Every black family in Britain is affected.
The way DNA has been collected also means that innocent mental health service users who are also currently profiled on the database and have been criminalised by this system, simply because they were sectioned under the Mental Health Act, when they were in need of mental health care and ended up in police custody.
Changes need to be made to the Protection of Freedoms Bill to include the deletion of innocent people’s police records and photographs at the same time as their DNA and fingerprint records.
2. Save the Post Study Work visa for Non-EU graduates
The Coalition Government plans to scrap the Post Study Work option for Non-EU graduates who have completed a degree at a UK university. The visa provides the entitlement to work for two years.
The Post Study Work visa is a good motivator for prospective students when choosing to come to the UK, as it will enable them to gain some international work experience.
They must get a sponsored job after the visa expires in order to stay in the country, so it is hardly the route to illegal migration characterised by the tabloid press or pressure groups such as MigrationWatch.
International students invest considerable amounts of money into the country (over £9,000/year, in some cases more); it is only fair to give them some work experience after completing their degrees. Other countries, including the US, already offer this opportunity to foreign graduates; if the UK were to cancel the Post Study Work visa, it is likely that students would study elsewhere.
3. Stop the Deportation of Robel Negash
Robel Negash is an Eritrean refugee who came to Scotland fleeing torture and persecution in his native country. Since arriving in Scotland, he has become an integral member of the Bellahouston Harriers and recently won the Glasgow Men's 10k.
Recently, Robel was taken into custody without warning whilst attending a routine interview at the Home Office and has been incarcerated at Dungavel in Lanarkshire. We are told that he is to be deported to Milan.
He is a gifted long distance runner who could one day represent Scotland. Please help us stop his deportation!
4. Let Flora and her children stay!
I am writing to you in support of Ms Flora O and her children, to be granted asylum in Britain.
Flora and her children fled to Britain from Nigeria in April 2005, after Flora’s ex-husband repeatedly beat her and forced her only daughter to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM). The baby died as a result. Flora has since had another daughter and also has two little boys. Flora now suffers from depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
The Home Office has refused Flora’s application for asylum with disregard for her and her children’s welfare. They face the real possibility of being targeted again by members of her ex-husband’s family.
If sent back to Nigeria, Flora and her children would be condemned to a life of severe poverty and no social security. The family will not have means of support.
If deported to their home country, Flora’s 4-year-old daughter would likely be force to go through FGM and the family would likely be persecuted again and/or killed.
Flora and her children have been building a new life for themselves here and are settled and integrated into the community in Swinton, Greater Manchester, where Flora volunteers in a charity shop and the children go to school. They want the opportunity to rebuild their life.
Home Office Ref: O1107504
The UK government through its Border Agency has decided not to give priority to the asylum application of Iraqi LGBT leader Ali Hili, in exile in London. The application has been outstanding for nearly three years and while it is outstanding, Ali cannot travel.
This decision directly impacts not just on Ali but on harshly persecuted Iraqi lesbians and gays through the reduced ability of their sole visible leader to raise their profile internationally.
Can you help?
As you may be aware, numerous human rights organisations and journalists have documented the pogrom against lesbians and gays in Iraq. Iraqi LGBT estimates that over 700 LGBT have been assassinated over the past few years. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has advised 'favourable consideration' for asylum claims because of the situation.
Hili has received many requests to speak internationally, including from the US, which he has been unable to pursue. His solicitor, Barry O'Leary, wrote to the UK Border Agency (UKBA) in August 2009 that: "he desperately wishes to do this [travel] in order to further the aims of his organisation, that is, supporting lesbians and gay men in Iraq and bringing the world's attention to their plight."
Six months later, the UKBA told O'Leary that:
* the assistance given by Hilli to the Foreign Office "does not count"
* the fatwa does not mean that Hilli "falls within the classification of clear and immediate vulnerability"
* that the delay in deciding Hilli's asylum case (since July 2007) "is not in itself an exceptional circumstance"
* his case is not "compelling"
The UK Foreign Office Human Rights Report for 2009 specifically names Iraqi LGBT over other NGOs as a key source of information. Hili has met with them numerous times. The report quotes Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell condemning persecution of LGBT in Iraq.
Foreign Office Minister Chris Bryant wrote in his blog on Feb. 24: "I know some people dismiss LGBT rights as something of a sideshow in international relations, but I am proud to say that the FCO has argued for a decade that human rights are a seamless garment."
Yet the same government through the Home Office is effectively aiding that persecution through the failure of government recognition to Iraqi LGBT's leader.
6. Allow Tatiana & her children to stay in the UK
Tatiana Husainova is my step-mum, I live five minutes walk away from her in Pontefract. We have a very close relationship and I have a very strong bond with my siblings; Leila, Philip and Lawrenca. I see them all on a regular basis and continue to support Tatiana in any way I can.
Following the sudden death of my dad, Lawrence Pratt on 19th January 2008, Tatiana Husainova made the decision with Lawrence’s family to come to the UK with her children and apply for ‘Indefinite Leave to Remain’. She arrived here in April 2008 with Leila Pratt(now 11) and Philip Pratt (now 2). Her daughter Lawrenca Pratt was born on 3rd September 2008 in the UK. Both Philip and Lawrenca are British citizens as their father was British. Philip and Lawrenca have British passports. Leila is Tatiana’s daughter from a previous relationship and was legally adopted by my dad.
Tatiana’s application was refused by the Home Office in May 2009. Unfortunately due to her previous solicitor’s inaction Tatiana lost the right to appeal.
Tatiana and I will attend a court hearing on 15th January 2010, this is for an Immigration Judge to decide if she has the right to an appeal. This is a long shot, and we have no other options left, despite sending supporting letters to the Home Office from myself, my sister and dad’s twin brother.
Tatiana is financially independent. She has not claimed Child Benefit for her two British children. She pays V.A.T. even though her status means that she should not. She pays full Council Tax and all household bills herself. She fully intends to work here in the UK; she is currently not allowed to do so.
If Tatiana has to return to her home country in Kyrgyzstan she will not have the family support that she has here in the UK. Poverty is rife in Kyrgyzstan and the politics there have turned volatile in recent years, it is an unstable country. Tatiana has not lived in Kyrgyzstan for almost 9 years, she moved to Dubai to work and make a better life for herself. In Dubai she met my dad and they married in 2004. After his death she lost her citizenship in Dubai.
The purpose of this petition is to express the support for Tatiana that people have already shown us. Please sign this petition if you believe that Tatiana and her three children should be allowed to stay here in the UK.
7. Beatrice, Andy, Ellen, and Wells Must Stay Together
Since Beatrice Botomani, her daughter, Ellen, (17) and her son, Wells, (13) came to the UK from Malawi, they have lived mainly in Leeds.
Beatrice married her British husband, Andy, in June 2008, but they have been unable to find suitable accommodation near the childrens’ school. Although it has been accepted that their marriage is genuine, Andy’s ability to support his family financially has been called into question, an issue that could easily be resolved by allowing Beatrice to work.
Beatrice, Ellen and Wells spent over two months in detention earlier this year, during which time they were deeply traumatized. They felt like criminals when they were forced into a caged van for the journey to Yarl’s Wood IRC; Wells said “it looked like a proper prison” when they arrived. Having had the presence of mind to pack his school uniform, he was dismayed to discover that there was no appropriate provision of education and the teacher was telling “scary stories” about children being separated from their parents if they resisted removal. Wells witnessed a detainee who had poured boiling water over himself screaming in agony and smashing his head against a wall and is still haunted by memories of Yarl’s Wood at night, describing the sound of people crying, doors banging and officers marching up and down the corridors in heavy boots. He found these experiences “really terrible” and says that they have left him in “total shock and confusion”.
8. My son deserve a father figure in his life - Don't deport Jacques to DRC
My partner has been in prison for almost 6 months. We were hoping that his sentence will be reduced and finished on or before13th August. He appealed against his sentence and his appeal went through and he is hoping to attend the court on Friday.
I contacted our mp concerning his immigration papers the home office wrote to him that they are processing his case. He left me with a 51/2 weeks baby when they took him on 9th February, not fully recovered from operation and with no help at all as the social service said i was not entitled to any benefit for a baby as an international student and him being a failed asylum seeker.
I manage to survive mainly for the help of the church.
I was expecting that after his sentence my partner should be able to come out and support our baby so that i can go on with my studies but last week the immigration prisoner officer told him that no matter what happened to his sentence he is going to be detained and deported back to DRC congo.
I am so confused and i don't understand why are they doing this to my family, i am sure if he go back to his country he is going to be killed and i cant go with him, if i send my baby to masai land he will not be accepted (a baby from non maasai dad). I am struggling to stay in UK for the time being using some serving i had and help from the church worrying not to know what else i can do. I feel there is no justice at all.
9. Destination Unknown - continued access to lifesaving HIV treatment
On 5 May 2005 the House of Lords delivered a judgment on the matter of ‘N’ ([2005] UKHL31). It ruled that deportation of a person living with HIV to a country where s/he was unlikely to receive adequate HIV treatment was not incompatible with their right to be free of inhumane treatment under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In concluding their written judgment, the Lords made it clear that the Home Office can exercise discretion in deciding not to return such individuals to their home countries, but that if it decides on deportation, it will not be operating in breach of human rights legislation. The European Courts for Human Rights reinforced this position in May 2008.
In the view of a number of HIV advocates, this decision essentially authorises many HIV-positive people living in the UK to be removed to their countries of origin without access to lifesaving treatment.
The African HIV Policy Network (AHPN) believes that there is a clear contradiction between the UK's policy aim of universal access to HIV treatment for all those who need it by 2010 and the removal of people living with HIV who are on treatment to countries where treatment is not readily available or affordable.
The withdrawal of treatment increases the body's vulnerability to opportunistic infection and will result in drastically shortened life expectancy.
There are strong public health arguments for allowing a concession. Those awaiting removal may go underground and fail to keep appointments resulting in an increased risk of opportunistic infection with the need for emergency treatment and an increased risk of onward transmission.
The UK is a signatory to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Article 12(1) requires states to ‘recognise the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health’.
10. Give Peter Gichura leave to remain in the UK
Peter Gichura is a committed disability rights activist who has lived in Croydon, UK, since 2001. Despite the difficulties Peter has faced as an asylum seeker, he has spent his time positively, successfully completing NVQ level 4 in accounting and doing voluntary work and activities with Payday men’s network, WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities), Leonard Cheshire Disability and his local church. Peter is an active and well-respected member of his local community, with many friends and networks in the UK.
Peter is from Kenya and was instrumental in establishing a disabled persons’ organisation, advocating for the rights of disabled street hawkers. He fled in 2001 to escape anti-Kikuyu persecution against disability activists. The situation in Kenya remains very volatile.
Whilst in the UK, Peter has made good use of his campaigning skills, by being involved in campaigns to improve access to public services for disabled people, including London buses.
Peter has made a significant contribution to the disabled people’s movement in the UK. As an asylum seeker, he was detained in Harmondsworth in 2006, without accessible washing and toilet facilities, not given the correct medication, and subjected to painful body searches. With the support of WinVisible and Payday, Peter challenged the Home Office and Kalyx, the company that runs Harmondsworth detention centre, using the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).
In May, the Court of Appeal made a precedent ruling on his DDA case -- that all disabled people in custody before December 2006 do have the protection of anti-discrimination legislation. But the authorities’ liability over how he was treated is still to be decided. The case is likely to be heard in 2009. This is an important case that affects all disabled people in custody in the UK.
During the plane journey to the UK in 2001 Peter was manhandled, causing his spinal injury to worsen. He has gone from using crutches to using a wheelchair, and relies on medical treatment without which he would die. In 2006, he applied for asylum on that basis: "As someone with spinal injury I am vulnerable to chronic kidney infection and need sanitary living conditions to survive – but there is no running water where I am from in Nyahururu, Kenya. I cannot afford medical treatment – and there is no free healthcare." Expert evidence confirmed this but was ignored, and Peter’s claim was turned down.
Removal now would put Mr Gichura’s health and life at risk, while denying him the opportunity to provide evidence in the DDA case.
Above all, Peter has built his life in the UK, has contributed to society through his active commitment to voluntary and community groups. Peter has the skills and experience that will help him to build a career, and will thus be able to support himself financially if he is given leave to remain in the UK.
Kamal Begi, a Brampton Manor student, and his uncle have lost all their appeals and are under a threat of deportation despite having lived in the UK for over 6 years. They were initially granted a leave to remain for one year and then refused indefinite leave to remain.
We were shocked that a boy who has suffered so much trauma in Afghanistan, where his father was murdered and members of his family tortured, where he himself was held at a gun point as a child, a boy whose life would be in danger if he returned, is not being allowed to set up a new home here and is left worried for his well-being and future, pending the decision of the Home Office.
Kamal Begi and his uncle arrived in the UK and claimed asylum in January 2002. He joined Brampton Manor School in East Ham, London in September 2003 and has quickly become a valuable member of our school community. He is now leaving Year 11 having taken his GCSEs and is expected to achieve on or often above target in all his subjects. He is very ambitious and clear on what he wants to achieve in life. He has now been accepted to New Vic College where he plans to take his ‘A’ levels before going to University to study Business. Kamal has become a strong member of our school community and has settled in very well.
We have so far collected over a thousand signatures on paper in school that were handed over to Lyn Brown MP on 24th June 2008 in the House of Commons. We need more people to show their support for Kamal.
12. Release Andrew Phillips From Jail!
Andrew Phillips is a young man of 21.
He, like so many other young men, had an interest in replica guns. After obtaining information from the Police and the Home Office, he began to collect replica guns.
He bought these from a web site in France. He had been led to believe that all these replica guns were legal for him to own in the UK.
However, following a fatal shooting in Nottingham, which had nothing to do with Andrew at all, the Police turned their attention to him and charged him with possession of prohibited weapons.
He now faces up to 10 years in jail for being in possession of replica guns that the Police originally had said he could have.
The full story of Andrew's case can be found by using the link above.
13. Allow Ali to remain in the UK
March 02, 2006
This petition is now closed. Thanks to all who signed.
August 19, 2005
Petition to Tony McNulty, Minister for Immigration, requesting he allows Ali Reza Fakourpoor to remain in the UK.
Home Office reference F1021561
We ask that you allow Ali Reza Fakourpoor, an Iranian man to stay in Britain with his wife Jenifer, who is a British Citizen.
Ali met Jenifer in Glasgow and they married in 2002. An application was submitted but this was refused in February 2005. An appeal is now pending.
The Home Office want to remove Ali to Iran but this would result in the couple's forced separation. There are several insurmountable obstacles that would prevent them living together in Iran. Iran does not recognise dual nationality. It is likely that Jenifer's British passport is confiscated. In order for the Iranian authorities to recognise their marriage Jenifer would be forced to convert to Islam. Jenifer has no knowledge of Iran's language or culture and it is very unlikely she would find employment in her current field.
It is also uncertain what would happen to Ali on his return especially given the current political climate, his political views and previous opposition to the government. We believe that a forced separation would be unjust and inhumane.
In spite of the stress he is under Ali has remained an active and widely respected member of the community. He has learned English and updated his skills in carpentry and furniture making. He is not permitted to work so volunteers at his local Oxfam shop on a weekly basis.
14. ALLOW HOSSEIN SIAVOSHY TO REMAIN IN THE U.K
Dear Mr Clarke,
Re: Hossein Siavoshy Home Office Reference S1086061
We ask that you allow Hossein Siavoshy, an Iranian man to stay in Britain with his wife, Jessica, who is a British Citizen.
Hossein met Jessica in London and they married in 2003. An application was submitted but this was refused in February 2004. They are now waiting for their 2nd Judicial review application to be processed.
The Home Office wants to remove Hossein to Iran but this would result in the couple's forced separation. There are several in surmountable obstacles that would prevent them living together in Iran. Iran does not recognise dual nationality. It is likely that Jessica's British passport is confiscated. In order for the Iranian authorities to recognise their marriage Jessica would be forced to convert to Islam. Jessica has no knowledge of Iran's language or culture and it is very unlikely that she would be able to find employment in her current field.
It is also uncertain what would happen to Hossein on his return especially given the current political climate, his political views and previous opposition to the government. We believe that a forced, indefinite separation would be unjust and inhumane.
