Five actual or potential conflict situations around the world deteriorated and none improved in August 2010, according to the new issue of the International Crisis Group’s latest bulletin CrisisWatch 85
Deteriorated Situations: Bahrain, Kashmir, Kyrgyzstan, Northern Ireland, Somalia
Bahrain: Ongoing security crackdown ahead of 23 Oct parliamentary elections; 230 people reported arrested, including Shiite opposition leader Abduljalil al-Singace, charged 30 Aug with attempting to overthrow govt; govt said detainees arrested for security and terrorism violations, not for expressing dissident political views. Arrests fuelled almost daily sectarian clashes between security forces and Shiite …

Control Of Immigration: Quarterly Statistical Summary, United Kingdom, April/May/June 2010
Key points:
Removals down 14%
Detention down 15%
Asylum applications  down 28%
115 Children entered detention, 140 left, 50%  of these children (70) were returned to their communities
6,130 people left detention, 3,935 were removed, 2,195 returned to their communities.
Download the full report:
Control of Immigration: Quarterly Statistical Summary, United Kingdom – Second Quarter 2010
Also available: Excel data spreadsheets and Supplementary excel tables
Removals and voluntary departures
In Q2 2010, 14,130 persons were removed or departed voluntarily from the UK, 14 per cent lower than in Q2 2009 (16,345).
There …

Mother and Children required to deport themselves
Mildred Okpara and her two young children and baby are still in their Sheffield accommodation. They have received a letter from UKBA to report to Heathrow airport on Thursday the 2nd September.
Kirklees Refugee Forum are supporting a campaign to keep the family in Sheffield and would like your presence (if possible) in Sheffield this Friday.
Join the protest outside the Home Office UK Border Agency
Keep the Okpara family safe in Sheffield!
Come and join us on  the demonstration and bring as many people as possible. Please …

Justice for Rabar Hamad -  Say no to his deportation 01/09/10
Rabar Hamad, was captured last Friday and is now in Colnbrook IRC. And due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Wednesday 1st September 2010 by Charter Flight.
We are a group of staff at Breeze Hill School in Oldham, fighting to prevent the deportation of Rabar Hamd to Iraq.  Rabar came to our school a year ago.  He was incorrectly, in our opinion, age assessed as 18 on arrival in the UK and after almost a year reassessed medically …

The redesigned UK passport, now featuring strengthened security features and iconic images from across the nation, was unveiled today by Chief Executive of the Identity and Passport Service Sarah Rapson.
 
The new 10 year passport will be issued from October, with pages of the passport containing well-known UK scenes, including the White Cliffs of Dover, the Gower Peninsula, Ben Nevis and the Giant’s Causeway.
The use of these images, recreated through special printing techniques, is just one of a number of enhanced security features contained in the passport, which will give UK …

Swifter action to tackle new ‘legal highs’ through temporary bans was promised yesterday by James Brokenshire, Minister for Crime Prevention.
 
For the first time the Government will be able to react quickly as new substances emerge with temporary 12 month bans. The bans will send a clear message to users that these substances carry a risk and will prevent new chemicals becoming widely available.
The government will introduce new legislation which will enable police to confiscate suspected substances and the UK Border Agency will seize shipments entering the country. The penalty for …

The public is today being asked to vote to find the best ideas from over 44,000 submitted to the Treasury as part of the public engagement through the Spending Challenge website. The most promising ideas will be taken forward as part of the Spending Review process, which will set budgets for public services for the next four years. 
Voting will be open until 31 August 2010, in order to consider ideas before the Spending Review concludes on 20 October.
Since launching the public phase of the Spending Challenge, the Government has received …

First published in FREEMOVEMENT
Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) Conducts Massive Child Abduction Campaign
The LRA continues its horrific campaign to replenish its ranks by brutally tearing children from their villages and forcing them to fight. The evidence points to Joseph Kony, the LRA leader, as the author of this atrocious campaign. LRA has abducted more than 697 adults and children in a largely unreported campaign in the Central African Republic and the neighboring Bas Uele district of northern Democratic Republic of Congo over the past 18 months. Nearly one-third of those abducted …

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is warning taxpayers to be vigilant following reports that thieves are making phone calls pretending to be the taxman. The fraudsters inform taxpayers they are due a tax rebate, and ask for their bank card details over the phone. They then attempt to take money from the account using the details provided. Victims risk having their bank accounts emptied and their personal details sold on to other organised criminal gangs. The warning comes amid a recent surge in the number of tax scam “phishing” emails …

Hunger strike at Campsfield enters 5th day.
Solidarity protest friday
147 detainees have are staging a protest by refusing meals at Campsfield Immigration Removal Centre. The protest erupted as a result of the treatment of detainees in detention centres especially for people who have been detained for a long period of time. We continue to refuse meals indefinitely for our voices to be heard. http://bit.ly/aKNcql
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Children and families: alternatives to detention pilot details leaked
A leaked Manchester Council document reveals a Coalition Government pilot scheme for alternatives to detaining families. …

Latest Government figures show that more than 60,000 British travellers reported their passport lost or stolen abroad between April 2009 and March 2010.
 
This is despite new research by the Identity and Passport Service (IPS), which shows that 83 per cent of people say they always store their passport in a safe place.
IPS is today urging passport holders to take a few simple steps to keep their documents safe abroad and in the UK.
Steps include:
* when travelling, take two photocopies of your passport, leaving one at home and keeping one separate …

from UKBA
Detention of children ends but is the proposed alternative humane?
Families with all legal rights exhausted to be given two weeks to leave the UK voluntarily
If they don’t, Children/parents will be forcibly removed from their homes and taken directly to the  airport to board the plane.
UKBA will likely ask for a heavy police presence should the family try and build up any form of community protest on the day of removal. UKBA concerned that if they fail to remove family on the day,  significant public order problems may occur at …

The opening of two new wings at Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) will make it Europe’s largest, Immigration Minister Damian Green announced today. The unveiling of additional detention space comes as the UK Border Agency is intensifying enforcement activity across the country to crackdown on illegal working, sham marriages, bogus colleges and organised immigration crime. The new high security accommodation is ready for use, and at full capacity it will house 364 of the UK Border Agency’s most difficult detainees, significantly enhancing the new Government’s ability to remove foreign criminals …

From UKBA
Five people were arrested following a series of UK Border Agency raids in the North East.
The enforcement operations were part of a nationwide summer campaign to tackle illegal working, sham marriages, bogus colleges and organised immigration crime.
Acting on intelligence, officers visited the Hong Kong Chop Suey, in Berwick-upon-Tweed on Tuesday 27 July, questioning staff to ensure they had the right to work in the UK.
Two male Chinese nationals were arrested for immigration offences and taken to Bedlington police station for further interview.
In a previous operation at (G2 Meats) Manufacturing …

Tackling underage sales and the drink-fuelled crime and anti-social behaviour that blights many of our communities is a key priority for the Home Office, Minister for Crime Prevention James Brokenshire emphasised on a visit to Newquay tonight.
 The Minister met with local representatives from the Newquay Safe Partnership during a walk around pubs and bars in Newquay town centre to see first-hand the problems and successes they have had tackling under-age drinking and anti-social behaviour.
The visit coincides with a six week public consultation on a range of options to overhaul the …