Durham for Refugees

Hello! We're not so active on here at the moment, but please follow our pals @RefugeeSupportE for regular updates, inspiring - often heartbreaking, enraging - stories and constructive ways to support the most vulnerable members of our society😊💕 #RefugeesWelcome

Buses leaving the Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre in Co. Durham tonight. Protestors had been demonstrating outside throughout the day to try and stop a group of up to 13 women being flown back to Nigeria tonight. Unknown how many asylum seekers were on board.

There are currently 135,703 individuals, mainly Yazidis, in 15 camps in Duhok and Nineveh governorates, and around 195,000 IDPs — such as Muhsen and his family — living independently outside of camps in Duhok, making the total IDP number ≈ 330,000. Source: UNHCR Iraq, May 2022.

I don’t know who needs to hear this (well actually, I suspect I do) but, here comes a 🧵 for #WorldRefugeeDay full of stuff I have learned as a @Care4Calais volunteer 1/

On #WorldRefugeeDay & as Commonwealth Heads meet in Kigali, 170 orgs (incl. groups led by refugees, human rights orgs, international development agencies, major faiths, women's groups & regional & local NGOs from all over UK) condemn govt's Rwanda scheme. independent.co.uk/voices/letters…

NEW: Court of Appeal reveals there are now only **11 people** on the Rwanda removal flight. We started with about 100 ish being notified. By Friday it was 31. Now it’s 11.

The former commander ⁠— faced with deportation to Rwanda ⁠— was sentenced by an Iranian military court to apx five years in jail in Iran for refusing to shoot protesters during anti-government demonstrations triggered by a sharp rise in petrol prices. ⬇️ bbc.com/news/world-mid…

An unusual subject of interest notice seen stuck up inside a Home Office building today.

Just last month, @UNHCRIraq + @WFP warned of Syrian refugees in Iraq at serious risk of losing access to basic food supplies. The UN in Iraq is in the process of transitioning from “individual assistance” >> “system building” news.un.org/en/story/2022/…

These illustrations of men due to be removed to Rwanda are exactly what's needed to help people understand that there are real lives at stake behind these horrific policies, with terrified, confused families trying to make sense of it all. syrianotes.org/2022/06/facing…

We no longer have a refugee protection system. We have a refugee punishment system. Deporting 15 refugees (likely Syrians) to Rwanda because they dared to seek safety on our shores is the beginning of the #AntiRefugeeLaws being put into action. theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/m…

Our big Refugee Week fundraising event this year celebrates the healing power of art, with a sale of donated pieces from over 70 local artists. If you would like to volunteer at the fair please email volunteer@camcrag.org.uk

The Home Office is systematically giving children as young as 14 the standard age of 23. They're not reassessing them, or questioning them further, meaning separated children will inevitably end up being sent to Rwanda. theguardian.com/world/2022/jun…

We are fighting hard to #StopRwanda but we need your help. To find out how go to care4calais.org/stop-rwanda/

Great news: The first of the people who were given Rwanda notices has been released from detention. But the ordeal has been horrific, and he should never have been put through it. Here's a🧵

"Cursed wars steal joy from the eyes of children, from the hearts of mothers, and form the wrinkles of adults." — a line of poetry by my dear friend Hasna ❣️ The Syrian war took her husband, children, legs. Here she is pictured in June 2019 in Durham, UK, where she is resettled.

Landmark torture trial sentences senior Syrian official to life imprisonment rudaw.net/english/middle…