Category: Campaigns

Calais Migrants – More needs to be done

Barbara in Calais last year

Update from Barbara Kentish
Westminster Justice & Peace Commission lead on Migrants and Refugees:

Awaited for over a week, the Préfecture of Pas de Calais has finally designated six centres in the region to house migrants, estimated between 8-1200, living rough in the surrounding dunes and woods of Calais. On Friday, 3 April, around 100 were taken by bus to a requisitioned holiday centre in Merlimont, not far from the Normandy beaches. At the moment transfer is voluntary, with enforcement considered only as a last resort, the operation being envisaged to last over two weeks. In the centres, all in the Pas de Calais area, migrants will be subject to the same Covid 19 regulations as the rest of the country. Already two had tested positive for the illness earlier in the week, and were moved to flats designated for isolated care.

With 400 places identified so far, and a staggered process of transfer, Juliette Delaplace of Secours Catholique protested that this was not sufficient: “At this rate people will only be sheltered 12 days from now, when we have already been at stage 3 of the coronavirus epidemic for three weeks. It completely ignores the emergency, and sanitary needs. This neglect of exiled people on the North coast is inexplicable.”

The State-led operation aims to take control, for humanitarian reasons, of a ‘population without shelter’, whose presence around the outskirts of Calais poses ‘serious public health problems and challenges to the peace’. It is in the ‘national framework of public isolating policy’ according to the regional government.

Other NGOs, such as Amnesty International, Emmaus, Cimade and Doctors without Borders are also concerned. NGOs have been prohibited from circulating amongst the encampments so that hunger and lack of supplies has been reported. In Grande Synthe, Dunkirk, measures are also expected, but at the moment some voluntary agencies have managed to deliver supplies.

Original report on Independent Catholic News

UN Global Ceasefire Update

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres last month issued an appeal for a global ceasefire amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In a new update, he reports progress in a number of areas. Warning that gains are fragile, he pledges a strong diplomatic push for combatants to lay down their arms. The Secretary-General’s call has been endorsed by all United Nations Messengers of Peace and Advocates for the Sustainable Development Goals as well as more than a million other people around the world.

Well worth clicking on the video – it takes just 1 minute, 40 seconds of your time and is a stirring tribute to the possibility of ending armed conflict while we turn our resources to eradicating our invisible viral enemy.

Time to wash our hands of nuclear weapons

Christian CND writes:

The UK, like the rest of the world, is in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Health threats like this have been listed as ‘Tier 1’ threats to national security for some time, as the government acknowledged it is a genuine threat to our way of life. Despite this fact, funding for nuclear weapons has vastly outstripping funding given to preparing for a pandemic.

The threat of nuclear weapons from other states has not been listed as a top priority threat by the government. So why are we continuing to press ahead with the plans to replace Trident with a new generation of nuclear weapons as a cost of at least £205 billion.

The government must listen to the evidence regarding the threats we face. Their own assessment continually show that it is pandemic health outbreaks, cyber attacks, climate change and terrorism which threaten us. None of these can be tackled with nuclear weapons.

Our friends at CND have launched a new action for you to contact your MP and highlight these inconsistencies, calling for Trident to be scrapped and the money to be diverted to fighting real threats.

See also: Network of Christian Peace Organisations, which includes Pax Christi and Christian CND statement on Coronavirus ceasefire calls –

https://christiancnd.org.uk/2020/03/30/ncpo-statement-on-coronavirus-ceasefire-calls/

Article from Independent Catholic News

Sign the Petition – Drop the Debt

To Chancellor Rishi Sunak:

Dear Chancellor, at the IMF spring meetings please push the IMF to:

  • Cancel debt payments for countries suffering from the economic impacts of coronavirus,
  • Help countries in trouble to restructure their debt rather than bailing out lenders.

SIGN

Pandemic and Debt

The Jubilee Debt Campaign, founded in 1996, have written to all their supporters to urge the UK to cancel unfair debt at home and abroad:

“The impact of the coronavirus outbreak on debt both at home and abroad could be enormous, so we’re pushing hard to make sure there is a just response.

Global south debt
The economic turmoil caused by coronavirus is pushing indebted countries deeper into crisis. Many of you added your name to the petition to the Chancellor calling for debt cancellation and everyday more countries are speaking out about debt. Together we need to keep campaigning so that the global south is not forgotten amidst all the upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Debt in the UK
There is a huge risk that more people fall into a debt trap because of the outbreak. Today our letter calling for a £10 billion debt write-off was signed by almost 80 other organisations and academics, and was published in the Financial Times. You can read more about the impact of coronavirus on debt in the UK in our blog.”

UN Secretary General calls for Global Ceasefire

The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres is calling for an immediate Global Ceasefire. He points out the utter futility of continuing conflict and violent loss of life at a time when people of every nation around the world are trying to protect and preserve life threatened by the pandemic.

To read the full text visit the UN website

The online action group Avaaz have started a petition in support of the UN call. To sign go to Avaaz.org

Bishop calls on UK government to support migrants and refugees in the time of COVID-19 pandemic

Bishop Paul McAleenan has called on the government and Catholic community to ensure that vulnerable migrants and refugees are not overlooked in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic:

“In supporting the Government’s recommendations to curtail the spread of COVID-19 the Church keeps in mind migrants and refugees.  We must never forget that they are included among the vulnerable.

Staying at home will lower one’s chances of infection. Therefore the requirement placed on some migrants and refugees to report at immigration centres or police stations should be suspended and those held in detention centres while their cases are explored should be released.

Nor should we forget at this time casual workers and those who rely on frequent income to keep their accommodation. They must be included in supportive economic packages to prevent destitution and homelessness.

Catholic charities are doing all they can to provide support for migrants, refugees and others in need in the present crisis. Through prayer and through contributions to these charities the Catholic community and all people of goodwill can offer help to those who need it.  We are encouraged to protect ourselves and others.

I ask those who, through policy and through charity can make a difference to the lives of others, not to neglect the well-being of migrants and refugees when thinking about COVID-19.”

Cecilia Taylor-Camara, Senior Advisor for Migration and Refugee Policy at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference added:

“We are particularly concerned about the lack of emergency accommodation for people to self-isolate and socially distance themselves. Many undocumented migrants and people who have been refused asylum have nowhere to go, leaving them at extraordinary risk and undermining efforts to prevent transmission. Those same people will also struggle to access healthcare and may be unclear about whether they can seek help from the NHS.

At the same time it is important not to forget refugees in other parts of the world, many who are facing this crisis in overcrowded conditions with little access to healthcare at all.”

Time to Cancel Trident?

Bruce Kent, vice president of CND, writes:

Our Chancellor says that this is the time to be bold. Hence billions of pounds of extra spending to get us through the current crisis.

Some of his boldness makes good sense. Those unemployed as a result of this crisis will get some protection.

One more obvious piece of boldness would be to cancel the Trident submarine nuclear replacement project, now costed at £205 billion.

Read full letter on Independent Catholic News…

Bruce Kent, ICN News

Laudato Si’ Week 2020

The Pope has today invited Catholic communities around the world to a week of celebration (16-24 May 2020) to mark the 5th Anniversary of the encyclical Laudato Si’ and to urge us to even greater efforts in the care of our common home. Individuals, schools, parishes and other groups in Westminster are invited to get in touch to let us know what they are doing to mark this week. We will announce more events and resources soon.