BritCits

Today's links

New UK immigration laws are tearing families apart. Change them now.

https://www.change.org/petitions/theresa-may-new-uk-immigration-laws-are-tearing-families-apart-change-them-now

Thanks for the reminder https://twitter.com/emmabmoussa

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Border agency backlog keeps Britons and their foreign spouses in limbo.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/feb/08/immigration-marriage

Helen Murphy, a British lawyer, married her Chinese husband, Kurt Qian, a translator, in August last year and applied the next day for a marriage visa to allow him rights to stay in the country. Six months later, the couple are still waiting. Murphy has been offered an important six-month career placement overseas but unless the marriage visa comes through she will either have to forgo the opportunity or endure an extended separation from the man she loves.

The long documented delays at the UK Border Agency are wreaking havoc with their personal and professional lives. "It has been and continues to be a totally soul-destroying experience. It's horrible. I had no idea it would be this bad," Murphy said.

Via https://twitter.com/SalCardiff

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Human Rights Watch World Report 2013.

http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2013

http://www.ncadc.org.uk/ says :

The annual HRW World Report summarizes human rights conditions in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide in 2012. It reflects extensive investigative work that Human Rights Watch staff has undertaken during the year.

It is an essential resource for anti-deportation campaigners to evidence persecution in their home country and demonstrate their right to sanctuary in the UK.

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https://twitter.com/susiesymes1 tweets : Horse meat in supply chain = public outrage in UK. Slaves in supply chain = ?

The hidden face of forced labour in Britain, Oxford Human Rights Hub :
http://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/?p=1021

Last year, the UK saw the number of trafficking victims being referred rise substantially from 700 to nearly 1,000, where labour exploitation now makes up a quarter of all documented cases. In some instances, the illegal nature of the job remains another tether that keeps trafficked victims criminalised and more fearful of seeking help from the authorities. Lacking documentation and crossing borders illegally only stack the case against trafficked victims who are now found to be breaking the law. Cannabis factories, illegal goods selling and benefit fraud are just some of the growing industries that place victims firmly in the crossfire between protection and prosecution.


 Read this in the light of this news story : The number of women suspected of being trafficked to perform housework in embassies and private houses in Britain has increased amid warnings that vulnerable workers have been denied an escape route from domestic servitude by new immigration rules.
(The Independent : More women forced into slavery after change to immigration law http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/more-women-forced-into-slavery-after-change-to-immigration-law-8478998.html )
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Out of control - the case for a complete overhaul of enforced removals by private contractors, a report by Amnesty International.

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_21634.pdf

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Marius Betondi says he was repeatedly punched by private security guards before passing out as he was forced into a potentially lethal position during a failed deportation. Details of the allegations come just days before the high court is due to hear a judicial review of the techniques used to restrain detainees during deportation.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2013/feb/08/asylum-seeker-alleges-excessive-force-guards-video

Worth following - https://twitter.com/ncadc , the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, who have been campaigning on his behalf ( http://ncadc.org.uk/campaigns/marius/ )

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https://twitter.com/GoodwinMJ tweets : #UKIP MEP feels the wrath of Bulgarian nationalists, who express anger at #UK coverage of their country http://bit.ly/WVSKRF

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The Economist on North Korea. 'Rumblings from below'.

http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21571404-sealed-and-monstrously-unjust-society-changing-ways-its-despotic-ruler-may-not-be-able

A sealed and monstrously unjust society is changing in ways its despotic ruler may not be able to control

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Displaced Fukushima residents to sue gov't, TEPCO.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/displaced-fukushima-residents-to-sue-govt-tepco

People whose homes or farms were hit by radiation from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant will file class-action lawsuits next month to seek damages from the Japanese government, lawyers said Friday.
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Jailed punk group Pussy Riot has filed an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, claiming the Russian government violated several articles of the Convention on Human Rights in sentencing the band to prison.

http://rbth.ru/society/2013/02/08/pussy_riot_appeal_to_the_european_court_of_human_rights_22663.html
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China retrieves defaulted payments for migrant workers.

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2013-02/09/content_16217338.htm
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A coalition of civil rights groups have filed a lawsuit to stop Alabama from publishing the names of all illegal immigrants arrested in the state.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/09/us/alabama-suit-seeks-to-stop-naming-of-immigrants.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0
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Bangladesh: Protesters demand capital punishment for 1971 war criminals.

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/02/07/bangladesh-protesters-demand-capital-punishment-for-1971-war-criminals/

Forty-two years. That's how long Bangladeshis have awaited justice for the horrific crimes committed against them  during their fight for liberation from Pakistan. And on February 5, 2013, Abdul Quader Mollah, the secretary general of Bangladesh's Islamist party Jamaat-e Islami was sentenced to life in prison for murder, rape, torture and other crimes committed during the 1971 liberation war.
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Vietnam: Web filtering data.

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/02/09/vietnam-web-filtering-data/

In 2012, Herdict received over twenty thousand inaccessible reports from Vietnam, making it the country with the second-highest number of inaccessible reports, behind China.
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Japan's corporate slaves put humour to hard work.

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/02/08/japans-corporate-slaves-put-humor-to-hard-work/

With a twist of humor, moral and technical support has been pouring in across social media sites for Japan's “corporate slaves” or shachiku as they are referred to in Japanese slang.
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Decades-old banned song inspires many in Japan.

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/01/23/decades-old-banned-song-inspires-many-in-japan/

The Annual New Year's Eve music show called Kōhaku Uta Gassen by Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) intrigued many because of the performance of a previously blacklisted song by Akihiro Miwa. His song Yoitomake no Uta (Song for the Yoitomake) [ja], has been banned from broadcasting in Japan for decades.
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https://twitter.com/NASA_EO/ tweets this awesome picture of the snowstorm in North America :
http://twitpic.com/c1zqlk
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Will US immigration reform cover LGBTQ couples?

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/02/08/will-immigration-reform-cover-lgbtq-couples/

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has agreed on the outlines of a basic immigration proposal, but hasn’t addressed the issue of  LGBTQ couples.
Right now, the Defense of Marriage Act prevents same-sex couples from sponsoring their foreign partner’s citizenship. In many cases, this pushes couples to spend months of the year apart, and forces others to return to their home countries where they may be subject to abuse because of their sexual orientation. The Department of Homeland Security’s current immigration guidelines instruct agents to take same-sex relationships into account when deciding who should be deported, but there is no ultimate guarantee over whether they can stay.

Gay rights becoming controversy in immigration reform : http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/02/08/gay-rights-immigration-reform/1903119/
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Signs of a shift on immigration among Republican rank and file.

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/signs-of-a-shift-on-immigration-among-g-o-p-rank-and-file/

(USA) With notable speed after the Nov. 6 presidential election, a number of Republican politicians and opinions makers — from House Speaker John A. Boehner to the talk show host Sean Hannity — altered their positions on immigration and expressed a new openness to comprehensive reform.

Since then, the push to overhaul the nation’s immigration system appears to have sustained momentum. A new ABC News/Washington Post poll found a jump in public approval of President Obama’s handling of immigration, and most recent polls have found a majority of Americans support providing immigrants who have come here illegally a pathway to United States citizenship.

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Which countries are the most forward thinking?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2013/feb/08/countries-most-forward-thinking-visualised

Germany is the most forward thinking country in the world, knocking the UK off the top spot, according to the Future Orientation Index. UCL's Dr Suzy Moat and Warwick Business School Associate Professor Tobias Preis have analysed more than 45bn Google queries to assemble the index and have mapped the results.

Via the Guardian's data blog http://www.guardian.co.uk/data

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Defra says Express article on 'EU plot to seize Britain's seabed' is 'not true'.

http://tabloid-watch.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/defra-says-express-article-on-eu-plot.html
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Mystery man behind popular Xi Jinping microblog is a college dropout and migrant worker.

http://beijingcream.com/2013/02/mystery-man-behind-popular-xi-jinping-microblog-revealed/

( Mystery of Xi Jinping's 'fan club' blogger : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-21363886 )
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