I am taking a break from the Church accounts as it feels as if my head is being stewed in a casserole of assorted numbers, figures and decimal points. Still, irritating as getting the books to balance is, it is nothing in comparison to the deeply repugnant UK Home Office, who I was told this morning are sending a man, who has lived in the UK for 17 years with his wife and family, back to the Congo where his fate is far from assured to be safe.
It appears quite bizarre that the recent election results were so promising for the BNP, when, to all extents and purposes, the UK Government, under Labour, have quite a staggering track record for sending people who fled terror, persecution, political exile and violence, to seek asylum on our shores back to those countries, seemingly without a second thought. It also appears quite bizarre that under Labour, our borders have been relaxed for people who have decided to come here for economic reasons from within the EU, having been welcomed with open arms, yet those fleeing genuine persecution and probable death from war-torn regions of the World are sent packing to face the very same persecution and possible death.
Voices in Exile, who work with asylum seekers and refugees in the UK and in particular in this region, Brighton, do excellent work helping refugees and asylum seekers with practical necessities such as food and clothing, as well as campaigning on the behalf of men and women whose human rights are seldom recognised by the UK Government, in terms of benefits or the ability to work or live as a family.
I wonder when junior or senior ministers, or whoever it is who signs these orders for repatriation for people seeking asylum in the UK, from regimes who would have them dead, ever give a second thought as to the consequences of the swift movement of their pen? The very fact that these orders are so blithely executed reveals the lack of heart at the heart of Government. For a Government to send someone back to a country where their very life is at risk is grossly irresponsible, sick, cold-hearted and evil.
Say a prayer for Bobby Macasa, asylum seeker from the Congo, being deported on flight KQ101 to Nairobi from where a flight will leave for the Congo. He has lived in the UK since he was 8 years of age, when he was grated Indefinite Leave to Remain on the 6th November 1999. If his removal takes place he will be denied the right to a fair trial and the right to a family life. At best, his own assessment of his future is that he will end up homeless, without family, in a country whose language and cultre is foreign to him. The prospect of his departure has left his son and daughter who are psychologically traumatised by the UK Home Office decision, which is without doubt a scandal and a stain upon the conscience of the Government, the country and the values which the UK has so often promoted to be our own. Shame on this Government, if the decision is not repealed!
UPDATE...Decision by Home Office "deferred". Still hope for Bobby so keep him in your prayers.
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