UNISON ABERDEENSHIRE
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
21 FEBRUARY 2007
MOTION 3
ASYLUM SEEKER FAMILIES
This Branch welcomes the fact that its motion on Asylum Seeker
Families was widely supported at the union's Scottish and UK level
and directly led to:
- The first ever guide for members in Social Work in Scotland
on ethical practice with Asylum Seeker Families and Children.
- Joint work and funding on the briefing from the union's General
Political Fund and the British Association of Social Workers in
Scotland.
- Early talks on building a Scottish Action Group to continue
to campaign for the rights of Asylum Seeker Children.
- Political lobbying to campaign for the Government to apply the
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to Asylum Seeker Children.
However, this Branch remains deeply concerned that the unacceptable
treatment of asylum seeker families continues, in particular the
practices of removing these families from their homes in dawn raids
and of locking up these families and their children in detention
centres.
This branch is particularly concerned about the impact of these
tactics on the children of asylum seekers, and believes that such
inhumane and degrading treatment breaches their rights under the
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and domestic legislation.
It creates distress and fear not only for those children directly
affected, but also for other refugee children who must live in terror
that it could happen to them.
This branch notes with concern that the UK government has placed
a reservation on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in
respect of immigration and asylum, and believes that this further
disadvantages already vulnerable children.
Such practices continue despite the undertaking last year by the
UK Immigration Minister to establish a protocol in Scotland for
the humane treatment of these families, to be rolled out to the
rest of the UK. This would ensure:
- that asylum seekers' children would have their needs assessed;
- that each would have a lead professional appointed; and
- that immigration staff dealing with children would have enhanced
disclosure checks.
This Branch regrets that these commitments have not all so far
been fulfilled. This Branch recognises that
- there are measures that UNISON members can take to protect the
interests and safety of children and families who are asylum seekers,
- and they should be fully supported in doing so.
It recognises that legislation designed to protect the interests
of children and their families in England and Wales, Scotland and
Northern Ireland may have a role in protecting children of asylum
seekers from abusive situations created by practices under other
legislation. However, given that asylum and immigration is a reserved
matter the branch recognises the need to take action to press the
issues at a UK level.
It therefore resolves to take a motion to Annual Conference to
call on UNISON nationally to:-
1. Lobby forcefully for the full implementation of the Home Office's
proposed protocol for ensuring that the needs of the children of
asylum seekers are assessed and taken into account when making decisions
about asylum and deportation.
2. Campaign for an end to the forcible removal of asylum families
and in particular, an end to the practice of dawn raids and an end
to the appalling practice of locking up families with children in
detention centres.
3. To campaign for an amnesty for all asylum families living in
this country for a year or more, in line with the precedent set
in 2002 by the then Home Secretary.
4. To put pressure on the UK Government to lift the reservation
on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
5. To urge branches to write to their MPs, MSPs, and AMs to raise
these matters and seek their support.
6. To instruct the NEC to build urgent links with the relevant
Children's Commissioners, UNISON members who are practitioners in
the field and relevant legal advisers to research and advise on
how best to support members to act in the best interests of asylum
seeker children.
Proposed: Kate Ramsden
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