United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

UK Supreme Court ruling acknowledges role of “Istanbul Protocol,” global torture investigation standard spearheaded by PHR

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is celebrating an important step toward justice in the United Kingdom that has global implications for the use of medical evidence in asylum claims. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom today issued a decision that affirms the application of the Istanbul Protocol in cases of alleged torture.

The UK will double the first £2 million of donations from the British public to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s (DEC) Cyclone Idai Appeal.

The UK will double the first £2 million of donations from the British public to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s (DEC) Cyclone Idai Appeal, bringing the UK’s total response so far to £20 million.

The UK is to provide an extra £12 million of support, including food, water and shelter, to the survivors of Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

• The UK is to provide an extra £12 million of support, including food, water and shelter for the survivors of Cyclone Idai.

• Yesterday, over 7,500 emergency shelter kits and 100 family tents, all funded by UK aid, arrived in Mozambique for onward distribution to families who have had to flee their homes.

From the editors

Education is one of the most important aspects of our lives – vital to our development, our understanding and our personal and professional fulfilment throughout life. It is, as described by 23 displaced students who have co-authored one of the articles in this issue, the “key to life”. In times of crisis, however, millions of displaced young people miss out on months or years of education, and this is damaging to them and their families, as well as to their societies, both in the short and long term.

DFID will provide up to £6 million of UK aid to send humanitarian relief to people in Mozambique and Malawi affected by Cyclone Idai.

From: Department for International Development and The Rt Hon Penny Mordaunt MP

As a coalition of UK-based humanitarian, development, human rights and faith organisations working to support the rights and welfare of the Palestinian people, we welcome the short report1 of the UNmandated independent Commission of Inquiry into the 2018 protests in Gaza. It found “the use of live ammunition by Israeli security forces against demonstrators was unlawful” in all the cases it investigated – all 189 fatalities and over 300 of the 23,000 injuries – with the possible exception of two incidents.

On Monday (18 March, 10am), the Tax Payer’s Alliance is due to launch a new paper on foreign aid with former International Development Secretary Priti Patel. The report will call for reform of UK aid spending, and in particular a change in relationship with large international non-governmental organisations. As quoted in the Times, the report argues this is to ensure UK aid achieves “value for money to support our national interest”.

UK aid will match £2 million of public donations to Comic Relief support mental health programmes across Sub-Saharan Africa

Today (Friday 15 March) Lenny Henry announced during the live Comic Relief celebrations that UK aid will match £2 million of public donations to support mental health programmes across Sub-Saharan Africa.  

At 31 January 2019, there were 1269 people held in immigration detention facilities. A further 716 people were living in the community after being approved for a residence determination and 15,442 were living in the community after grant of a Bridging E visa.

The UK is sending humanitarian experts to assess the impact of an expected cyclone in Mozambique which could leave hundreds of thousands of people without food and shelter.

Specialist humanitarian advisers, from the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), are expected to deploy from London this evening (14 March). The experts will assess what UK aid is needed to support people affected by the cyclone and plan and co-ordinate relief efforts.

TRENDS AND KEY FIGURES

In February, just over 3,600 refugees and migrants entered Europe via Italy, Greece and Spain. Overall arrivals to Spain (1,366 versus 4,612) decreased by just over 70% compared with the previous month while arrivals through routes to Greece (2,316 versus 2,652) and Italy (60 versus 202) decreased compared with the previous month. So far this year some 8,700 refugees and migrants arrived to Europe by sea compared to nearly 10,700 that arrived in the same period last year, marking an 18% decrease.

Universal Jurisdiction Annual Review 2019: Overcoming evidentiary challenges though collaboration

TRENDS AND KEY FIGURES

UK pledges aid for Syrians to deliver food and clean drinking water, medical care, vaccinations, and education for children

The UK will pledge a total of £400 million of life-saving aid to the 2019 Syria crisis response to help those who need it most, Minister for the Middle East, Alistair Burt, announced today.

The report ‘FROM PILLAR TO POST – Destitution among people refused asylum in Scotland’ reveals an urgent need for a national action plan to tackle asylum and migrant destitution in Scotland. Currently they face significant barriers to having their most basic human rights, as well as to accessing essential services and support mechanisms.

Overview

During 2018, over 32,300 refugees were submitted by UNHCR for resettlement to 20 countries in Europe. This is 17% less than in 2017, but approximately double the average rate of 15,400 submissions per year during the previous 10 years. Six countries that received smaller numbers of resettlement submissions in 2017 did not receive any further submissions during 2018.

The older refugee and migrant children get, the less likely it is that they will get a quality education: less than a quarter of the world’s refugees make it to secondary school, and just one per cent progress to higher education. Even for migrants who settle in wealthy, developed host countries, accessing university is an uphill struggle.

IDC: UK must provide support at home that it asks poorer nations to provide in Africa

As the brutal conflict continues in Syria, millions of people continue to be in need. Hundreds of thousands have been killed in the conflict between the Assad regime, extremist groups and moderate opposition groups. In response to the crisis, the UK has committed £2.71 billion since 2012. This includes DFID allocations to over 30 implementing partners (including United Nations agencies, international non-governmental organisations and the Red Cross) and is helping to meet the immediate needs of vulnerable people in Syria and of refugees in the region.