A summary of social care stories from the main newspapers

By Clare Jerrom and Reg McKay.

Fleeing asylum seekers ordered back to
Glasgow

Fourteen asylum seekers who fled the Sighthill estate in Glasgow
for London in fear for their lives, have been told to return.

The asylum seekers feared they would be the next victims of
attack after experiencing racist assaults and harassment.

Tension has been rising on the Glasgow estate, culminating in
the death of a Kurdish asylum seeker on Sunday. He was stabbed in
what is believed to be a racially motivated attack.

The group of asylum seekers, including children, arrived at
Croydon offices of the national asylum support service in south
London, saying they could no longer stand living in Glasgow and
begged to be re-housed.

The Refugee Council condemned the handling of the incident and
said the asylum seekers were pressed to return to Sighthill.

After the murder, the government suspended sending asylum
seekers to the estate.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 10 August page 6. See
Scottish news below.

‘Refugee tsar’ to mediate in troubled
estate

The racial tensions on the Sighthill estate in Glasgow should be
eased by the appointment of a mediator by the council, after two
asylum seekers were stabbed in three days.

The “refugee tsar” will be in place by next week to work with
the communities and asylum seekers and encourage working
together.

Immigrants are no longer sent to the rundown estate, where there
are 1,500 refugees in a population of 4,500.

Months of frustration led to violence at the weekend as Firsat
Yildiz was stabbed to death and two days later an Iranian refugee
was knifed outside his flat.

Asylum seekers demonstrated on the city’s streets
demanding justice after the attacks and about 200 Sighthill
residents began protests claiming asylum seekers receive
preferential treatment by the council.

Source:- Daily Telegraph Friday 10 August page 13

Asylum backlog

There are more asylum seeker appeals hitting the courts than
previously anticipated, it has emerged.

The Home Office sends 4,000 appeals a month to adjudicators, but
the number made every month exceeds the 5,000 mark.

There are 37,000 appeal cases pending and although the
adjudicators surpassed their target in May, 27 per cent of cases
heard were adjourned.

Source:- The Times Friday 10 August page 2

Young offenders ‘denied fresh
air’

Some young offenders held in youth jails are denied sunlight and
fresh air, according to a report.

The claims that some young offenders only had access to fresh
air during moves between units, was made in the first two of a
series of research studies into the conditions inside institutions
by the Howard League for Penal Reform.

Some boys suffered bullying, lacked specialist support and were
given little preparation for the outside world, according to
inquiries at Lancaster and Northumberland.

The Howard League said the reports demonstrated considerable
improvements since the Youth Justice Board took over the running of
institutions for under 18s last year, but standards still fell
short of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
Child.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 8 August page 6

Scottish newspapers

Refugee families flee Glasgow

Five refugee families have fled Glasgow claiming their lives are
at risk after street violence and the murder of a young asylum
seeker last weekend. The 20-strong group, including eight children,
presented themselves at Croydon in London demanding that they be
placed away from Glasgow. When their request was refused they
staged a sit-in at the national asylum support service’s
building. Last night they were given temporary accommodation before
being returned to Glasgow.

Source:- The Scotsman Friday 10 August page 1

Sentence deferred on baby attack mother

A 27-year-old woman convicted of repeatedly suffocating her
three-month-old baby had her sentence deferred for one year
yesterday at the High Court in Glasgow. The judge, Lord Wheatley,
said he considered that the woman did not act out of stress and
that the full story did not come out at the trial.

Source:- The Scotsman Friday 10 August page 8

 

 

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