No Borders London is supporting the new Migrants' Solidarity Network. The Network has agreed the following founding statement:

Migrants' Solidarity Network

We are launching a Migrants' Solidarity Network to campaign for migrants’rights in Britain. People have fought hard for democratic rights in this country, but the abuse of migrants’ human rights undermines all our rights. Biometric ID cards for asylum seekers today will be imposed on everyone else tomorrow. Moreover, migrants make a crucial contribution to the world – to their host society as well as to their country of origin. It is vital that this is recognised and that there is an end to the criminalisation of economic migrants and political refugees.We call for:

• Residency rights for all migrants: we welcome the debate on an amnesty, but we feel the term “amnesty” is inappropriate as being a migrant is not a crime. The problem with amnesties is also that they are selective: they include some and exclude others. We support residency rights for all migrants, not just for the very rich who can already buy the right to live here.
• Equal political and social rights for all: These include the right to vote, to work for a living wage, to welfare, to decent education, housing and health care.
• Support for struggles of migrants and refugees, from those in detention to those in the workplace.
• No arbitrary detentions and deportations: people are being snatched from their friends, families and workplaces and disappeared into a nightmare world of detention and arbitrary removal. The Home Office should be ashamed of the vast increase in detentions and removals.
• The immediate closure of all detention centres: The immigration detention centres are privatised prisons run for profit. The conditions under which people are held cause them immense physical and psychological stress: abuse of all sorts is endemic, people are often cut off from all contact with friends and families and denied access to legal and medical help.
• An end to the brutal and violent treatment of migrants and refugees:This is wrong wherever it happens – in house raids, in detention centres or on the way to the airport.
• A society that gives protection promptly to those who need it: At present in a culture of disbelief, claims are dismissed without a fair hearing.
• The cases of asylum seekers and other migrants who have been rejected to be genuinely reviewed by the Home Office. It seems that decisions are often made for immediate political gain, ignoring the individual circumstances of a case.
• No double punishment through deportation of people with convictions who have paid fines or served sentences and been released:It is wrong to equate murder with using a friend’s bus pass or a relatively minor traffic offence, but the Home Office is now applying the same second penalty - deportation - for all three types of
offence. The criminal justice system, not immigration authorities, should be used to deal with criminal matters, and punishment should be proportionate to the offence. In the small number of cases where people continue to be a risk to others but have been released, they should be monitored by the authorities responsible for their release. This cannot happen if they are deported.

We call on refugee and migrant organisations and individuals, and on all others who believe in equal rights for all, to join our campaign and work to put the above ideas into practice.

Coalition to Stop Deportations to Iraq
Daymer Kurdish and Turkish Community Centre
Federation of Kurdish Community Centres in Britain
Hackney Refugee and Migrant Support Group
Halkevi Kurdish and Turkish Community Centre
Kurdistan Solidarity Committee
London Against Detention
No Borders London
National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns
Refugee Workers Cultural Association
Stop Deporting Children

The next meeting of the Migrants Solidarity Network takes places on Tuesday 8 August at 7pm at the Halkevi Centre, 92-100 Stoke Newington Road, N16.