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Ming Pao reports on refugee slum without toilet

Jul 10th, 2013 | Advocacy, Housing, Media, News, Welfare | Comment

English Translation
Ming Pao report on slum without toilet - 10Jul2013

Eastweek Magazine on refugee slums

Jul 3rd, 2013 | Advocacy, Food, Housing, Immigration, Media, Personal Experiences, Refugee Community | Comment

PDF of complete article

English translation of article

Eastweek on refugee slums (first page) 3Jul2013

難民打工籌錢救病女 一日黑工換十四月監

Jun 28th, 2013 | Media | Comment

http://www.pentoy.hk/%E6%99%82%E4%BA%8B/c190/2013/06/19/7433/

今日所有報紙,只有《南華早報》報道了這件事。來自斯里蘭卡的Dilan,因為在香港尋求難民身份期間,為天生心漏的孩子籌付醫藥費,在餐廳洗碗賺$200一日,被拘捕並控逾期居留期間做黑工,被判以重刑14個月監禁。更嚴厲的是,連上訴期間保釋外出,亦於昨日被高等法院駁回。

You either rob or you find a job. He took up employment, and was arrested for it.

協助Dilan的Vision First總裁Cosmo Beatson,指目前難民每月只收到$1200租務援助,另加每日$30食物費用。他反問:「你可以用三十蚊生存到一日嗎?如果你唔夠錢用,一係去搶、一係去打工。他們選擇了去打工,為什麼咁都要被人拉?」義工Lai Win Phyu,記述陪Dilini去醫院照超聲波。同是來自斯里蘭卡,Dilan的太太Dilini已懷孕。患有糖尿病的她,一個人帶著兩歲大的女兒滯留香港。Dilini的孩子天生心漏,即心裡穿了一個洞。她們去醫院,是為了尋找證據,證明Dilini的危險情況,希望可以讓醫生在法庭的求情信中寫一段,說明她需要人照顧,求法庭不要判她的丈夫入獄,或起碼上訴期間可以保釋。沒有香港人身份,令她在香港求診極度困難,到終於有醫生好心為她寫了報告,Dilini滿懷希望來到法庭,法庭卻對內容不屑一顧,認為她只須向坊間協助難民的NGO求助,孩子無需爸爸。即使到入境處見主任,入境處的保安對著她這樣一個孕婦,亦如見乞兒見狗一樣呼喝。義工記述,曾見過法官向一個難民父親大喝:「你的妻子為何懷孕?你不應該在這裡有孩子!你們這些人,就是香港的負累。」

打一日工 14個月監禁 上訴期間不准保釋

Dilan為了籌錢給心漏的孩子,冒險打黑工洗碗。這樣一宗輕微到極的「罪行」,竟然被重判14個月監禁!而當然, Dilan這種人,多數無法保釋——保釋條件之一,是你在本地要有連繫的親人,以確保你會不會潛逃。作為難民的Dilan一家,當然無親無故,亦不會令法庭信納他可以保釋。事情多麼諷刺:把Dilan關起來是怕他潛逃,事實上他潛逃了你又會很在乎?難道政府不是希望,這些難民、申請庇護的人,走得離香港愈遠愈好?

每天$30食物費,每個月$1200租津,不准打劫,更不准打工。打劫會拉,打工也會拉,判刑分分鐘可能差不多。程序就是,無身分證所以孕婦也不可以看醫生;法律就是,無家難民唯一的收容所,便是監獄。Dilan被關之後幾晚,懷孕Dilini在家中穿了羊水,身邊無人,只有兩歲的女兒。她失去知覺了幾個鐘,又或者一晚,但無人知曉。最後她終能叫了救護車,但到達醫院時,她子宮的感染已危及嬰兒安全,醫生必須為兩條命施以緊急手術。義工Lai Win Phyu的記述中,最後並沒有說到孩子最後怎樣。法庭記者沒有問。我們也許亦不想知道。

Under Chinese gods

Jun 22nd, 2013 | Advocacy, Media | Comment

A Bangladeshi refugee rests under an altar for Chinese gods in front of his shack rented from a Chinese landlord inside a quarters at the rural Ping Chi in Hong Kong’s New Territories June 19, 2013. According to Vision First, a local non-governmental organization (NGO) supporting Hong Kong-based refugees, about 150 Bangladeshi asylum seekers and torture claimants reside in that area, suffering one of the worst conditions among thousands of refugees in the territory. Refugees in Hong Kong are not allowed to work, with the government paying HK$1,200 ($154) rent directly to the landlord. – REUTERS/Bobby Yip

Bangladeshi refugee Mdmozibur Rahman, 42, pictured beside his Indonesian wife Muslimah in their shack

TVB exposes ISS’ suspicious contracts

Jun 21st, 2013 | Advocacy, Media | Comment

Vision First voices the concerns of refugees who express their disappointment with ISS service and want to press Hong Kong Government to increase social support to a level where their basis financial and material needs are met. In this respect, we will press these demands on ISS and continue to expose the unsatisfactory service in all forums, until adequate assistance is provided to refugees who have neither savings, nor the right to earn a living.

1. Refugees are provided agreements in which both parties agree on the stated level of assistance. As many refugees indeed do not agree: Why does ISS issue “Agreements” and not “Notices? Why is rental assistance ordinarily capped at 1200$? Why aren’t home deposits paid when this is a basic requirement in the local market? How are refugees expected to move out of slums without money? What has ISS done to change rent and deposit restrictions with the government?

2. ISS contracts in the slums often show addresses different from where refugees live. ISS stated “The landlords in New Territories have document proof to show approval by the Lands Department for the structures in their properties.” Further ISS said refugees approach them for assistance when they already have a room and need help with rent: How and with whom does ISS check these documents? Isn’t ISS professionally bound to verify proof of ownership (with full address, not lot number) before authorizing the disbursement of government funds? Isn’t it ISS policy to ask clients to find a place themselves before ISS visits and confirms payment? Doesn’t ISS expect refugees to secure a room and pay the first month rent before paying the second month? How does ISS explain the discrepant contract address for clients ISS visited in the same compound?

3. ISS might argue that at times landlords falsify documents in order to receive payments for lodging refugees in other places. This would be a criminal offence. Doesn’t ISS have a professional duty to safeguard the wellbeing, and legal arrangements, of clients while their asylum claims are being processed? Why does ISS aid and abet the exploitation of refugees by slum landlords? ISS stated “Our staff are in contact with the landlords, during the negotiation for the rent and mode of payment and in handling clients and landlords’ concerns.” Is ISS complicit in these suspicious transactions for expedient and cost-saving reasons? ISS stated “ISSHK assists in … equipping the place with basic cooking and sleeping furniture and equipment.” Why do refugees complain they don’t have stoves and fridges?

4. ISS stated “clients are provided a forum to individually discuss their concerns with their caseworkers.” What tangible actions has ISS taken to deal with refugees’ complaints? If ISS is a true humanitarian agency, how does it justify its execution of an unfair, unsafe and inhumane policy that causes refugees extraordinary hardship without viable survival options? Isn’t it morally objectionable to promote a cruel government policy that perpetuates and exacerbates refugee suffering? Why doesn’t ISS rescind its contract with a government that punishes asylum seekers?

TVB video on Ping Che slums - 20Jun2013

TVB reports on illegal structures and dodgy rental contracts in Ping Che slums

TVB Evening News on the refugee slums

Jun 20th, 2013 | Media | Comment

Time Out – Refugee Shame PDF

Jun 18th, 2013 | Media | Comment

Time Out – Hong Kong’s refugee shame

Jun 17th, 2013 | Media | Comment

Refugees’ shabby compound appals activists

May 19th, 2013 | Advocacy, Media | Comment

John Carney writes for South China Morning Post on 19 May 2013

Bangladeshi asylum seekers, claiming torture in their homeland, scratch out shabby existence

Twelve Bangladeshi asylum seekers are enduring “unliveable conditions” in Ping Che that should shock the government into doing more for a community excluded from society, local human rights activists say. Their compound is pest- infested and lacks proper sewerage. Officials must take drastic action before the stark existence of these Bangladeshis worsened, said Vision First, an NGO that advocates rights for people seeking protection, and human-rights barrister Robert Tibbo. Vision First executive director Cosmo Beatson said: “These dangerous, dirty, unliveable conditions must be exposed as a matter of social justice, because Hong Kong has an obligation to treat fairly those who seek asylum here. They are invisible to society.” The men, who are between 23 and 40 years old, all claim to have been victims of torture. They each pay rent of up to HK$1,400 a month to live in roughly built shacks, accessed via narrow paths that pass stagnant streams, in the compound in the northeastern New Territories.

One miserable room housed a mother and her three-month-old baby. Plumbing is non-existent. Kitchens, showers and toilets flow into open conduits infested by insects and rodents. The residents wait for the rain to wash the conduits clean. “We are being treated like animals,” said Ali, 23. “We have [done] nothing wrong, so why should we be treated this way?” The compound is one of several housing more than 150 South Asian refugees in the Ping Che area. There are similar shanties in Nai Wai, Kam Tin and Pat Heung. Asylum seekers receive government help with rent – HK$1,200 per month paid directly to the landlord – groceries every 10 days and other basic necessities, such as toiletries and money for transport to government appointments. The help is given in kind – not in cash – by International Social Service, a non-governmental organisation commissioned by the Social Welfare Department.

However, Tibbo said that despite inflation and rising rents, the government aid had remained the same. “That fact that the amount given to asylum seekers has remained static has meant that their lives just get tougher,” he said. “It’s then they are forced to work illegally for a pittance to make ends meet.” Hong Kong does not allow asylum seekers to work. Some of the Bangladeshis in Ping Che did manual labour for HK$300 a day to help make ends meet, but a few days after the Sunday Morning Post visited their compound, two of the residents were arrested for working illegally and could now face a minimum of 15 months in jail if they plead guilty. Lawmaker Dr Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung said he backed Beatson’s and Tibbo’s mission and would raise the issue in the Legislative Council. International Social Service did not reply to questions about the situation.

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Bangladeshi refugees’ unliveable conditions appals activists

May 19th, 2013 | Advocacy, Housing, Media, Welfare | Comment

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as “Activists deplore conditions in compound

SCMP - Activists deplore conditions in compound (19May2013)

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