Dear Supporters 

International Women's  Day Greetings to you. The theme for this year's  IWD is #EachforEqual. Many women have had equality, justice  and rights stripped from them due to the Windrush Scandal and the hostile environment.

As women are the primary carers there is a huge and devestating impact on their families if they are  detained and  deported, economically, emotionally and physically. Equally if it us their male partners who are detained and deported they are often left trying to juggle caring and work responsibilities,  suddenly becoming the sole earners in their families or finding themselves with no income.

Amongst the women who seek asylum and a home in the UK are those who have been forced to flee sexual violence, persecution, climate displacement or are victims of 'modern slavery' and have been trafficked into the UK.

Over the many years I have been a campaigner, I have noticed that it is mostly women leading justice campaigns, in individual  family campaigns it is often the mothers, daughters, aunties and sisters who are forced over night to put their own lives on hold to fight for justice for their loved ones. The campaigns against the hostile environment  have been led by women also.

So for International Women's Day I would like to pay tribute to the women who stand up for our freedoms every day, who dedicate their lives to bringing about justice, equality and strengthened rights and I would like to send solidarity and strength to the many women globally, on the frontline of struggle against sexual violence and climate displacement.

Law should not be used to block freedoms but a  controversial new loophole  has  just been passed into law despite warnings it risked a new Windrush  scandal. It has been used to block almost 43 per cent of requests for the government to release vital data.

More info here;  controversial loophole – passed into law despite warnings it risked “the next Windrush” – has been used to block almost 43 per cent of requests for the government to release vital data, The Independent can reveal.

We have experienced  first hand the refusal to answer our own Freedom of Information  requests  relating to the Windrush  scandal, by the Home Office. 

Last year the Home Office refused to answer the questions in my FOI request stating:

"Under section 12 of the Act, the Home Office is not obliged to comply with an
information request where to do so would exceed the cost limit.
We have estimated that the cost of meeting your request would exceed the cost limit
of £600 specified in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate
Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. We are therefore unable to comply with it.
This is because the manual process needed to retrieve the information you have
asked for would require the interrogation of each entry on our database.
The £600 limit is based on work being carried out at a rate of £25 per hour, which
equates to 24 hours of work per request. The cost of locating, retrieving and
extracting information can be included in the costs for these purposes. The costs do
not include considering whether any information is exempt from disclosure, overheads
such as heating or lighting, or items such as photocopying or postage."

Denying individuals access to vital information  and evidence relating to their cases is unacceptable and makes a mockery of the justice system.

We encourage you to complain to your MPs.

We have had some good news in the cases of several of those originally booked on the flight to Jamaica last month in that they have now been granted bail and released from detention, including the young man who was  taken off the flight, who was  victim of the Modern Slavery Act. This further demonstrates that they should never have been detained or targeted for deportation in the first place. 

My thoughts are with all the women whose partners or sons were deported to Jamaica on this International Women's Day. 

Kind Regards and Solidarity 

Zita