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September 2005 Ugandan women in detention in third week of hunger strike by Niki Adams, Legal Action for Women OVER TEN UGANDAN women were, on August 9th, already in their third week on hunger strike in Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre. They are demanding that deportations to Uganda be stopped. Ms Harriet Anyangokolo, their spokeswoman, said: "Despite Uganda being cited as one of the safer and more stable African countries, we were raped, beaten, imprisoned and then forced to flee for our lives. If we are returned, our lives will be In great danger."
The hunger strikers are also protesting against the conditions in Yarl's Wood including: racism and sexual intimidation from staff, inadequate health care, cold, burnt, inedible food; and poor or non-existent legal representation.
Legal Action for Women's (LAW) recent publication "For Asylum Seekers and their Supporters - A Self-help Guide Against Detention and Deportation" is circulating widely among women who are using it to insists on their rights.
Ms Anyangokolo, who fled from rape in detention in Uganda has now been on hunger strike for 21 days. After male guards entered her room late at night without, knocking (once when she was naked and once when she was in her underwear) she tried to commit suicide.
Many women face imminent deportation. One woman was hospitalised because she was coughing up blood.
The latest punitive measure is; to prevent women from faxing details of their legal case to LAW and other organizations at our Centre. Faxes are free whereas phone calls use women's precious money.
Over 40 women have contacted LAW, including some of those now on hunger strike.
For some women, contact with Black Women's Rape Action Project and Women Against Rape enabled them for the first time to speak about being raped. Depriving them of this support means that the legal case that is made to the authorities on their behalf is inaccurate and incomplete |