This
is the text of a leaflet produced by Nottingham Defy-ID in February
2007, group in which AF members are involved. It was also reproduced
in the 'No Borders reader' distributed at the No Borders camp at
Gatwick in September where a workshop was held on ID and Border
control. The leaflet examines the link between the introduction of
identity cards and databases resulting from the ID Cards Act of March
2007, and the British state's intention to introduce much stricter
border controls though a new UK Borders Bill.
DEFY-ID
Groups
and individuals in the Defy-ID network have for the last few years
been campaigning against the introduction of a national ID scheme,
biometric upgrading of passports, and the surveillance society in
general.
At the same time, No Borders have been tirelessly
protesting against maltreatment and incarceration of asylum seekers
in detention centres and against repression by government (and
privately run) immigration ‘services’.
It's
becoming clearer than ever that these campaigns should be working
closely together…
Because ID has already been
tested on asylum seekers and will also be used first on other
'foreigners'.
The Home Office is now much more open
about its intended use of a biometric ID database scheme to control
Britain's borders. This is not completely new- we know that ID
technologies have always been tried out first on asylum seekers. For
example, the ARC 'smart card' that is carried by asylum seekers is
used for their regular reporting and to obtain NASS payments from the
post office. It is an ID card which goes hand-in-hand with their
digital photos and fingerprints being stored by the Home Office.
Asylum seekers are fingerprinted when they report to their reporting
centre or police station. Non-European Union visitors will soon be
made to have biometric visas, including those already in Britain.
Plus, the European Commission has already put in place a plan to
require children to be fingerprinted and photographed for passports
from at least the age of 12 years old (EU member states can decide to
make this even younger). What is perhaps less well known is this was
trialed on asylum seekers in Britain. Children as young as five are
known to have been fingerprinted at asylum centres in Croydon and
Liverpool, for example. Plus we are starting to hear about police
mobile fingerprinting units being used to further harass people in
cars and on demonstrations
The plan for a new National
Identity Register has also been dropped in favour of combining three
existing databases to create a 'meta-database': (1) The Home Office
asylum-seeker database (2) The Identity and Passport Service
database, and (3) The Department of Work and Pensions ‘National
Insurance’ database. Although the eventual plan is to extend ID
cards and a meta-database to everyone in Britain, this change of
policy makes it clear that asylum seekers and other 'foreigners' are
first in line for more >repression.>>
Because
of the new "UK Border Bill"
The government
seems to have put the powers given to it by last year’s
Identity Card Act on the back-burner (at least for now), whilst
biometric passport and visas are coming very soon. A new UK Border
Bill introduced by Home Secretary John Reid on 25 January 2007 now
aims to formally bring together border controls and compulsory
ID.
With relation to Biometric registration the Bill (amongst
other things): "confers a power to make regulations to require
those subject to immigration control to apply for a [...] "biometric
immigration document"; and to require a biometric immigration
document to be used for specified immigration purposes, in connection
with specified immigration procedures, and in specified circumstances
where a question arises about a person's status in relation to
nationality or immigration."
SOLIDARITY
Exposing
the government plan to get a national ID scheme accepted
The
single issue campaign No2ID has previously attempted to keep the
right-wing on board by telling them they can be against a national ID
scheme because it "won't work to stop illegal immigration".
Countering this, the Defy-ID network has seen that the government’s
ID system will work against immigrants. ID cards and databases will
be used against 'foreigners' in general as a central part of the
government’s plan, before they extend the scheme to everyone.
The fact that ID cards and fingerprinting technology has been tested
on asylum seekers shows that the state is prepared to impose ID on
those people with the least voice to oppose it, before rolling it out
to the whole population. Together, Defy-ID and No Borders could help
get the message across that the government is trying to get its ID
plans accepted by cynical scapegoating of immigrants and
asylum-seekers. This would hopefully make for a stronger anti-ID
campaign that is based on solidarity rather than fear.
Using
the Social Centres network to widen collaboration of No Borders &
DefyID
Those involved with No Borders (UK) and other
refugee support groups already have a strong involvement in the
emerging network of autonomous social centres in Britain. Many
progressive anti-ID activists are also involved with social centres.
This is true in Nottingham with activists using the Sumac Centre as a
focus for Defy-ID campaigning, for example. As well as strengthening
links between campaigns, social centres could also help keep an eye
on the development of the Identity and Passport Service’s 69
new Authentication by Interview ‘interrogation’ centres
for passport (and ID card) applications.
Email:
info[at]nottingham-defy-id.org.uk
Web:
http://www.nottingham-defy-id.org.uk