Author: admin

From Carerwatch: Stop and review the cuts to benefits and services which are falling disproportionately on disabled people, their carers and families.

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From Carerwatch: Stop and review the cuts to benefits and services which are falling disproportionately on disabled people, their carers and families.

You can see the full petition on the Government website here , SIGN HERE: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/20968

If it gets 100,000 signatures it could generate a debate in Parliament.

There is massive concern over the huge extent of both the welfare reforms and the cuts. Too often when people speak up, their voice is fragmented and discounted. This is an opportunity to get everyone together to speak with one voice, and to register in one place, how many people are asking the government to listen.

Firstly – obviously – we ask you to sign this petition and persuade all your family and friends to do the same. The name of the game is numbers ; so please ask friends, family and any organisations you belong to to sign and get others to sign.

When you sign the petition you will see buttons for twitter and facebook; so please share it with others on Twitter and Facebook.  Let Pat know she has your support by leaving a comment here too.
The first signatures will be the hardest to get, while we get this juggernaut rolling, so please help now and make sure that this petition really takes off.

This petition will only succeed if everyone joins together to support it.

Organisations on board so far that have agreed to help raise awareness of Pat’s Petition are:
RNIB
RADAR
Disability Alliance
CarerWatch
The Broken of Britain
CarersUK
DPAC
Benefits and Work
Pain Concern
Inclusion Scotland
Sue Marsh – Diary of a Benefit Scrounger
Carers Forum uk
University and College Union
The Afiya Trust
Benefits and Work
Scottish Council on Visual Impairment

Read more from Carerwatch here:
http://carerwatch.com/reform/?p=83

Cuts and reorganization: the reality of progressive mental health day services

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I work for the NHS within Community Mental Health Services as part of a team whose remit was to enable service users to access educational and employment opportunities. We ran what I considered a unique and progressive service. We worked in a building not far from the city centre. We had an ICT suite where service users could gain qualifications and with our support create or update their CVs.

Within the centre we had a café where service users could gain work experience to gain relevant qualifications with currency in the catering industry. It was also a place where service users could come along for a hot meal, a coffee and a chat.

Our reception was also staffed by service users gaining work experience and relevant qualifications. We delivered in house courses in Building Confidence and Self Esteem. The team alongside ex service users also developed and delivered workshops to service users based on the Recovery Model. We worked closely with local education providers delivering courses such as: Rights and Responsibilities at Work, Working in Retail, Working in an Office, Working in Customer Services and Working in the Public Sector. We also worked closely with Welfare Rights who regularly delivered workshops and advice sessions on benefits, debt and housing issues. We also had thriving Art and Drama projects which rebuilt the confidence of people who had endured a variety of mental health difficulties.

The whole project was person-centred, the idea being that it was a sort of stepping stone which gave them renewed self confidence and skills to move on with our advice, guidance and support into mainstream opportunities to enhance their life chances.

Then came the reorganization. The reorganization was pushed through using ideas and progressive language originally developed through the previous New Labour government’s Social Inclusion Unit. Day Centres we were told were bad, they simply institutionalized people with mental health difficulties. The whole new focus was to create services without buildings.

During my time working in Mental Health Services I have seen some pretty awful places. Day Centres which offered patronizing services that oozed with boredom with no real progression for service users. Our project was not like this.
The NHS Trust I work for was at the time of our reorganization looking at squeezed budgets and the cost incurred in leasing buildings. They do have a building programme for new inpatients units, but as yet not one brick has been laid and in some instances planning permission is not yet approved, yet they closed the only inpatient ward in the City.

Our project has changed beyond recognition. Some staff will be taking pay cuts in the reorganization which has had a massive impact on morale.  We are now expected to record all service user contacts and outcomes from each appointment on 3 separate and different I.T. systems. But more importantly we can no longer deliver the range of opportunities to service users. Everything has to be accessed in the wider community. The café and service user reception has gone. We cannot make appointments to see service users in the building when we are offering advice, guidance and support. We now have to go out in twos to the service users home to ascertain from the service user what we can do for them to promote their social inclusion. The outcomes of the first contact with the service user are discussed at a team meeting and then a member of the team (an education worker, employment worker, volunteer coordinator, arts worker, sports worker) is allocated to the service user, depending on what kind of ambitions they have. This is followed by a telephone call to the service user and arrangements are made to meet them somewhere in the community. The advice from the trainers from the Social Inclusion Unit was that a café may be a suitable venue for the first appointment. Yes a public place when the service user may be disclosing personal and often quite distressing information.

As a team we are now finding that many opportunities in the community for our service users: colleges, arts projects, leisure centres, etc are few and far between because of the current round of cuts .The local council has made cuts to the passport to leisure scheme which helped people on benefits access leisure centres etc. The local colleges have changed the criteria for fee wavering for people on benefits meaning that many of our service users are unable to access educational opportunities. As the cuts start to bite deeper there will be fewer and fewer opportunities for our services users in the wider community

To make staff morale worse our building may be given to different teams within the Trust. We have recently heard that we may be supplied with laptops and work from our cars, dropping into Trust buildings to use docking stations to send data to the I.T. systems. We will probably end up as lone workers apart from one afternoon per week when we attend a caseload allocation meeting. It seems to me that our service has now been slimmed down to such an extent it is ripe and ready for privatization.

Welcome to modern, progressive mental health day services in 21st Century Britain

CPS threaten to make Manchester family with baby homeless

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A Manchester family faces eviction from their home in Longsight. If the police are successful, a family with a young baby and an eight year old child will be made homeless, their home seized, and the proceeds of the sale given over the Magistrates Court.

Read more here http://www.rapar.org.uk/save-the-family-home.html

Sign the petition to stop the sale and eviction here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/savethefamilyhome/

Stuart Syvret, campaigner for rights of children and careleavers, jailed in Jersey

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Stuart Syvret, former Senator in Jersey, who has consistently and courageously campaigned for the rights of children and careleavers and has exposed serious crimes against children on the island,  was jailed on Wednesday 2nd November 2011. Stuart lost his appeal on 7th November and therefore remains in prison.  

The hearing was the culmination of a long legal process which began when Stuart was charged with data protection and minor motoring offences in 2009 which ended last week when he was jailed by Magistrates for failing to carry out community service for contempt of court.The charge related to a six-month period where Syvret left Jersey for the UK instead of facing trial in Jersey.But the 45-year-old yesterday vowed to bring a ‘habeas corpus’ hearing – a rare court action used to free a prisoner from illegal detention – later this week.

Please send messages of support to:

 Stuart Syvret (K Wing)
 HMP La Moye
 Rue Baal
 St Brelade
 JE38HQ

Stuart has asked that UK campaigners should contact their MPs urgently to request their support of John Hemming’s early day motion.

EARLY DAY MOTION

Mr. Hemmings EDM. (2370)

“That this House notes the imprisonment of Stuart Syvret; believes that the public authorities of the island of Jersey do not operate in a manner compliant with the requirements of the European Commission of Human Rights (ECHR), there being overt and significant overlaps and contaminations between the legislature, executive and judiciary; further notes that Her Majesty’s subjects in Jersey are not protected by effective checks and balances, and that there has been the political repression of former Chief Police Officer, Graham Power and former Senator Stuart Syvret; further notes that, notwithstanding the responsibility the Secretary of State for Justice has for good governance and Convention Rights in Jersey, the island’s authorities are permitted to repress opposition activists, and that the Secretary of State for Justiceand Jersey’s Lieutenant Governor have failed to act; further notes that successive governments of the United Kingdom have committed this nation to securing real democratic freedoms and the rule of law in other jurisdictions, yet in the British enclave of Jersey on the United Kingdom’s very doorstep, ordinary powerless people are oppressed by an entrenched oligarchy; and calls on the Secretary of State for Justice to appoint an independent Commission similar to that which investigated corruption in the Turks and Caicos Islands, to investigate the conduct of Jersey’s public administration and to urgently bring the protections of the ECHR to Her Majesty”

Some history of crimes against children in Jersey ‘care’ homes

Jersey is 9 miles by 5 miles. It is ruled by an oligarchy voted into the government as independent candidates. A one-party system. It is not part of the UK or the EU. It is a Crown Dependency and UK Ministers have a duty to maintain the rule of law in Jersey. There have been some attempts to enforce the UK’s legal responsibilities in Jersey in relation to the child abuse investigations. 

The police investigation into Haut de la Garenne began in April 2006 after an investigation into abuse within the Jersey sea scouts. It was conducted secretly for 12 months. More than 1000 children lived in the home from the 50’s to the 80’s. Roughly between 30 and 60 at one time. It was previously an industrial school since 1867 and then since 1900 Jersey Boys Home. It was called Haut de la Garenne since 1960 and closed in 1986. Police interviewed over 160 witnesses and had over 40 suspects. In the 70’s Edward Paisnel who abducted and abused children and was convicted of sex offences, visited the home as Father Christmas.

Jersey police have put forward a number of prosecutions but the police expressed concern. “I can quite clearly say that the investigation is being held up. There are people on the island who just don’t want us going down the route of this inquiry” Lenny Harper – former Deputy Chief Officer Jersey police. Harper has said that the Jersey legal system is held in contempt by the vast majority of the victims. 

Care leavers have reported being kept naked in punishment cells, taken to a bath in cold water and through a secret passage to chambers where staff and the guests of staff had drunken parties and sexually abused them. They speak of suicides of their friends (Michael Collins age 14 was found hanging in the 60’s) of children disappearing and of hearing screams and banging. They report being taken to people on boats, celebrities at the Opera House and to people outside the home. The home is in a very isolated situation and overlooks the harbour and the castle. 

Yet, in May 2008 Jersey’s Bailiff, the island’s Chief Judge wrote about his dismay at journalists continuing to write about the Island’s so called child abuse scandal and subsequently the investigations have been brought to a close. 

The police investigation was unprecedented because of police willingness to listen to the accounts of care leavers and survivors and also in the intensity of forensic investigation. The police have spoken about finding the remains of at least 5 children age between 4 and 11 years. There have been over 100 children’s bones found as well as 65 children’s teeth with roots said to have come out after death. Some of the bones had been cut indicating murder. The police were looking at the period of the 60’s and 70’s particularly. The bones had been burnt and attempts made to hide the remains. 4 punishment rooms were found and a concrete blood stained bath with shackles on the wall. The police also found two pits with lime in them which is known to be used to speed decomposition. 

The Jersey Care Leavers Association has a steady core of members many of whom were in Haut de la Garenne and other Jersey children’s homes. They held a meeting at the House of Commons. The JCLA say it isn’t all about Haut de la Garenne because there were at least 5 other children’s homes on the island. UK children were placed in Jersey children’s homes. UK children were sent on ‘holiday’ to Haut de la Garenne children’s home. Children from Haut de la Garenne were sent to the UK for holidays.

There should have been a UK joint police/social work organised child abuse investigation tasked with finding out what has happened to these children who are now adults.


Two websites for Jersey care leavers ;
http://ricosorda.blogspot.com/
http://voiceforchildren.blogspot.com/


Articles:

Davies L (2008) We must support the Jersey survivors. Society Guardian online 1st August . http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/aug/01/childprotection.jerseyisland

Fairweather E (2008) I have known about Jersey paedophiles for 15 years. I had so not wanted to be right. London. Mail on Sunday. 2nd March 



Fairweather E (2009) The alleged victims of the Jersey Child abuse Inquiry cannot expect justice reveals the detective at the centre of the case. April 19th Mail online. http://www.eileenfairweather.co.uk/article_images/articles/jersey_child_abuse_enquiry.pdf

Liz Davies
Reader in Child Protection
London Metropolitan University
l.davies@londonmet.ac.uk
www.lizdavies.net

Letter from Hungary: more action on homelessness laws needed

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Dear Colleagues,
 
First, thank you so much for your backing and solidarity, it means a lot to us.

In your former letters you have offered your support and help. If it is still available, we would like to ask for it!

The mayor of the 8th district of Budapest (called Józsefváros) is Dr. Máté Kocsis. He is one of the biggest architects of the restrictive and penal treatment against homeless people.

He and his municipal corporation support the edict that was the focus of our demonstration (and threatens rough sleepers with up to 60 days imprisonment). This was the protest which led to the arrest of our member, Norbert Ferencz.

Despite the antihumane features of the mayor’s policy, he was recently elected to the the position of the homeless rapporteur for the Hungarian government. Which means that his opinion is significantly important for the national decision makers.

Please pass this stunning fact on to the representatives of the media and to your supporters.
 
Thank you for your help and kindness.
 
Best regards,
Új Szemlélet

Japanese SWAN: sign the petition protect the children of Fukushima

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https://secure.avaaz.org/jp/save_the_fukushima_children_1/?aNPhjcb

Dear SWAN colleagues

This is Fumihito ITO from NIHON FUKUSHI UNIVERSITY and a SWAN supporter in Japan.

I’ve just signed a petition (web link above) which is offering support to the brave mothers of Fukushima where the nuclear disaster happened in March.

These women have started to protest against the government of Japan, which has long ignored the real voices of the victims around Fukushima area, to protect their lovely children. However, the government of Japan has not helped anybody regarding their evacuation.

The petition’s aim is to demand that the prime minister Noda protects the children and their wellbeing. Please participate in this protest and sign your name.

Join us!!

All the Best

FUMIHITO ITO

False Positive: social work and the personalisation agenda

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I am a Social Work Student on placement in a statutory agency. I was recently invited to take part in some ‘training’ about the Personalisation Agenda for which I was very grateful. However, this training would have been better described as ‘marketing’ as there was no ‘training’ element involved in the short presentation that was given. It was a very good presentation, as far as presentations go.

When attendees of the ‘training opportunity’ posed valid and reasonable questions and made specific evidence-based queries, the trainer called them ‘Cynics’. Firstly, I found this a bit rude and also inaccurate, the spirit of enquiry in the questions and queries posed was, if anything, in the Skeptical Tradition; but being branded a ‘Cynic’ did silence all the enquirers.

(One of the points raised was about the link in Psychology between ‘outcome led thinking’ and ‘Consequentialism’, which seems a very relevant point to raise when dialogue has been invited upon the subject)

Secondly I thought this was a simple example of how a Language Game works in practice. It is real Power Play, Social Control if you will, and not “Just Semantics” as I am often told.

Save Our Services Public Meeting – Saturday 12th November

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Mechanics Institute, Princess Street, Manchester

Saturday 12th November 13.00 – 15.00

 

Please see below for an invitation to Save our Services, an event organised by Manchester Coalition Against Cuts. There will be some Manchester SWAN members attending this event so please come along and see how we can all unite in the fight against the cuts.

As I am sure you are aware Manchester City Council has announced massive cuts to social care in our city. These cuts will have a devastating impact on the most vulnerable people in our communities at a time when the wider economic crisis is already making the problems that people face much worse. This includes support for people with disabilities, mental health problems, who are homeless, are escaping domestic abuse, teenage parents, the elderly, and people with drug and alcohol dependency issues.

We believe we can stop these cuts. Manchester Coalition Against Cuts has organised a public event to bring together people from as many of the affected services as possible. We are extending the invitation to workers, service users, trade unions and anyone that wants to protect these vital services.

If you are able to attend please confirm by e-mailing or texting your name, organisation (if any) and how many will be attending to saveourservicesmanchester@gmail.com, or 07916 725 396.

Finally, if you are able to get any funds from your union branch or wish to donate as an individual to the campaign please get in touch.

Yours sincerely
Manchester Coalition Against Cuts

N.B. This is a child friendly meeting. We do not mind children making a bit of noise in the meeting. Although we cannot afford professional childcare, there will also be people helping to organise a child friendly zone adjacent to the meeting room.

Occupy LSX in London gives hope that another world is possible

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Occupy LSX outside St Pauls Cathedral is growing stronger every day not just with increased numbers and support but with ideas and discussions that are uniting people from all walks of life.

A poster at Occupy LSX outside St Paul’s Cathedral in London, declares ‘Our Democracy is broken, and we are staying here until it is fixed.’ It invites the public to become involved by sharing ideas, staying at the camp or by bringing views for discussion to a people’s assembly where everyone’s view is valued and equal.

Every time I go down to the Occupation the thing that sticks out in my mind is the amount of people gathering in small groups having discussions and debates. People from all walks of life talking about anything from the cuts, the financial meltdown, to the recent riots or about religion, and in particular and the role it should have within society.  You get the sense that people are quite clear they want to live in a different kind of society where people come before profit. Occupy LSX has become a beacon for many people who have been affected in a multitude of ways by a capitalist system that is run for the benefit of the richest 1% at the expense of the 99%, us!

On the 3rd of November Occupy LSX put out a call for help with the development of a Welfare Centre at the camp. Occupy LSX recognises that in order to create a better society, the society needs to include and support its most vulnerable members. The aim of the welfare centre is to provide advice and signpost people towards, for example, mental health advice services, drug and alcohol services, and housing and homeless peoples services. They are appealing for professionals like social workers, counsellors, housing officers, and mental health practitioners to volunteer their time to help develop the Welfare Centre.

As a social work student I will be sparing whatever time I can to volunteer and I will be encouraging other students to do the same. We hear so much rhetoric on a social work degree about empowering services users, Occupy LSX is about real empowerment for everyone. This to me is a real role for social work, not just one of tick box assessments, or sitting behind a computer screen for hours on end trying to understand the RAS (Resource Allocation System), or trying to present a service user as more ‘vulnerable’ and in ‘needy’ in order make them eligible for an ever decreasing pool of services.

I encourage anyone who is able and has an occupation where they live to visit it and get involved. It is truly an inspiring experience and one that certainly gives me the hope that another world is possible.

(Posted 7/11/11)

Say no to the imprisonment of homeless people in Hungary!

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Dear Friends all over the world,

The City is for All is a grassroots group fighting for the right to housing in Hungary. We are now asking for your solidarity with and support for Hungarian homeless people in the face of an increasingly difficult situation. Some of you may have heard about the sequence of increasingly oppressive actions over the past year against homeless citizens by the local and national government in Hungary. Let us first briefly summarize what has happened in Hungary since December 2010 regarding the repression and criminalization of homeless people.

It all started in December 2010, when the Ministry of Interior effected legal amendments that made it possible for local mayors to punish people for “residing in public places”. Istvan Tarlos, the mayor of Budapest did not wait long to come up with an ordinance that makes “residing in public places” illegal. The fine imposed is €180. In the meantime, Mate Kocsis, mayor of the 8th district forbade rummaging through garbage in the 8th district. Despite the fact that the ombudsperson for civil rights found the Budapest ordinance unconstitutional, hundreds of homeless people have been subjected to short-term arrest by the police in the past months on the grounds of the ordinance, and dozens of self-made homes have been destroyed by the authorities. In September, 2011 the Hungarian Parliament started to discuss the proposal of 13 representatives to amend the Petty Offence Law that would punish “recurrent residing in public places” with an increased fine of €530 or imprisonment.

In this extremely severe situation, when the freedom, dignity and often the lives of homeless people are in danger, The City is for All calls for international solidarity and action. We call on our Friends, to demonstrate your solidarity with Hungarian homeless people by organizing events (discussions, demonstrations, film screenings etc.) that address the criminalization of homelessness. The solidarity event can address your local or national context while reacting to developments in Hungary or organized specifically in solidarity with Hungarian homeless people. If you are up to such an undertaking, please let us know about it, document the event in any form (photo, video, video message, written report etc.) and send it to us by email to avarosmindenkie@gmail.com, so that we can publish it on our blog and demonstrate international support for our campaign.

We have also prepared an online petition against the planned amendment of the Petty Offence Law that would imprison homeless people. Please SIGN IT HERE either on behalf of your organization or as an individual and spread the word!

If you have any question regarding the events to be organized, the documentation, or the campaign itself, please feel free to contact Mariann Dósa, the coordinator of our international campaign via email or telephone: mariann.dosa@gmail.com, +44-07-5543-87634, skype: mariann.dosa.

International press about the criminalization of homelessness in Hungary (click the links):

Xpatloop – crackdown in the 8th district of Budapest

Cabooddle – destruction of shacks in the 14th district of Budapest

Budapest Times – destruction of shacks in the 14th district of Budapest

habitants.org – demonstration against the criminalization of homelessness

Thank you for your co-operation!

The City is for All

 

This is the campaign with which social worker Norbert Ferencz has been involved. For more information about the campaign against Norbert’s prosecution for challenging these laws follow THIS LINK.

SWAN Press release: Defend social worker Norbert Ferencz

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The Hungarian Parliament is expected to pass the law on 14 November and the legislation will mean that rough sleepers face 60 days in prison.

 At a rally on 8 October Mr Ferencz spoke out against the new law and the attempt to criminalise ‘dumpster diving’ [i.e. raking bins for food]. He called for peaceful protest against the new law. As a result local prosecutors have moved to charge him with incitement.
 
SWAN has launched a petition in support of Mr Ferencz which will be presented as part of his defence. Speaking on behalf of SWAN National Coordinator Michael Lavalette said:
 
“Norbert is a fine example of an activist social worker, one who shows, in his actions, what social work for social justice looks like. He clearly operated within the IFSW definition of social work and the Hungarian Codes of Ethics – it is an outrage that he is being dragged before the courts for doing his job.”
 
SWAN’s International Officer Iain Ferguson added:
 
 “An injury to one is an injury to all, so this is not simply a Hungarian issue. This is something that all social workers should be concerned about. It is vital that we all voice our concern over how Norbert is being treated.”
 
In Budapest SWAN Steering Committee member Rea Maglajlic said:

“The Hungarian parliament is due to discuss and vote on a draft law that would punish ‘residing habitually in public space’ by up to 60 days of imprisonment or up to 150.000 HUF fine, an amount that is almost three times the net minimum wage in Hungary.  

This proposal is both unconstitutional and inhumane, since it punishes homeless people for not having appropriate housing. Criminalisation of poverty stands against the principles of our profession and Norbert Ferencz was solely enacting the Code of Practice for our profession. Neither the most oppressed in any given society, including Hungary, nor people who stand up for the rights of the oppressed like Mr. Ferencz, should be criminalised. On behalf of all members of SWAN, we demand for the charges against Mr. Ferencz to be dropped, as well as all plans to criminalise homelessness in all Budapest Districts and across Hungary. Instead, support should be extended to address structural causes that lead to homelessness and ensure affordable, safe and healthy housing for all Hungarian citizens, some of whom are unfortunately homeless.”
 
Mr Ferencz is clear that he was working within the guidelines of the Hungarian Social Work Code of Ethics which requires social workers to speak out against injustice. Mr Ferencz’s defence will also make reference to the International Federation of Social Work’s definition of social work as a profession committed to social justice.
 
Mr Ferencz is due in court on 4 November 2011.
 
 
For news rooms:
 
1. The petition is available on line at http://swan.epetitions.net/
 
2. More details of Mr Ferencz’s case are available from the SWAN website https://www.socialworkfuture.org/index.php/articles-and-analysis/news/170-defend-norbert
 
3. For further information contact Michael Lavalette 07739729214

Defend Norbert Ferencz campaign

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Norbert is a member of the ڪ Szeml鬥t group of radical social workers and is facing trial for incitement, a felony punishable by up to 3 years imprisonment in Hungary.  

Norbert’s crime was to participate in a demonstration aimed specifically against the municipal ordinance that classified ‘dumpster diving’ (taking food from rubbish bins) a misdemeanor. He stood alongside the homeless and spoke out against their criminalisation. 

The 8th District Prosecution interpreted this act as incitement against the public peace and a call for general dissent. 


Norbert’s trial is due to start on 4 November.

 
SWAN Statement to Hungarian Court in Support of Norbert Ferencz

SWAN has now released the following statement of support which has been sent to Norbert and his legal team and will be read out at the court in Budapest on 4 November:

The Social Work Action Network (SWAN) is composed of social work practitioners, academics, students and service users. We have a range of supporters in social work workplaces, within the main union, amongst service user and carer groups and within the academy. We also have contacts with similar groups in Ireland, Japan, Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, S. Africa, US, Greece and Cyprus. Norbert Ferencz is our Hungarian colleague and a social work peer.

We are outraged that our social work colleague Norbert Ferencz has been charged with incitement, a felony punishable by up to 3 years imprisonment in Hungary, for speaking out against a new law that aims to criminalise rough sleeping and homelessness. Norbert’s “crime” was to participate in a demonstration aimed specifically against the Budapest municipal ordinance that classified ‘dumpster diving’ (taking food from rubbish bins) as a misdemeanour. He stood alongside service users and spoke out against their criminalisation. The 8th District Prosecution in Budapest interpreted this act as incitement against the public peace and a call for general dissent.

As a social worker, Norbert was following the International Federation of Social Work’s definition of social work as an activist occupation that confronts social injustices. The Hungarian Code of Ethics for Social Workers also makes it clear that practitioners have a duty and a responsibility to inform the public of the growth of poverty and inequality and the state’s responsibility to address these problems.

We demand that all charges against Mr. Norbert Ferencz are dropped, as he was merely following his professional Code of Ethics. The Code states that “social workers [should] facilitate change through their activities and professional stance” (Point 11) and that “it is the social workers responsibility, as well as a right and duty of the undersigned professional organizations, to call the attention of decision makers and the general public to their respective responsibility for the emergence of poverty and suffering as well as for their obstruction of the alleviation thereof” (Point 10).

Norbert Ferencz is being singled out but he is part of an extensive and wide campaign against the criminalisation of homelessness. Similar views have been expressed by the Sant’Egidio Community, the Social Work and Social Policy Department of Eötvös Loránd University, Habitat for Humanity Hungary, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, the consultative forum of homeless service providers in Budapest, and the European Federation of National Organizations Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA).

In December 2010, the Ministry of Interior introduced legal amendments that made it possible for local mayors to punish “residing in public places”.  Istvan Tarlós, the mayor of Budapest subsequently initiated an order that forbade “residing in public places” in the capital. Despite the fact that the Ombudsperson found the local ordinance unconstitutional, district mayor Máté Kocsis started to enforce it vehemently in the 8th district of Budapest, arresting hundreds of homeless people during October, 201. The clear aim was to harass homeless people until they leave his district. Kocsis was also among the signatories to the aforementioned proposal to imprison homeless people, which was discussed by the Parliament on October 17.

On 14 November it is likely that Parliament will vote on a draft law that would punish “residing habitually in public space” with up to 60 days imprisonment or a fine of up to 150.000 HUF, an amount that is almost three times the net minimum wage in Hungary.  

This proposal is both unconstitutional and inhumane, since it punishes homeless people for not having appropriate housing. Criminalisation of poverty stands against the principles of our profession and Mr. Ferencz was solely enacting the Code of Practice for our profession. Neither the most oppressed in any given society, including Hungary, nor people who stand up for the rights of the oppressed like Mr. Ferencz, should be criminalised.

On behalf of all members of SWAN, we demand for the charges against Mr. Ferencz to be dropped, as well as all plans to criminalise homelessness in all Budapest Districts and across Hungary. Instead, support should be extended to address structural causes that lead to homelessness and ensure affordable, safe and healthy housing for all Hungarian citizens.

Michael Lavalette (SWAN National Coordinator)

On behalf of SWAN, 3/11/2011
(Download this statement below)

 

Also please SIGN THE PETITION in support of Norbert Ferencz: http://swan.epetitions.net/

Send messages of support to:
Email: ujszemlelet@gmail.com
http://hu-hu.facebook.com/pages/%C3%9Aj-Szeml%C3%A9let/143223442403668?sk=wall
http://ujszemlelet.blog.hu/ (in Hungarian)

Video of the action: http://mindennapi.hu/cikk/tarsadalom/rendorok-hurcoljak-el-a-szegenyekert-tuntetoket-video-/2011-03-11/1997

Information on the ڪ Szeml鬥t group:
The ڪ Szeml鬥t group is a professional workshop and action group fusing the spirit of community work with social work, formed in 2010 with regard to the renewal of the Social workers code of ethics. In view of this twofold function, our aims are long term. It is an independent organization whose members are social workers.

SWAN will be actively campaigning in support of Norbert Ferencz. Please look out for further announcements here shortly.

(Updated 03/11/11)
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