Dear IRR News subscriber,

The IRR and Last Rights are today calling for the EU, the Greek authorities and UNHCR to stop shifting the blame, and to take responsibility for the deaths of migrants and refugees that have occurred in Greece. The thirteen deaths in Greece since April 2016, highlighted by the IRR – seven of which were in January 2017, tell a horrendous tale. But official neglect and lack of care do not end with the end of life for migrants and refugees. Most of the dead have not even been named. The Last Rights project, set up a year ago in response to the rising death toll in the Mediterranean and the lack of rights for the migrant dead and bereaved, is calling for a new framework of respect for the rights of missing and dead refugees, the bereaved and family members. As co-convenors Catriona Jarvis and Syd Bolton point out, the authorities have presided over abject breaches of human rights for too long – and without rapid improvements in living conditions and in asylum and migration policies, more deaths are inevitable.

It is with the deepest sadness that the IRR learned of the death of Barbara Harlow, long-standing member of the Race & Class working committee and long-time friend of the IRR, on 28 January. We publish two tributes, one by the IRR’s Director Liz Fekete and the other by Professor Timothy Brennan.

Finally, our regular calendar of racism and resistance, a fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, is available here.

IRR News team