The IRR European Race Audit (ERA) publishes today two briefing papers on the Swiss referendum against minarets and the ways in which direct democracy can be hijacked by the extreme Right. On 29 November 2009, Switzerland became the first country in Europe to vote to curb the religious practices of Muslims when a referendum, banning
News Service
Belgium: arbitrary state power checked in prison teacher case
A Belgian court has condemned the government for the way it barred prisoners’ teacher Luk Vervaet from all Belgian prisons in August 2009. In August 2009, Luk Vervaet, a 57-year-old teacher of Dutch in Belgian prisons and activist campaigning against prison racism, poor prison conditions and double punishment, was unceremoniously barred from entering prisons, with
Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hate crime in London
A new centre for research into anti-Muslim hate crime has published its first report. For the first time, academics are taking the issue of anti-Muslim attacks in the UK seriously. A recent report by Jonathan Githens-Mazer and Robert Lambert on Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate Crime: a London Case Study shows how ‘contexts of fear and
Refugee roulette
The risks asylum seekers face if returned to their country of origin must be made clearer to decision makers, says a new report. For eighteen months the Immigration Advisory Service (IAS) scrutinised the asylum system focusing on how information (contained in Country of Origin Information reports) regarding the social, judicial and political conditions in a
ID and the final exclusion
Biometrics and surveillance are set to make life virtually impossible for those without legal status here. On 6 January 2010, skilled workers from outside the EU became the latest group to need a biometric identity card in order to extend their stay in the UK. This involves attending one of the dozen or so ‘biometric
Exposed: more government illegality in the ‘war on terror’
On 27 January, the UK Supreme Court held that fundamental rights of suspected Islamist terrorists should not be violated without explicit parliamentary approval and the UN confirmed the UK’s complicity in rendition and torture. Asset-freezing orders illegal Between 2005 and 2007, out of the blue, a number of Muslim British citizens and residents received letters
The reality behind the ‘knife crime’ debate
The media portrayal of, and government response to, the ‘knife crime epidemic’ creates a distorted image of the reality on the ground, according to new research undertaken by the Institute of Race Relations. The evidence suggests that, whilst some marginalised young people are carrying knives, the image of violently nihilist, feral, often Black or ethnic
Putting John Denham’s speech in context
How progressive is John Denham’s apparent shift from ‘race’ to class strategies? At last. Thirty years after the IRR had pointed out the weaknesses in government-sponsored ethnic programmes and ethnic funding.[1] New Labour, in the person of John Denham, seems to have woken up to it. Class must, John Denham said in a speech assessing
Experiences of Black teenagers in prison
The disproportionately high number of Black teenagers in custody is growing and this group is still more likely to face negative treatment than young White people, according to a recent report. HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the Youth Justice Board found that more than a third of the young prison population is Black or from
Plans for third detention centre near Gatwick meet opposition
Controversial plans for a removal centre in Crawley have come under fire from local campaigners. No Borders Brighton wants Crawley Borough Council to reject plans to turn the Mercure Hotel on Povey Cross Road into a removal centre. The group claims the design of the 254-bed hotel means it could only be converted to house