A recent inquest into the death of Ukrainian asylum seeker Sergey Baranyuk provided a glimpse of how asylum seekers are treated behind the closed doors of removal centres in the UK – detained, forgotten and slowly driven to despair. Sergey Baranyuk travelled from the Ukraine to the UK and claimed asylum. He died awaiting voluntary
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Roll call of deaths of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants, 1989-2010
IRR has, since 1989, been recording the deaths of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants – two of the most vulnerable sections of our society – as a result of attempting to enter the UK, self-harm, denial of medical treatment, destitution, hazardous working conditions or racist attacks. Forced by circumstances beyond their control to seek a
Roll call of deaths of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants, 2002-2004
IRR has, since 1989, been recording the deaths of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants – two of the most vulnerable sections of our society – as a result of attempting to enter the UK, self-harm, denial of medical treatment, destitution, hazardous working conditions or racist attacks. Forced by circumstances beyond their control to seek a
Tributes paid to James Ozigi
Most Senior Apostle James Ozigi, general secretary of the Council of African and Caribbean Churches and chair of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church in the UK, has died in Nigeria. On 8 November he was travelling in a car from Lagos to Ibadan, when a tyre on the car burst and the car crashed. He
Forced deportations are leading to death and injury
The violence that arises out of forced deportation policies has been in the news in Austria, Germany and France where, last week, a police officer was convicted of the manslaughter of Ethiopian asylum seeker Mariame Getu Hagos in 2003. Austria Austria’s story begins with the intensely anti-foreigner atmosphere created by extremist parties in recent years.
Voices from detention
Barbed Wire Britain has produced a second volume of testimonies from immigration detainees, an important tool in the struggle for rights and justice. Amidst the political and media clamour about how many asylum seekers have been or need be deported, the voices of the system’s victims are necessarily stifled. Would-be refugees are mere statistics, objects
Speaking out against poverty
On 6 December at Westminster Central hall, National Poverty Hearings will take place – an opportunity for those suffering from the effects of destitution to speak to those who can do something. The hearings first took place ten years ago and will now examine the changes in poverty since the 1996. The event will be
What price justice?
A campaign has been launched to persuade the government to guarantee an adequately funded legal aid system ensuring quality representation and access to justice for all. The campaigners, including the NSPCC, Shelter, Mind, Child Poverty Action Group, Advice Services Alliance and others, are worried that the government’s plans to reform legal aid could lead to
Dedicated asylum legal advice for women
The Refugee Women’s Resource Project at Asylum Aid has established a pilot scheme offering legal advice on asylum issues to women. The service will be a dedicated legal advice telephone service for women. And will be able to help: Women seeking legal advice about their asylum claim; Family members and friends of women asylum seekers;
Enforcing the language barrier
Recent cuts to English language classes suggest that the government fears the integration of migrants more than it supports it. On 18 October the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) announced that it would no longer fund basic ‘English for Speakers of Other Languages’ (ESOL) classes. The essential free classes were massively oversubscribed. Namely, they were