Last week, the UK’s minister on immigration Tony McNulty, in a high-handed intervention, forbade the assistant head of Immigration Services in Scotland from meeting a delegation of concerned Scottish church, charity and political representatives. Rolf Toollen, the Scottish official, was all ready for the meeting. In fact, it was reported that he had cancelled a
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Appearance battles against reality in Zimbabwe deportation policy
The Home Office has been accused of deliberately ignoring the national identity of failed asylum seekers in order to return Zimbabwean nationals to their homeland, despite the High Court’s suspension of removals of Zimbabweans subject to a reappraisal of the situation. Immigration lawyers have claimed that Home Office officials are choosing not to investigate false
Anti-Gypsyism on the agenda
In Warsaw on 21 October, representatives from key international organisations held the first European conference where anti-Gypsyism was the main issue. A woman tries hard to wash a child with brown eyes and dark skin. Then, somebody hands her a pack of ARIEL washing powder. After another attempt, the child appears white and with blue
UK laws fail to ‘manage’ migration and to protect migrant workers’ rights
The Institute of Employment Rights’ (IER)’s recent publication Labour Migration and Employment Rights examines present immigration and employment law and policy affecting migrant labour and concludes they are failing to protect the most vulnerable workers in the UK. The report asserts an employment rights approach to the examination of immigration law and policy on the
Racial violence in October
Incidents of racial violence and harassment in October. 2 November 2005: Three more people are charged in connection with the murder of Anthony Walker in Huyton, Merseyside; Paul John Morson, 25, is charged with perverting the course of justice and Robert William, 31, and Tracy Ann Garner, 34, are charged with conspiracy to assist an
Gladiator Games
An important play about racism in British prisons opens tonight in London. Gladiator Games is playwright Tanika Gupta’s dramatic investigation of the murder of 19-year-old Feltham inmate Zahid Mubarek by his racist white cellmate Robert Stewart in March 2000. Based on testimony given at the Mubarek inquiry, as well as Gupta’s own interviews, it is
Digital Diaries – the right to stay
A series of short online videos by Manchester-based groups tells the ‘untold stories behind the political and media hype’ surrounding asylum seekers. Asylum seekers, the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC), the Basement café, Community Arts North West and No Borders Manchester have joined forces for this project that focuses on asylum seekers in the
Asylum seeker suicide: ‘depressed and preoccupied’
On 20 October 2005, no family or friends were present at the inquest of Iranian asylum seeker Majid Rafieei at the Upperthorpe Medico-Legal Centre in Sheffield – which lasted just one hour. The inquest into the death of 32-year-old Majid, whose claim for political asylum had been refused but who was not scheduled to be
Campaign gathers momentum as Afghan youth faces deportation
A campaign launched to prevent an Afghan youth from being deported is the latest in a series of vociferous crusades championed by the Kent Campaign to Defend Asylum Seekers. According to the group, many young Afghans, who arrive in the UK as ‘unaccompanied minors’, are being forced to return to their country of origin because
Holding the state to account for the deaths of vulnerable asylum seekers
A recent meeting on deaths in immigration detention centres called for the state to be held accountable for the deaths of vulnerable asylum seekers. The meeting, which was organised by Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) after the death of Manuel Bravo in Yarl’s Wood was addressed by campaigners on deaths in custody and those working