The EU is advocating the creation of refugee regional processing centres in North African countries. Foremost amongst countries being recruited to enforce European border controls is Libya. A report that first appeared in the Italian newspaper L’Espresso on 24 March 2005 looks at how Libya treats refugees and documents the grim fate awaiting those returned
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Anti-Muslim backlash goes on
A month after the London bombings, police forces across the country are reporting rising levels of racial incidents. 4 August 2005: Police in Scotland report a rise in racial incidents by nearly a third; Tayside police report the largest increase of 70 per cent. (Scotsman 4.8.05) 4 August 2005: Metropolitan police announce that religious hate
Forty-seven race murders in Britain since Macpherson
Figures released today by the Institute of Race Relations show that there have been forty-seven murders with a known or suspected racial element since the publication of the Macpherson report in February 1999. With its similarities to the murder of Stephen Lawrence, the racist murder of Anthony Walker in Huyton, Liverpool, on 30 July 2005
Doctors question their role in human rights violation of asylum seekers
Doctors met recently to discuss the right to health of detained asylum seekers and their invidious role as gatekeepers to health care. The conference held on 25 June 2005 on the right to health of detained asylum seekers and migrants, organised by Doctors for Human Rights, focused primarily on a report produced by Médecins Sans
Obituary: Basker Vashee 1944-2005
A. Sivanandan pays tribute to Basker Vashee of the Transnational Institute who died on 18 July 2005. He has gone too soon, but his smile remains. All his life he was suave, elegant, charming – and he brought those gifts to his politics and made radicalism appear the most natural thing in the world. I
Anti-Muslim backlash intensifies
The anti-Muslim backlash has intensified in the three weeks following the London bombings. Muslim organisations monitoring attacks report that the numbers are increasing rapidly. According to the Islamic Human Rights Commission they have risen thirteen-fold since 7 July. The Muslim Safety Forum reports that ‘faith-related’ attacks in London have risen by 500 per cent since
Asylum-seeking children face being separated from their parents and placed in care under new powers
A family in Bolton, whose campaign to stay in Britain has won strong local support, is one of the first to face new powers to separate asylum-seeking children from their parents. Powers introduced under last year’s Asylum Act, which allow the Home Office to cut off support to families with children whose asylum claims have
Inquest rules asylum seeker died from natural causes at Haslar
On 8 July 2005, the inquest into the death of Kabeya Dimuka Bijoux, at Haslar removal centre on 1 May 2004, recorded a verdict of death by natural causes despite concerns raised that his death might have been connected to injuries sustained at another immigration centre. Bijoux (as he is known to his family), an
The use and abuse of language analysis in asylum cases
The recent practice of language analysis in asylum cases has met with criticism from concerned professionals. Linguists have responded with a set of professional guidelines with the aim of preventing potential abuses of this method of analysis. Professional linguists and law professionals are becoming increasingly concerned about the use and abuse of language analysis in
The anti-Muslim backlash continues
Racist attacks have continued in the weeks after the London bombings. 20 July: Anti-Muslim slogans are daubed on a bridge over the A46 Lincoln bypass near Burton village in Lincolnshire. (BBC News 20.7.05) 17 July: Muhammed Haq, 27, an imam at Dulwich Islamic Centre, is followed by the driver of a white van as he