A school explores contradictions in attitudes to asylum seekers using video art. How would secondary school students react to finding out that one of their school friends was to be deported? And how would this help them reassess their beliefs about racism, belonging and asylum? As a Greater Manchester secondary teacher, I have been working
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Let’s talk to the media
A practical media guide for refugee community organisations and practitioners has been published by the Refugee Media Group in Wales. Refugee and asylum issues are too often portrayed negatively by certain UK media. And this is not simply a problem confined to the tabloids. Lets Talk to the Media aims to provide refugee community organisations
Sent to Coventry
There are hundreds of destitute asylum seekers in Coventry and possibly thousands nationwide who are without support, accommodation or the right to work, according to a recent report published by the Coventry Refugee Centre (CRC). ‘Destitution and asylum seekers: a human rights issue’ aims to draw attention to the increasingly desperate situation of many failed
The re-imagining of Britain
Life in the United Kingdom, A Journey to Citizenship, published in December 2004 by the Home Office, claims to assist people seeking British Citizenship, to integrate into Britain, by providing a ‘better knowledge of our way of life’. In reality it serves up to new Britons a cocktail of reinvented history and mythical nationalism. The
Significant deterioration to detainees’ mental health
The Royal College of Psychiatrists has stated that the ‘sense of powerlessness’ experienced by the Belmarsh detainees ‘is likely to cause significant deterioration to [their] mental health’. The College is asking the government to consider these findings when the government ponders its response to the recent House of Lords ruling that the detention of the
Secure and safe from harm?
Punched in the head and face, kicked in the abdomen, dragged along the ground, thumbs forcibly bent, pressure applied to the jaw and the neck, kneed and elbowed. It reads like the all too familiar catalogue of torture and abuse that has been widely reported as occurring at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and Mosul. According
Law Lords rule ‘terror detentions’ discriminatory and disproportionate
David Blunkett’s anti-terrorist measures were thrown into disarray this morning as the highest court in the land ruled that the indefinite detention of foreign nationals under the 2001 Terror Act was incompatible with human rights. Lord Bingham of Cornhill said that ‘the measures unjustifiably discriminate against foreign nationals on the ground of their nationality or
Caring for Minority Ethnic elders in Europe
The rapid ageing of Europe’s population has become Europe’s number one issue according to an MEP speaking, on 9 December 2004, at the launch of the Summary Findings from the Minority Elderly Care (MEC) project. The research revealed some shocking facts, including: Thirty-five per cent of elders surveyed in the UK are in poor, or
Do you have a vision to change the world?
To celebrate the centenary of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT), the organisation has set up a new scheme to find ‘six visionaries’, who can work towards making ‘the world – or part of it – more just and more peaceful’ The ‘Visionaries for a Just and Peaceful World’ will need to have a ‘big
Report finds no contradiction in being British and Muslim
A new report published by the Islamic Human Rights Commission, based on a survey of more than 1,000 British Muslims, has found that there is little or no trade-off between being a good British citizen and having Islamic values. The report, entitled Dual citizenship: British, Islamic or both?, examines British Muslims’ feelings of loyalty and