A new report from the Africa Solidarity Centre in Dublin highlights the exclusion of immigrants and ethnic minorities from Irish political parties. Based on research conducted by Dr. Bryan Fanning of University College, Dublin, Fidèle Mutwarasibo and Neltah Chadamoyo, the report published this week reveals that none of the political parties in Ireland have any
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Close surveillance of Campsfield protest
On Saturday 29 November, over 200 people from all over the country gathered for a demonstration outside Campsfield House Immigration Detention Centre, the scene of frequent protests, hunger strikes and a riot, to mark its 10th anniversary. Unusually, the demonstration was very heavily policed. The coach taking participants from London was stopped just outside Campsfield
Rising deaths as a result of racial violence
Research by the Institute of Race Relations shows that since the beginning of 1999, at least thirty-five murders with a racial element were committed in England, Wales and Scotland. This figure, when compared with the four years 1994 – 1998, when thirteen murders with a racial element were committed, shows an alarming rise. For, the
Netherlands: anti-immigration and the road to intolerance
Dutch Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner has this week advocated the idea of a two-tier justice system in which foreigners who commit crime would be sentenced differently from Dutch nationals. How has a country which once had a reputation for tolerance descended to such illiberalism? During the second half of 2004, the Dutch government will
Concern at new asylum measures
Refugee groups and lawyers believe that the new Asylum Bill will result in profound changes in the legal and constitutional landscape of Britain as well as stripping asylum seekers of further legal and social rights. The Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill is the fifth asylum Bill in eleven years and Labour’s third
Analysis: the quarterly asylum statistics
Ministers have trumpeted the quarterly asylum statistics as evidence that their tough policies are working. Do the figures prove their case? And what is the impact on asylum seekers? The quarterly publication of asylum seeker statistics has become a major political event, particularly since the government, earlier this year, set a target of halving the
Step up in family visitor visa denial
Citizens Advice is asking government ministers to review the rising rate of family visitor visa application refusals so as to ensure that injustice is not being done to members of the UK’s Black and Minority Ethnic communities. According to its analysis of statistics provided by the government agency UK visas of decisions being made by
Trial and Error: learning about racism through citizenship education
Imagine that the adults of the world have decided that the best way to deal with the planet’s problems is to ask young people how to solve them. What would they say about racism? That is the premise behind this set of information sheets and teachers’ notes, distributed on a CDROM, for use in key
Common Ground: a resource for youth workers
Aik Saath, a Slough-based youth group which was formed to reduce conflict between Asian youths, has produced a 24-page booklet and 8-minute video which aims to train young people in resolving disputes in a non-violent way. Aik Saath (‘Together As One’) was established in 1998 following a period of heightened tension and violence between different
It’s official: media coverage of asylum is distorted and unfair
Research commissioned by Article 19, a group that campaigns for free expression, has found that the British media’s coverage of asylum seekers and refugees is characterised by stereotyping, exaggeration and inaccurate language. Academics at the Cardiff School of Journalism spent two years monitoring asylum coverage in newspapers and on television, interviewing reporters and editors on