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
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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
Listen to the Refugee’s Story
A new booklet co-published by The Corner House, Ilisu Dam Campaign Refugee Project and Peace in Kurdistan explores how UK foreign investment creates refugees and asylum seekers. This is one of the most exciting and challenging recent books on refugees. Exciting because for the first time groups of Tamil, Kurdish, Somali, Afghan and other refugees
Black and Minority Ethnic teachers miss out on performance pay rises
Is there discrimination against Black and Minority Ethnic teachers in performance-related pay? In September 2000, the government launched a performance-based pay rise package for teachers. Experienced teachers could apply for a £2,000 pay rise and, if successful, move to a higher pay scale. Teachers had to complete a form indicating how they met eight professional
Custody death at Heathrow airport
Paul Yorke, a 38-year-old mixed-race man, died after being arrested by police officers at Terminal Two of Heathrow airport on 2 November. He was taken to Heathrow police station where he was charged with being a ‘prohibited person’ (it is alleged that he had been banned from airport property) and then detained in a cell.
Indefinite detention without trial upheld
On 28 October 2003, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) upheld the detention of ten men detained without trial or charge under the Anti Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001 (ATCSA). In total, sixteen men have been arrested under the ATCSA since it became law on 14 December 2001. The men cannot be deported and
New deterrent measures for asylum seekers condemned
Measures announced by Home Secretary David Blunkett and Constitutional Minister Lord Falconer on 27 October to reduce further the numbers seeking asylum in Britain have been condemned by refugee groups and human rights lawyers as inhuman, discriminatory and incompatible with the Refugee Convention. The measures include: new criminal offences for those destroying or disposing of