On 19 October 2001, 146 children, 142 women and 65 men lost their lives when the small, grossly-overloaded Indonesian fishing boat, in which they were travelling, capsized and sank as they sought to flee persecution in their homelands and rebuild their lives in Australia. Since the time of the sinking many questions have been raised
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Black people face double discrimination
A two-year independent research project into the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has found that while black defendants appear to be more harshly treated than their white counterparts in the criminal justice system, prosecutors are too willing to drop ‘race charges’. Experience of the criminal justice system The research by Gus John Associates, which examined 12,913
Discrimination against Somalis in housing
A new report into the needs and experiences of the Somali community and its access to housing in Britain has found that Somalis are often discriminated against and do not receive good levels of service provision. The report by Ian Cole and David Robinson at the Centre for Regional and Economic Research at Sheffield Hallam
Forced deportation of Roma
A well-respected Roma political organiser and twenty-five other Czech Roma are to be deported to the Czech Republic on 25 October, despite the fact that by next May the Czech Republic will be part of the European Union. Ladislav Balaz, chairman of the Trans-European Roma Federation has, like many of the other Roma threatened with
England’s ‘ghetto’ schools
An analysis by researchers at Bristol University has found that secondary schools in Oldham, Blackburn, Bradford, Birmingham and Luton have the highest levels of segregation between pupils of different ethnic groups. The research, based on the annual census for schools in England in 2001, used two indices to measure segregation. A ‘dissimilarity index’ ranked the
School exclusions increase again
New figures from the Department for Education and Skills show that Black Caribbean children are still three times more likely than White children to be permanently excluded from school in England. The overall number of exclusions has also increased for the second year running. In the 2001 to 2002 school year, there were an estimated
Roger Sylvester – police condemned for black death
It has taken the Sylvester family four years to get an inquest into Roger’s death. A verdict of unlawful killing has been returned. But the last successful prosecution of a police officer involved in a black death was in 1971, despite numerous inquest verdicts of unlawful killing since then. Clapping and shouts of joy, mingled
Canary Islands tragedy: did the RAF put border security before human safety?
An official inquiry was prompted in Spain after twenty-one migrants, trying to cross from the North African coast to the Canary Islands, drowned in two separate incidents in June. Their boats capsized after being intercepted by Spanish patrols. But now questions are being asked about the role of British planes deployed in the region as
Research finds racism against overseas teachers
New research into the training of overseas teachers reports that they are often unprepared for the racism they face and that school staff do not do enough to counter pupil prejudice and develop an equality ethos within schools. Because of teacher shortages in the UK, recruitment of teachers is taking place in Western and Eastern
Freedom Rides Again
Once again people are riding in buses across America to protest against a lack of civil rights. This time it is migrant workers drawing attention to their lack of security and freedom in the US. The Immigrant Workers Freedom Rides are the first ‘freedom rides’ the country has seen since the 1960s. The original freedom