With the passing on 21 August of Helen Bamber, we have lost a unique healer and campaigner against human cruelty. As a barrister specialising in asylum and human rights, I got to know her first in her role of expert medical witness, testifying at asylum appeals to the truth of the suffering of my clients,
Dear IRR News subscriber, This weekend, a group of stowaways were found at Tilbury Docks desperately trying to escape a container they had been sealed into. By the time it was opened, one of the migrants, 40-year-old Meet Singh Kapoor, was already dead. As we show, such deaths are by no means uncommon in the
At the weekend, a group of stowaways were found at Tilbury Docks desperately trying to escape a container they had been sealed into. By the time it was opened, one of the migrants, 40-year-old Meet Singh Kapoor was already dead. Thirty-four migrants, Sikhs from Afghanistan, were found in the container, ten men, nine women and
Nicky Road reviews a publication on refugees and asylum seekers in the UK. A new Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS) Working Paper has been published which analyses the link between poverty and refugees and asylum seekers in the UK from the 1980s to the present. Focusing on three main groups: asylum seekers; refugees; and
Dear IRR News subscriber, This week, Matt Carr reflects on the complicity of Britain and France in the horrific situation for migrants in Calais. And the family of Jay Abatan who was murdered in a racist attack in January 1999 is calling for an inquiry into his death after learning that a serving police officer was with a group of
Matt Carr reflects on the complicity of Britain and France in the horrific situation for migrants in Calais. For millions of British tourists, Calais is a gateway for continental driving holidays and the pleasures of the Summer. For others it’s a city of designer shops, of the massive Euroshopping mall Cité Europe, where the Daily Mail and P&O
A new film, ‘Young Rebels’, on the history of the Southall Youth Movement (SYM) is a must-see. The young men of the 1960s and ‘70s who were involved in transforming Southall into what it is today are now Asian elders, old enough to be respectfully addressed as ‘Uncle-ji’. And here in interviews they speak frankly
The family of Jay Abatan, having learned that a serving police officer was with a group of people who fatally attacked Jay fifteen years ago, have met senior police officials. Michael Abatan met the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne on 14 August 2014 to discuss the lack of progress of the investigation into
Dear IRR News subscriber, Earlier this year, the Swedish linguistics firm Sprakab was criticised in a significant Supreme Court judgment which said that its staff had given ‘wholly inappropriate’ comments to asylum tribunals. Subsequently, concerns were raised that this behaviour may have led to the wrongful deportation of hundreds of asylum seekers. In this week’s
This week, families and campaigners gathered outside the London offices of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in protest at its ‘inaction’ over deaths in custody cases. A number of families told of their experiences. Saqib Deshmukh spoke on behalf of the family of Habib ‘Paps’ Ullah who are awaiting a decision at the end of
