The UK government should heed the lessons from a recent report criticising the Netherlands for discriminatory pre-immigration tests for migrants. Lessons from the Netherlands In the UK, ‘active citizenship’ is one of the shibboleths in the government’s green paper The Path to Citizenship: next steps in reforming the immigration system. According to a new report
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Europe: mobilising against ‘foreign criminals’
Populist politicians – mostly, although not entirely, from centre and extreme-Right parties – are seeking to win elections by mobilising voters against foreign criminals, ‘immigrant’ youth and the Roma. But this resort to xenophobia via crime comes at a high social cost. Politicians who make use of divisive and reckless populism to gain votes, put
Racism in European elections
A report on the role that racism has played in recent elections and electioneering across Europe has just been published by the IRR. Focusing on the French presidential election and the general and provincial elections in the Netherlands, the special issue of the European Race Bulletin also covers twenty-one other countries and the European Parliament.
New IRR report catalogues appalling treatment of Europe’s ‘foreign’ children
The UK and the other countries of Europe are signatories to children’s rights conventions and yet they are systematically robbing a whole group of children of their basic, human rights by classifying them not as children but as foreigners and asylum seekers. In a new report from the Institute of Race Relations (IRR), ‘They are
Roll call of deaths of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants, 1989-2010
IRR has, since 1989, been recording the deaths of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants – two of the most vulnerable sections of our society – as a result of attempting to enter the UK, self-harm, denial of medical treatment, destitution, hazardous working conditions or racist attacks. Forced by circumstances beyond their control to seek a
Following them home
David Corlett’s Following them home: the fate of the returned asylum seekers is an invaluable addition to the, as yet, scant body of literature that tracks the fate of failed asylum seekers under reckless western deportation programmes. It is particularly important that a UK readership notes this Australian book, as so much of Europe’s asylum
Protecting ethnic minorities
One would have thought that governments concerned about the impact on social cohesion of a resurgent far-Right would want to reassure members of minority communities that the police service and criminal justice system were there to protect them and were sensitive to their needs. Unfortunately, many police services in Europe have not even come to
Fighting fascism
How can governments combat the activities of racist and far-Right parties that undermine democracy while, at the same time, preserving civil rights and democratic values such as freedom of speech and freedom of assembly? Country notes Over the last eighteen months, politicians across Europe have been forced to ask themselves how best to counter the
IRR EMAILS PROBLEMS FIXED
Due to technical problems with the Institute of Race Relations email service, IRR News emails were not delivered for around one week. These problems have now been fixed. We apologise for any inconvenience caused during this time. Related links None
Anti-Gypsyism on the agenda
In Warsaw on 21 October, representatives from key international organisations held the first European conference where anti-Gypsyism was the main issue. A woman tries hard to wash a child with brown eyes and dark skin. Then, somebody hands her a pack of ARIEL washing powder. After another attempt, the child appears white and with blue