As evictions from privatised asylum housing continue, important new legal challenges are being mounted in the courts. On Monday 28 January the latest round of the Glasgow evictions saga which began two years ago took place in the Glasgow Sheriff Court. At a hearing adjourned from October 2012, Scottish homelessness charity Ypeople (formerly the YMCA)
Issue: Race & Class
Indifference to asylum seekers’ property
As if being detained for removal is not trauma enough, asylum seekers in the North East are finding it impossible to reclaim their property from their asylum hostels. Laptops, cameras, cash, a family Bible and photographs of loved ones are among the personal possessions that have been destroyed or disposed of by landlords when asylum
Yorkshire youth event a great success against all the odds
A ground-breaking civil rights conference, planned by and for young people in Yorkshire, went ahead despite claims that the local council placed difficulties in its path. On Tuesday 17 November, 450 young people packed into an international conference centre in Leeds to discuss the issues of most concern to them growing up in twenty-first century
More destitution in Leeds
A report seeking to assess levels of destitution experienced by asylum seekers in Leeds has shown that figures have increased substantially over the past eighteen months. The report, commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, was intended to measure progress following the original 2006 survey for their Inquiry into Destitution Among Refused Asylum Seekers. The
Writers and artists for David Oluwale
The David Oluwale Memorial Committee presents an evening of information and poetry. Thursday 15 May 2008, 7-8.30pm Wheeler Hall, St Anne’s Cathedral Hall, Leeds Speakers: Kester Aspden on his recent book: The hounding of David Oluwale Ian Duhig (TS Eliot nominee) and Rommi Smith (parliamentary writer in residence) will read poems in memory of David
Support the appeal for a memorial to David Oluwale
An appeal has been launched for a memorial in Leeds to David Oluwale, who was found dead in the River Aire in 1969. Two police officers were later prosecuted and convicted of assaulting him. David Oluwale was a Nigerian migrant who arrived in the UK in 1949 and subsequently spent many years living on the
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
Born on the wrong side
The fascinating autobiography of Cec Thompson, one of the first black Rugby League players in the UK, has been published by BlackAmber, a new imprint of Arcadia Books. I have to confess to neither knowing nor caring about rugby and yet found this a compelling read. It is a ‘rags to riches’ odyssey of a
Protest against clampdown on working asylum seekers
Around 150 demonstrators marched through Hull this week to protest against Home Office pressure on local factories to sack Iraqi Kurdish asylum seekers. Iraqi Kurdish asylum seekers have been living in Hull since the beginning of the decade and, although most have had their asylum applications refused, many have built new lives for themselves in
In memory of Manuel Bravo
A new project has been established in Leeds in memory of Manuel Bravo, an Angolan asylum seeker, who was found hanged in Yarl’s Wood removal centre on 15 September 2005, where he was detained with his 13-year-old son pending deportation. Before his death, Manuel had settled in Leeds and regularly attended church with his family.