Andy Shallice reports on the impact of new meaures to restrict the rights of EU migrants, particularly the Roma. ‘In this world, shipmates, Sin that pays its way can travel freely, and without passport; whereas Virtue, if a pauper, is stopped at all frontiers…’(Herman Melville, 1851 via Matthew Carr, 2012) Since April, no new housing
Asylum in Switzerland – out of sight, out of mind
Swiss asylum policy is characterised by institutional neglect within hostile systems designed to segregate and exclude. Feras Farees Abedal Motaleeb was a Palestinian refugee who, having fled from Iraq to Switzerland to save his life, found death in a remote Swiss valley, in an 8m² space in a metal container which he shared with two
IRR News 6-12 June 2014
Dear IRR News subscriber, This week, we republish an article by Daniel Holder from the Belfast-based human rights NGO Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) on incitement to racial hatred in Northern Ireland. We also run an article on the recent death of Anowar Tagabo, a Darfuri student in Sheffield. Racially motivated violence has been
Murder of Darfuri student in Sheffield
Police in Sheffield are investigating the death of 25-year-old Anowar Tagabo, a Darfuri refugee, who died following an attack. In the early hours of Sunday 25 May 2014, Anowar Tagabo, a peace and development student at Bradford University, was savagely attacked by a group of men and women near the Viper Rooms, Carver Street, Sheffield.
‘Shopping for Peter’ and the question of incitement to racial hatred
Below we reproduce an article from RightsNI, by Daniel Holder, that analyses the controversy surrounding recent comments made by Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Peter Robinson and evangelical Pastor James McConnell. On Saturday hundreds of people lined up outside Tesco in Belfast city centre clutching ‘I am shopping for Peter’ posters, in a creative anti-racist protest
IRR News 30 May – 5 June 2014
Dear IRR News subscriber, In a week when twenty leading educationalists and Muslim leaders have questioned Ofsted’s impartiality in the Birmingham ‘Trojan Horse’ affair, education consultant Robin Richardson analyses the factors behind its controversial recent inspections. We also publish a reflection by John Grayson on the ‘UKIP surge’ in South Yorkshire. In news from across
Funeral of Christine Case to take place
Christine Case died while being held at Yarl’s Wood Removal Centre on Sunday 30 March 2014. Her family is asking concerned individuals to attend the funeral to show their support. Christine Case, a 40-year-old Jamaican woman, died at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre near Bedford. Emergency services were called to the centre at around 8am but she
Explaining and learning from the ‘UKIP surge’ in South Yorkshire
John Grayson examines the factors behind UKIP’s recent successes in South Yorkshire. On Friday lunchtime 23 May, as the local government results flowed into the BBC TV studio, Nigel Farage nominated Rotherham in South Yorkshire as UKIP’s ‘most significant’ result. He claimed that UKIP had led in the popular vote (41 per cent to Labour’s
Naming the Narratives: the Trojan Horse affair in Birmingham
In a week when twenty leading educationalists and Muslim leaders have questioned Ofsted’s impartiality in the Birmingham ‘Trojan Horse’ affair, education consultant Robin Richardson reflects on the factors behind its controversial recent inspections. The Trojan Horse story in Birmingham is one in which carelessness, incompetence, coincidence, opportunism, self-interest and sheer wickedness all play significant parts.
IRR News 23 May – 29 May 2014
Dear IRR News subscriber, In a week where extreme-right and anti-immigration parties have consolidated their presence in the European Parliament, we review two important reports on racial violence across Europe. The case studies provided by Amnesty International, Médecins du Monde and the Greek Council for Refugees are not only harrowing in themselves, but the way