Kirsten Heaven, barrister at Garden Court Chambers, writes about the deaths of foreign nationals in custody and the critical verdict in the recent inquest into the self-inflicted death of a young Darfuri in HMP Chelmsford. The existence of foreign national prisoners (FNPs) languishing in British jails and being released without consideration of deportation was brought
Deportation targets trump children’s rights
When the newly-elected government announced it would end the detention of children, IRR News cautioned against early optimism. This week’s developments explain why. The Guardian‘s exposé that the UK Border Agency (UKBA) plans to set up a £4 million ‘reintegration centre’ in Kabul for unaccompanied minors shows that when it comes to unaccompanied minors, it’s
Playing the Gypsy ‘race card’
The Con-Dem coalition has started an offensive against the most marginal and disadvantaged of all Britain’s minorities, Gypsies and Travellers. Putting aside brave new world soundbites on ‘freedom’, ‘fairness’ and civil liberties, the first wave of ‘efficiency savings’ has wiped out £30 million already offered to local authorities and housing associations to support the development
Poland: Reflections on the death of a street vendor
A Nigerian street vendor was shot dead following a police identity check in an open-air market in Warsaw. But is anyone asking the right questions? On 23 May 2010, Maxwell Itoya died in Warsaw after being shot by police in, as yet, unexplained circumstances. Itoya, a 36-year-old Nigerian, had lived in Poland for eight years.
Threatened closure spells disaster for refugees
Refugee and Migrant Justice (RMJ), the largest UK legal charity offering free advice and representation to asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants, is facing the real possibility of closure because of huge delays in payments for the work its lawyers do. Its closure would mean that the 10,000 or so asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants
Defend the remaining travelling Gypsies and Travellers, and Showmen
Below we reproduce a letter signed by campaigners and academics in protest at proposed funding cuts aimed at the Gypsy and Traveller communities. The coalition government has arrived with a progressive and civil liberties agenda. But not for the UK’s most deprived and discriminated against minority ethnic group – Gypsies and Travellers. Already the coalition
From Barking to Aberdeenshire
A renowned educationalist critiques recent Citizenship Foundation guidance for teachers on dealing with the BNP and other radical groups in schools. Speaking in parliament in November 2006, the secretary of state for education and skills, Alan Johnson, described Community Cohesion (which all schools in Britain have a legal responsibility to promote) in the following words:
The moving right show … again
A member of the South Yorkshire Migration and Action Group analyses how racist assumptions have been embedded by Labour politicians. The general election campaign focused on the big ‘I’ – immigration; but the underlying ‘common sense racism’ of media and political debate framed much of the public arguments. The political world after the election is
Harmondsworth expansion adds to risk
According to HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (HMCIP) Dame Anne Owers’ latest critical report, small improvements at Harmondsworth immigration removal centre (IRC) will be jeopardised by the opening of new prison-like accommodation there. Harmondsworth was the first immigration detention centre, where inmates were held in Victorian prison-like accommodation. It became a byword for brutality and
Congo Support Project funding appeal
The Congo Support Project is struggling to secure funding for its vital services. After recent grant applications were rejected, money for the everyday running of the Project, which provides a voice for the Congolese community in Britain, has become extremely tight, and there are increasing concerns about the possibility of continuing to offer the services