Below we reproduce the speech by the IRR’s director, A. Sivanandan, at the IRR’s fiftieth celebration conference on 1 November 2008. ‘History tells us where we came from and where we are at. But it also should tell us where we should be going. I’d like, therefore, to look at past struggles to see what
A Kenyan asylum seeker held at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre had a vital self-help guide confiscated by staff days before a crucial deadline for her case. Mercy Wanjiku [1], who fled from torture in Kenya, had three days in which to prepare and submit papers for an oral judicial review and, without a lawyer,
A new briefing paper from the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission on the British National Identity Scheme highlights the dangers of the ID cards project. Ever since the government proposed in 2005 the introduction of a national identity card scheme, civil liberties, human rights and anti-racist groups, and international NGOs have raised powerful and cogent
On Saturday 25 October, over 300 people marched on Downing Street to remind the Prime Minister about the number of deaths in police, prison and psychiatric custody. In the tenth annual march organised by the United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC), the demonstrators, mainly family members and the friends of those who have died, marched
The government has thrown out plans to hold inquests in secret. The proposal under the Counter Terrorism Bill would have allowed the Home Secretary to issue a certificate requiring an inquest to be held without a jury ‘in the interests of national security’. The inquest would then have been held in front of a specially
Liberty, the human rights organisation, has launched a new campaign, ‘Common Values’ which aims to increase awareness and understanding of human rights issues. Coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the campaign hopes to bring about a renewed appreciation of and respect for the need and function
An interview with Pierre Didier, president of the Social Forum of the Banlieues. Pierre Didier, who is active in the Lyon banlieue of Vaulx-en-Velin, is president of the Social Forum of the Banlieues. He is also a member of the Movement of Immigration and the Banlieues (MIB), and DiverCités, a campaigning coalition in Lyon of
For the second year running, French grassroots anti-racist associations joined forces to organise the Social Forum of the Banlieues (FSQP, Le Forum Social des Quartiers Populaires). This unique and exciting gathering, attended by over 500 people from across the country, was held over three days (3-5 October) in the northern Parisian suburb (banlieue) of Nanterre.
Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, hit the headlines the weekend before the Conservative party conference with his statement that multiculturalism had left a ‘terrible’ legacy on the UK. At the same time, he joined with the increasingly vocal constituency which promotes the assertion of ‘British values’ as a salve to the social malaise of
Leading UK charities have called on the government to act upon its promise of ending its discriminatory treatment of children seeking asylum. On 22 September, Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, announced that the government would remove its immigration reservation on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.[1] This reservation, which the UK entered
