Practical workshops, learning from past struggles against racism, are being organised by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) for newly arrived refugee/asylum seeker and migrant groups. Because of the success of the conference and a series of seminars held in 2006 and demand from new user groups, the IRR has received funding to run a
New report criticises age-assessment procedures for asylum-seeking children
Every year, thousands of individuals who arrive in the UK and claim asylum as separated children are age disputed and treated as adults. A new report, released by the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association, examines the reasons why age is disputed, current policy and procedures for the assessment of age by local authorities, and the implications
Building an anti-deportation campaign
A practical, political guide for those fighting to remain in this country has just been produced. The No One is Illegal campaign, based in Bolton, has created a 23-page, simply-written briefing document aimed at those who may face deportation or removal. It explains why using the law is not protection enough – ‘a campaign means
IRR News listed for investigative journalism award
IRR News’ original investigations into the incidence of suicide by asylum seekers was long-listed twice over for the Paul Foot award for campaigning journalism 2007. The research, undertaken by IRR News editor, Harmit Athwal, published as a series of documents on IRR News (Driven to desperate measures, ‘Roll call of deaths of asylum seekers and
John Berger: truth-sayer in an age of lies
A. Sivanandan welcomes John Berger, who read from a work in progress From A to X (love letters written to a political prisoner serving a life sentence) at an event on 4 October, entitled Against the Great Defeat of the World, to mark thirty-five years since the conception of IRR’s journal, Race & Class. ‘It
Access to healthcare should be a right, not a fight
The government is currently considering charging failed asylum seekers and undocumented migrants for NHS primary health care. A number of civil society organisations are concerned that such charges could prevent vulnerable people, including pregnant women and children, from accessing vital treatment. A briefing paper explaining the proposed changes and their potential impact can be downloaded
How liberals lost their anti-racism
Recent books by Nick Cohen and Andrew Anthony point to a new hard-nosed liberalism which targets British Muslims. A new sentiment has gripped the mainstream of liberal thinking in Britain over the last few years. It is an attitude that regards Muslims as uniquely problematic and in need of forceful integration into what it views
Part of the problem or part of the solution?
Why, asks a new report, was the Commission for Racial Equality’s policy shift on multiculturalism not subjected to a full race equality impact assessment? A national charity, the Public Interest Research Unit (PIRU), has published a 279-page report entitled Race Back from Equality questioning why the CRE (whose functions will be taken over next week
Iraqi asylum seeker killed two weeks after return
On 6 September, Solyman Rashed, an asylum seeker who had been deported to Iraq from the UK, was killed by a car bomb in Kirkuk, after only having been back in the country for two weeks. Solyman had been held in various immigration detention centres for fifteen months after being arrested in May 2006 when
Against the great defeat of the world
John Berger, internationally recognised as one of the most influential writers of the last fifty years, is appearing in London next week to give a rare and exclusive reading from his new novel: From A to X. The event, hosted by Race & Class, is taking place on Thursday 4 October at the New Theatre,