In just a few weeks, Slovakia will join the European Union. But already, with rioting in the impoverished Roma communities of eastern Slovakia, the country is reeling from the effects of ‘restructuring’. Good news for the Slovak government. South Korean car manufacturer Hyundai has announced that it will build its first European factory in Zilina,
Racial harassment on the rise in Scotland
Asylum seekers, refugees and settled migrants in Scotland have experienced a 75 per cent increase in racial harassment since April 2003. According to a report by Positive Action in Housing (PAIH), a Scottish housing charity, 28 per cent of its clients have suffered racial harassment. This represents an increase of 75 per cent on last
Roma are not safe in Bulgaria
A judgement from the European Court of Human Rights on 26 February, which found Bulgaria guilty of deprivation of life of two Roma, is due to have wide repercussions. It makes a mockery of Bulgaria being considered a safe country where human rights is concerned. Bulgaria is currently on the UK’s White List of countries
Asylum: a guide to recent legislation
The Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association has produced a valuable, easy-to-read new guide to recent legislation on asylum as at 1 December 2003. The document is not intended to equip readers with the knowledge to offer immigration advice, but to inform non-specialist lay readers, who need to supplement existing knowledge about potential implications of asylum law
Concern at spate of jail deaths
In one eight-day period in February, three young Asian men died while in the custody of British prisons. And all three deaths were, apparently, self-inflicted. Are these deaths signs of a growing crisis of British Asians in the prison system? First, on 20 February, Sajjad Hussein, 20, was found hanged in his cell at Lancaster
Somali asylum seekers: Home Office gets it wrong two times out of five
The Home Office refuses to publish figures on what proportion of initial asylum decisions are eventually overturned on appeal. But IRR News estimates that, for some nationalities, two out of every five initial decisions are proven to be wrong on appeal: a shocking indictment of the Home Office’s decision-making process. A case in point is
Report on grant-making will affect community groups
A Review by the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts of grants made to the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC) by the Community Fund is likely to affect a number of voluntary groups in the future. The Review was set up after a second grant of £336,000 (following one of £191,000 in 1998)
Scandal of coerced sterilisation of Romani women
As evidence emerges of gross violations of Roma rights – women are being sterilised without their informed consent – Roma leaders like Rudko Kawczynski of the Roma National Congress are asking why Brussels did not make better conditions for the Roma a condition for the accession of the ten central and eastern European countries to
Lobbying for change
23 February 2003 saw over 100 asylum rights campaigners and supporters lobbying parliament as the Asylum and Immigration bill was being debated in parliament. Campaigners heard from Jeremy Corbyn MP – ‘I feel constantly disgusted at the way we treat asylum seekers… the most serious part of this bill is the removal of rights of
A Gap in the Curtains
A Gap in the Curtains is a deeply moving collection of first hand stories from asylum seekers and refugees residing in York during 2003. They come from countries as diverse as Albania, China, Iran and Turkey, desperately in search of a place of refuge, by a variety of modes of transport to a strange and