David (also known as Sonia) Burgess, an immigration lawyer who died in tragic circumstances on 25 October 2010, will long be remembered for his pioneering work defending the rights of migrants and asylum seekers. The firm he helped to set up in 1975, Winstanley Burgess, soon set the standard for all legal aid immigration practices
Theme: Education
Roll call of deaths of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants, 2005 onwards
IRR has, since 1989, been recording the deaths of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants – two of the most vulnerable sections of our society – as a result of attempting to enter the UK, self-harm, denial of medical treatment, destitution, hazardous working conditions or racist attacks. Forced by circumstances beyond their control to seek a
Asylum seekers wrongly imprisoned
A recent case[1] reveals that refugees are still being prosecuted and imprisoned for using false documents in their quest for safety, eleven years after the courts declared the practice unlawful. An Iranian man goes on a demonstration and is beaten up, detained and tortured for sixteen days. Relatives organise his escape, and he is bundled
Deportation imminent – detention indefinite
The futility of indefinite immigration detention is laid bare in a recent report by the London Detainee Support Group (LDSG), No Return No Release No Reason. The report, No Return No Release No Reason, launched in September 2010, updates London Detainee Support Group’s previous report about the UK Border Agency’s (UKBA) detention practices. It focuses
Full list of deaths during deportations from Europe
We publish a full list of all those who have died during deportation from European countries. There have been fourteen deaths (twelve men and two women) since 1991 during forced deportations. The official cause of death in most cases was positional asphyxia or cardiac arrest. Of the fourteen that died, ten were Africans (of which
Driven to Desperate Measures
The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) publishes today a report on deaths of asylum seekers and migrants which damns government policies for putting vulnerable people at risk. On Tuesday, an Angolan asylum seeker died during his deportation. But this is not an isolated case. According to IRR’s report, Driven to Desperate Measures: 2006-2010, forty-four people
A. Ragunathan 1931-2010
The IRR is very sad to announce the death of one its most stalwart of volunteers, A. Ragunathan, brother of IRR director A. Sivanandan. Until ill-health overtook him, this retired world-renowned marine engineer (who had given of his expertise to ports and docks in thirty-six countries, most of them in the Third World) beat a
Accelerated removals
Research from the Institute of Race Relations, including a review of 38 asylum- and immigration-related deaths in Europe over 18 months, shows the human cost of EU moves to slash budgets for refugee integration and accelerate the pace of removals – thereby undermining international conventions. In its report, Accelerated removals: a study of the human
Immigration detainees failed by system
An important new report from Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID), A nice judge on a good day: immigration bail and the right to liberty, reveals the systemic failures within the Home Office and the legal system which consign detainees to oblivion for months or years. Liberty is regularly proclaimed as one of the most important
Asylum battles: two victories and one setback
The rights of asylum seekers were upheld in two recent court judgments – but those facing deportation on national security grounds were denied justice in a third. In the first case, the charity Medical Justice (MJ) challenged the UK Border Agency (UKBA)’s practice of snatching refused asylum seekers, including children, and removing them from the