A new report examining the causes and extent of destitution in Scotland has found that hundreds of asylum seekers could be ‘saved’ from destitution if a few simple changes were made to the asylum process. The report, 21 Days Later: Application, Decision, Confusion, Deprivation, Destitution, was produced by the British Red Cross and the Refugee
Theme: Education
Mobilising healthcare professionals
A recent conference organised by Médecins du Monde UK (MdM) highlighted the campaign to provide access to healthcare for refused asylum seekers and undocumented migrants. The obstacles faced by undocumented migrants and asylum seekers in obtaining access to health care were discussed by around seventy doctors and other healthcare professionals, lawyers and others at the
Important legal ruling for refused asylum seekers
The Court of Appeal has ruled that hospitals have a discretion but not a legal obligation to provide treatment for refused asylum seekers. On 30 March 2009, the Court of Appeal handed down a ruling which contained both bad and good news for refused asylum seekers. The Court allowed the Department of Health’s (DoH) appeal
Underground Lives
This important report lifts the lid on the extreme poverty faced by refused asylum seekers in the UK. Destitute asylum seekers, who, according to the Home Office’s UK Border Agency (UKBA), have ‘chosen’ destitution because they fear the consequences of return to their home countries. The Leeds based organisation Positive Action for Refugees and Asylum
Steve Cohen 1945-2009
The anti-racist movement has lost one of its foremost fighters. Steve Cohen was not the easiest of men or the least controversial of campaigners, but he has left behind him a host of tangible achievements that few can rival. Unusually for today, he extended his notion of personal oppression, as a Jew, into an understanding
The case of Hicham Yezza
On 6 March 2009, Hicham Yezza, a university PhD student, was sentenced to nine months imprisonment after being convicted of ‘securing avoidance of enforcement action via deceptive means’. Hicham who was a university administrator, underwent a six week detention ordeal after being arrested in May 2008. The case raises many issues about civil liberties and
Week of protest against detention centres
This weekend will see protests taking place across the country against detention centres which hold asylum seekers. Saturday 21 March has been marked a nationwide day of action largely organised by the No Border network, a national network of locally-based groups campaigning ‘for the freedom of movement for all’. Two detention centres, Yarl’s Wood in
The ‘criminals’ who aren’t: getting the record corrected
Unknown numbers of asylum seekers, who were wrongly convicted of criminal offences, are unaware that they can apply to have their convictions quashed, but the government is doing nothing to help them, according to a group of migrant and refugee organisations. In the 1990s, as part of the drive to stop asylum seekers from coming
Exposing the new McCarthyism
A Suitable Enemy: Racism, Migration and Islamophobia in Europe deserves a slow and careful reading. Liz Fekete reaches into the unique archives of knowledge that she has personally accumulated together with the Institute of Race Relations over decades and provides a clear, detailed and insightful road map for those who want to navigate and understand
Building for deportation
The government is creating more ‘spaces’ at removal centres as part of its drive to deport more asylum seekers. In March 2009, giving oral evidence to a Commons Public Accounts Committee, Lin Homer, Chief Executive of the UK Border Agency (UKBA), said that a ‘higher proportion’ of deportations occurred of those in detention centres rather