Next week, campaigners will begin three days of action and campaigning at a protest camp near Brook House, a new removal centre for asylum seekers at Gatwick airport. Organisers say: ‘The camp, the first of its kind in the UK, will be an opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences, with numerous workshops, panels and other
Theme: Education
The cost of detaining asylum seekers in Australia
The impact of the Australian experience of detaining all asylum seekers in centres – the ‘Pacific Solution’ – has many parallels with what is happening in the UK. Below we reproduce the press release issued by Oxfam and A Just Australia on their new report, A Price Too High: The cost of Australia’s approach to
New report criticises ‘fast track’ asylum claims
A new report released by Bail for Immigration Detainees shows that women asylum seekers are set up to fail if their case is decided when they are in detention. Since May 2005, the Home Office has detained over 800 women in order to ‘fast track’ their claims for asylum. The report Refusal factory – women’s
Home Office removes Iraqis surreptitiously
On the three previous occasions in which military flights have been used to remove Iraqis from the UK, the Home Office has faced severe criticism. Now, it appears, small numbers of Iraqis are being quietly removed on other flights which are less open to public scrutiny. IRR News has learned that two or three Iraqis
What you can do
Possible actions on the proposed deportation charter flight to DR Congo. If any DR Congo refused asylum seekers are detained and given removal directions, it is suggested they seek legal advice immediately. It might be possible for each individual case to be challenged by way of further representations to the Home Office on the basis
Another deportation charter flight to DR Congo
In recent weeks, asylum seekers from DR Congo have been served with removal directions for a specially chartered flight on 30 August. Others have been given removal directions for 20 August. The DR Congo Country Guidance case The charter flight is taking place just weeks before the ‘BK’ case, which is a Country Guidance case
Protest statement against DRC deportations launched
Following the recent disappearance of Lufu Ndombasi after he was deported to the Democratic Republic of Congo, anti-deportation campaigners have launched a petition to stop a Home Office charter flight to Kinshasa in August. The statement reads: ‘We protest in the strongest possible terms at the plans to deport failed asylum seekers en bloc to
Legal action over Harmondsworth public inquiry refusal
Liberty, the civil and human rights organisation, has started legal proceedings on behalf of three detainees held at Harmondsworth removal centre in west London, who alleged that they were mistreated in the aftermath of a disturbance at the centre in November 2006. Liberty’s request for a public inquiry into the disturbance was refused in June
Remembering Babak Ahadi
Last week, the Iranian Refugee Association in Birmingham held a picket in memory of Babak Ahadi, who took his life in July 2005 after his asylum claim was dismissed by the Immigration and Asylum Tribunal (IAT) in Sheldon, Birmingham. Babak, 33, died in Frenchay hospital the day after he set himself alight at his NASS
Detention archipelago: jailing immigrants for profit
The US experience of detaining asylum seekers and migrants in centres operated by private companies has many parallels with what is happening in the UK. Below we reproduce an article that appeared in the May/June issue of the journal NACLA – Report on the Americas, on the private companies involved in the detention of asylum