David Corlett’s Following them home: the fate of the returned asylum seekers is an invaluable addition to the, as yet, scant body of literature that tracks the fate of failed asylum seekers under reckless western deportation programmes. It is particularly important that a UK readership notes this Australian book, as so much of Europe’s asylum
Theme: Education
A Dickensian classic set in Bedfordshire
In true Dickensian fashion, a new report reveals the appalling treatment of society’s forgotten victims, namely female rape survivors and torture victims held at Yarl’s Wood Removal Centre. 15 December saw the launch of the findings of an investigation into the conditions provided for women detained at Bedfordshire’s Yarl’s Wood Removal Centre and the neglect
Couple challenge removal on compassionate grounds
The Scottish wife of a failed Mauritian asylum seeker has launched a campaign to keep her husband in the UK. Lynda Donald met Mahmad Salim Yadun four-and-a-half years ago when he moved from London to her native Aberdeen for work purposes and the pair married a year later. Salim had fled from Mauritius in 1992
Flores hands in petition to Home Office
19-year-old campaigner Flores Sukula, of Bolton, went to the Home Office in London this week to hand in a petition of 2,500 signatures in support of her family’s anti-deportation campaign. Five of the Sukula family’s six children – including an eleven-month-old baby – face being taken into care as a result of support being withdrawn
Desperately seeking asylum
In June 2005, the author interviewed five Sudanese men, all but one of whom had been failed by the UK asylum procedures. ‘I am 27, no 28′, said Salah when I met him in June 2005. He looked 35 and spoke no English. Through the interpreter, Hassan, Salah told me he felt utterly frustrated and
Bail applications begin for men detained under anti-terror laws
On 6 December 2005, a small group of campaigners held a picket outside the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) to mark the start of bail hearings of some of the (many) foreign nationals, asylum seekers and refugees detained under anti-terror laws. Bail applications were made on behalf at least five men, four Algerians and a
Deportation is Freedom!
A new book castigates immigration controls for their Orwellian connotations. On 18 October 2005, the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal ruled that deportations to Zimbabwe put failed asylum seekers at risk and should cease. The end of the matter, you would think. And yet, last week, the case of RA was being heard at York House
Extraordinary support for Hata family
Wigan Council is to hold an Extraordinary Council Meeting on Wednesday 7 December 2005 in order to propose two motions in support of asylum-seeking families that have lived in Wigan. The plight of the Hata family has been well documented in the media. Sara Hata fled to the UK in 2002, following a five year
Pressure to end returns to DRC
Over fifty people, mainly asylum seekers from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), demonstrated outside the Home Office following the broadcast of a BBC radio documentary on the fate of asylum seekers who are deported back to the DRC. Jenny Cuffe, the World Service programme-maker, went to the DRC and interviewed people who had been
More law, fewer rights
Another Bill dealing with immigration, asylum and nationality will seriously erode rights, according to immigration lawyers and organisations working with refugees. Appeal rights lost The Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill, which had its third Commons reading on 16 November, will remove entirely the rights of appeal of those refused permission to stay as students, workers