The captain of the MV Clementine Maersk, one of the largest container ships in the world, has been criticised in the tabloid press for bringing 27 refugees who were rescued in the Mediterranean Sea near Sicily, to the UK. According to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which has praised
Theme: Education
Supporting asylum seeker and refugee students – new developments
Last month, the General Teaching Council’s Achieve network held its largest event so far, a conference looking at issues related to supporting asylum seeker and refugee students. Sixty delegates attended the conference in London on 11 May 2005 and a similar number had to be turned away due to the high demand. The agenda for
Mounting criticism of detention of asylum-seeking children
In the last month, there have been a number of critical reports published into the detention of asylum-seeking children in the UK and the provision of care for them. Yesterday, Alvaro Gil-Robles, the European Commissioner for Human Rights, commented that ‘it is worrying… to note both the frequency and the duration of the detention of
Primary school children rally to save their friends from deportation
St John’s RC Primary School, Rochdale, is to hold a rally today as part of its campaign to prevent the deportation of seven asylum-seeking children and their families. School children will join a procession along the streets of Rochdale to a local church, where a mass will be held in support of children’s rights. Children
Asylum charities accuse Legal Services Commission of systematically denying access to justice
Campaigners are calling for all those concerned with asylum seekers and migrants to lobby their MPs to reinstate full access to legal aid. A dossier of evidence compiled by the charities Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) and Asylum Aid – entitled Justice Denied: Asylum and Immigration Legal Aid, A System in Crisis – documents the
Asylum death deemed misadventure
A jury has returned a verdict of death by misadventure following a three-day inquest into the death of Nariman Tahmasebi, a 27-year-old Iranian asylum seeker who was found hanged in Lewes prison in February 2002. Nariman Tahmasebi fled to the UK following a period of detention in Iran for his political beliefs. Refused asylum in
No duty to save immigrant lives, rules House of Lords
On Thursday 5 May, as voters went to the polls in a general election dominated by immigration and asylum, the House of Lords issued a judgment which effectively condemns hundreds of immigrants to a premature and painful death, according to human rights lawyers. Five Law Lords, sitting as the highest appeal court in the land,
Cameroonian journalist fears torture and jail if deported
A Cameroonian journalist says the BBC did not fully support him after his work for the World Service forced him to claim asylum. Thomas Nguanyi, a prize-winning journalist with the BBC World Service and a founding member of the Cameroon Association of Commonwealth Journalists, was hospitalised in early April after collapsing in detention at Harwich
National declaration against deportations of school students launched
Campaigners are calling for teachers, students and others in education to support a national declaration against the deportation of children and young people in schools and colleges. The last year has seen a wave of spontaneous protests by school students against deportations. At Mayfield school, Portsmouth, students led a campaign in support of Lorin Sulaiman,
15-year-old Daniel launches anti-deportation campaign
Daniel Sukula wrote to IRR News earlier this year to tell us of his fears of being deported to Congo. Now he asks readers to support his anti-deportation campaign. ‘My name is Daniel and I am 15 years old’, begins his letter. ‘I am writing this because me and my family face deportation to Congo.