A school explores contradictions in attitudes to asylum seekers using video art. How would secondary school students react to finding out that one of their school friends was to be deported? And how would this help them reassess their beliefs about racism, belonging and asylum? As a Greater Manchester secondary teacher, I have been working
Theme: Education
Let’s talk to the media
A practical media guide for refugee community organisations and practitioners has been published by the Refugee Media Group in Wales. Refugee and asylum issues are too often portrayed negatively by certain UK media. And this is not simply a problem confined to the tabloids. Lets Talk to the Media aims to provide refugee community organisations
Sent to Coventry
There are hundreds of destitute asylum seekers in Coventry and possibly thousands nationwide who are without support, accommodation or the right to work, according to a recent report published by the Coventry Refugee Centre (CRC). ‘Destitution and asylum seekers: a human rights issue’ aims to draw attention to the increasingly desperate situation of many failed
The re-imagining of Britain
Life in the United Kingdom, A Journey to Citizenship, published in December 2004 by the Home Office, claims to assist people seeking British Citizenship, to integrate into Britain, by providing a ‘better knowledge of our way of life’. In reality it serves up to new Britons a cocktail of reinvented history and mythical nationalism. The
Secure and safe from harm?
Punched in the head and face, kicked in the abdomen, dragged along the ground, thumbs forcibly bent, pressure applied to the jaw and the neck, kneed and elbowed. It reads like the all too familiar catalogue of torture and abuse that has been widely reported as occurring at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and Mosul. According
Did delay in treatment contribute to the death of a Turkish asylum seeker?
The family of Elmas Ozmico, a Turkish asylum seeker, believe that earlier medical intervention might have saved her life. This is one of the questions the family desperately want answered at the inquest into her death. On 8 July 2003, a Turkish woman, 40-year-old Elmas Ozmico with her two children aged eight and nine and
The grim fate that awaits those deported to Congo
In an interview with IRR News, Congolese human rights activist René Kabala Mushiya alleges that asylum seekers deported to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) face prison and death. The plane lands at Ndjili airport, Kinshasa, in the dead of night – the better to avoid monitoring by journalists and human rights activists. Then the
Removals to Zimbabwe will put many at risk
The resumption of removals to Zimbabwe reflects a changing political climate in Britain rather than any lessening in the merits of Zimbabwean asylum claims. The government announced on 16 November 2004 that it was lifting the suspension on returns to Zimbabwe. Its spokesman said that ‘we suspended temporarily all enforced returns to Zimbabwe in 2002
Another asylum seeker dies in detention
Yet another asylum seeker appears to have taken his own life while in detention – bringing to four the number of asylum seekers who have died in self-harm incidents in British prisons or immigration removal centres so far this year. A week ago, on 7 November, Kenny Peter an asylum seeker (from either Liberia or
Did undue pressure on an asylum seeker lead to his suicide?
The suicide of an Ethiopian asylum seeker has led refugee support workers to question methods being used by government officials to gain information. Seife Yimene, a 24-year-old Ethiopian man who came to the UK in July 2004, was living in emergency accommodation in Newcastle while his asylum claim was being processed. He became very depressed