Not suicide but an open verdict, was the pronouncement of coroner Leonard Gorodkin on the death of a failed asylum seeker, who walked in to the offices of Refugee Action in Manchester and set himself on fire. On 21 October 2004, Manchester Coroner’s Court heard that a verdict of suicide could not be established beyond
Theme: Education
‘I prefer to be killed here than go back to my own country’
A meeting at the House of Commons on 19 October saw the launch of a report on women’s experience of immigration detention in the UK. The report by the Bail for Immigration Detainees project and Asylum Aid’s Refugee Women’s Resource Project examines the experience of thirteen women asylum seekers, the majority from Africa, who were
Protection FROM refugees
Detention in Europe, published this week, by the Jesuit Refugee Service in Europe criticises European refugee policies as ‘repressive and restrictive’, and moving from the ‘protection of refugees’ to ‘protection from refugees’. The report which aims to achieve ‘freedom, security and justice not only for citizens of Europe, but also for refugees and migrants in
New Labour’s new racism
The government’s asylum and citizenship policies have resulted in an upsurge in racially motivated violence and police harassment. We are now faced with the end of asylum as we know it in this country. Asylum seekers’ rights and protections have been gradually abolished and are being replaced by a system of managed migration. At the
Death trap: the human cost of the war on asylum
The IRR publishes today a roll call of death of the 180 asylum seekers and undocumented migrants who have died either in the UK or attempting to reach the UK in the past fifteen years. No section of our society is more vulnerable than asylum seekers and undocumented migrants. Forced by circumstances beyond their control
Stealing a nation
A new documentary by John Pilger, to be screened next Wednesday, reveals how in the 1960s Britain secretly and brutally expelled the inhabitants of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean – so that the US could build a military base there. The largest of the islands, Diego Garcia, is now America’s biggest overseas military
Blair on asylum: myth vs. reality
In an article in today’s Times newspaper, Tony Blair sets out his plans for a massive increase in deportations of asylum seekers. Read the article paragraph by paragraph and the distortions and double-think on which it is based become clear. The title of the article: ‘Three steps we will take for a fairer asylum system’.
Books not bars for Rachid Ramda
Rachid Ramda, an Algerian asylum seeker, has been detained in Belmarsh maximum security prison for the last nine years – even though he has not been convicted of any crime. Rachid was initially arrested on an extradition warrant from France in 1995 in connection with bomb attacks in Paris. In June 2002, the High Court
Huge response to Omid Jamil Ali appeal
An appeal by an Iraqi family for the body of their migrant son to be returned home for burial, three years after he died trying to enter Britain, has received a strong response from IRR News’ readers. The necessary £3,100 has now been raised. Two weeks ago, IRR News reported on the plight of Jamal
Indefinite detention creates a ‘suicide culture’
A Scottish NGO is calling on Amnesty International and the UNHCR to investigate the ‘suicide culture’ at Dungavel detention centre. Dungavel detention centre in Scotland, one of three immigration detention centres to detain children, has now been open for three years. To mark those years, Positive Action in Housing (PAIH), a Glasgow-based charity, has produced