Today, Iraqis will protest outside the Home Office against the government’s plan to begin deportations to Baghdad. IRR News spoke to one Iraqi asylum seeker about the hard choice between destitution and deportation. When Sady Hussein walked through the security barrier at the immigration court, he set alarm bells ringing. Worried officials searched him for
Theme: Education
Deportations ‘a second war against the Iraqi people’
The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR) has launched a campaign against the planned deportation of Iraqi asylum seekers from the UK, saying that the general climate of instability in Iraq, along with the lack of basic services, makes it dangerous to force Iraqis to return. The Home Office has announced that it plans to
Home from Home
Save the Children and Salusbury WORLD, a refugee children’s project based in Brent, London, have produced this guidance and resource pack for the welcome and inclusion of asylum-seeker and refugee children and families in schools. Around 4.5 per cent of school children in Greater London come from a refugee or asylum-seeker background. The policy of
Racial harassment on the rise in Scotland
Asylum seekers, refugees and settled migrants in Scotland have experienced a 75 per cent increase in racial harassment since April 2003. According to a report by Positive Action in Housing (PAIH), a Scottish housing charity, 28 per cent of its clients have suffered racial harassment. This represents an increase of 75 per cent on last
Roma are not safe in Bulgaria
A judgement from the European Court of Human Rights on 26 February, which found Bulgaria guilty of deprivation of life of two Roma, is due to have wide repercussions. It makes a mockery of Bulgaria being considered a safe country where human rights is concerned. Bulgaria is currently on the UK’s White List of countries
Asylum: a guide to recent legislation
The Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association has produced a valuable, easy-to-read new guide to recent legislation on asylum as at 1 December 2003. The document is not intended to equip readers with the knowledge to offer immigration advice, but to inform non-specialist lay readers, who need to supplement existing knowledge about potential implications of asylum law
Somali asylum seekers: Home Office gets it wrong two times out of five
The Home Office refuses to publish figures on what proportion of initial asylum decisions are eventually overturned on appeal. But IRR News estimates that, for some nationalities, two out of every five initial decisions are proven to be wrong on appeal: a shocking indictment of the Home Office’s decision-making process. A case in point is
Report on grant-making will affect community groups
A Review by the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts of grants made to the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC) by the Community Fund is likely to affect a number of voluntary groups in the future. The Review was set up after a second grant of £336,000 (following one of £191,000 in 1998)
Lobbying for change
23 February 2003 saw over 100 asylum rights campaigners and supporters lobbying parliament as the Asylum and Immigration bill was being debated in parliament. Campaigners heard from Jeremy Corbyn MP – ‘I feel constantly disgusted at the way we treat asylum seekers… the most serious part of this bill is the removal of rights of
A Gap in the Curtains
A Gap in the Curtains is a deeply moving collection of first hand stories from asylum seekers and refugees residing in York during 2003. They come from countries as diverse as Albania, China, Iran and Turkey, desperately in search of a place of refuge, by a variety of modes of transport to a strange and