A new booklet co-published by The Corner House, Ilisu Dam Campaign Refugee Project and Peace in Kurdistan explores how UK foreign investment creates refugees and asylum seekers. This is one of the most exciting and challenging recent books on refugees. Exciting because for the first time groups of Tamil, Kurdish, Somali, Afghan and other refugees
Theme: Education
Indefinite detention without trial upheld
On 28 October 2003, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) upheld the detention of ten men detained without trial or charge under the Anti Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001 (ATCSA). In total, sixteen men have been arrested under the ATCSA since it became law on 14 December 2001. The men cannot be deported and
New deterrent measures for asylum seekers condemned
Measures announced by Home Secretary David Blunkett and Constitutional Minister Lord Falconer on 27 October to reduce further the numbers seeking asylum in Britain have been condemned by refugee groups and human rights lawyers as inhuman, discriminatory and incompatible with the Refugee Convention. The measures include: new criminal offences for those destroying or disposing of
Australia must release the names of the 353 dead!
On 19 October 2001, 146 children, 142 women and 65 men lost their lives when the small, grossly-overloaded Indonesian fishing boat, in which they were travelling, capsized and sank as they sought to flee persecution in their homelands and rebuild their lives in Australia. Since the time of the sinking many questions have been raised
Forced deportation of Roma
A well-respected Roma political organiser and twenty-five other Czech Roma are to be deported to the Czech Republic on 25 October, despite the fact that by next May the Czech Republic will be part of the European Union. Ladislav Balaz, chairman of the Trans-European Roma Federation has, like many of the other Roma threatened with
Canary Islands tragedy: did the RAF put border security before human safety?
An official inquiry was prompted in Spain after twenty-one migrants, trying to cross from the North African coast to the Canary Islands, drowned in two separate incidents in June. Their boats capsized after being intercepted by Spanish patrols. But now questions are being asked about the role of British planes deployed in the region as
Freedom Rides Again
Once again people are riding in buses across America to protest against a lack of civil rights. This time it is migrant workers drawing attention to their lack of security and freedom in the US. The Immigrant Workers Freedom Rides are the first ‘freedom rides’ the country has seen since the 1960s. The original freedom
Stories of Migration
As part of a three-year project entitled Local Stories / Global Times, Birmingham-based Banner Theatre has been working with asylum seekers in Sandwell in the West Midlands and Salford in Greater Manchester to create Migrant Voices, a new piece of multimedia documentary theatre based on their real-life experiences. The show is touring in October during
Reviewing anti-terrorist laws
The Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC) has recently submitted evidence to the Privy Council which is reviewing the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001. Its submission,Terrorising minority communities: ‘anti-terrorism’ powers, their use and abuse, examines how legislation disproportionately affects refugee and migrant communities and argues that the legislation is undemocratic and discriminatory. The submission contains
Destitute Iranian dies after suicide protest at refugee charity
Yet another asylum seeker has taken his own life after suffering misery at the hands of the British asylum system. Israfil Shiri had been thrown out of his Salford council flat and been denied benefits, under the government’s tough new rules. He set himself alight last week in the offices of Refugee Action in Manchester