The French government’s last-minute U-turn on a joint Franco-British deportation charter flight to Kabul organised for 6 October was a victory for refugee and migrant rights groups. Widespread public protest greeted the proposed deportation to Kabul of over one hundred former residents of the woodland squatted area of Calais known as the ‘jungle’ following its
Theme: Health
Stop MI5 blackmail!
As MI5 celebrates its centenary, its lack of legal or public accountability was the subject of an important public meeting. On 30 September, a packed meeting at the Camden Centre heard accusations of illegal and secretive activities on the part of the security services, who allegedly tried to blackmail six British youth workers of Somali
Blow to Black mental health in Birmingham
A petition is to be delivered to Downing Street in protest at the forced closure of Birmingham’s only Black-led community mental health service. Omnicare, a provider of mental health services to Birmingham’s Black community for a quarter of a century, will close its doors to patients after a two-year battle with Birmingham City Council to
Destitution shame
A report from the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) examines the human misery caused by destitution. ‘No home from home: homelessness for people with no or limited access to public funds’ finds that the government is not complying with international human rights norms in its treatment of new European citizens, refused asylum seekers, victims
TB kills ex-Colnbrook detainee
The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) has recently published a report into the death of a Zimbabwean man in September 2008 who had been released from Colnbrook immigration removal centre (IRC) a few weeks before his death. The unnamed 32-year-old Zimbabwean man came to the UK in 2002 on a visitors visa which he overstayed.
Prison teacher victim of new McCarthyism in Belgium
The Platform for Free Expression in Belgium is demanding to know why a language teacher at Saint-Gilles prison in Brussels, who has spoken out against anti-terror laws and the demonisation of Muslims, has been banned from prisons on security grounds. Four university professors have launched a petition to support 57-year-old Luk Vervaet who, on 10
Bad science?
The UK Border Agency is trialing a controversial isotope analysis to determine nationality. The UK Border Agency (UKBA) plans to test people’s nationality by isotope analysis, according to an announcement made on 11 September by the Central Operations and Performance directorate. The ‘Human Provenance Pilot Project’, scheduled to run for ten months from 14 September
Study shows more Leeds asylum seekers left destitute
After conducting research on destitution among asylum seekers in Leeds in 2006 and 2008, the Joseph Rowntree Trust has published a third report which shows that the situation is getting worse. The report, titled Still destitute: a worsening problem for refused asylum seekers, uses data gathered from agencies offering support to asylum seekers over a
UN Human Rights Council listens to migrant voices
A special session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva has heard calls for an end to the criminalisation of irregular migration and the detention of migrants from NGOs, UN experts and governments of the south. On 17 September a migrants’ rights network was given a rare chance to tell the United Nations (UN)
The human cost of inhuman policies
Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) has issued a moving report on the experiences of those held in immigration detention. Some of the questions which immediately spring to mind on reading this heartbreaking and shaming report are: how can this situation have been allowed to arise? how can it be allowed to continue? how can we