A recent meeting in the House of Commons gave a fillip to the campaign against secret evidence in terrorism cases. In a packed committee room in the House of Commons, on 30 March 2009, MPs, lawyers, journalists, human rights campaigners and activists listened to testimonies (read by actors) from five men whose lives have been
Theme: Health
Important legal ruling for refused asylum seekers
The Court of Appeal has ruled that hospitals have a discretion but not a legal obligation to provide treatment for refused asylum seekers. On 30 March 2009, the Court of Appeal handed down a ruling which contained both bad and good news for refused asylum seekers. The Court allowed the Department of Health’s (DoH) appeal
Integration or differentiation? Ponderings of an economic migrant
Scott Poynting, an Australian who teaches at Manchester Metropolitan University, reflects on the UK’s attitudes to ‘foreign’ workers. Listening to the BBC News last night (yes, immigrants pay the licence fee, too), I was surprised to hear about the £50 levy on non-EU migrants and students for all the drain that we supposedly cause on
Underground Lives
This important report lifts the lid on the extreme poverty faced by refused asylum seekers in the UK. Destitute asylum seekers, who, according to the Home Office’s UK Border Agency (UKBA), have ‘chosen’ destitution because they fear the consequences of return to their home countries. The Leeds based organisation Positive Action for Refugees and Asylum
Steve Cohen 1945-2009
The anti-racist movement has lost one of its foremost fighters. Steve Cohen was not the easiest of men or the least controversial of campaigners, but he has left behind him a host of tangible achievements that few can rival. Unusually for today, he extended his notion of personal oppression, as a Jew, into an understanding
The case of Hicham Yezza
On 6 March 2009, Hicham Yezza, a university PhD student, was sentenced to nine months imprisonment after being convicted of ‘securing avoidance of enforcement action via deceptive means’. Hicham who was a university administrator, underwent a six week detention ordeal after being arrested in May 2008. The case raises many issues about civil liberties and
Week of protest against detention centres
This weekend will see protests taking place across the country against detention centres which hold asylum seekers. Saturday 21 March has been marked a nationwide day of action largely organised by the No Border network, a national network of locally-based groups campaigning ‘for the freedom of movement for all’. Two detention centres, Yarl’s Wood in
Pro-Palestinian campaigners arrested after racism allegation
On 12 March, police raided the homes of activists in Swansea and arrested two people on suspicion of ‘conspiring to commit racially aggravated criminal damage’. This was no racial attack in the conventional sense and was not an attack on any person. The two people arrested are members of Swansea Action for Palestine. And their
The ‘criminals’ who aren’t: getting the record corrected
Unknown numbers of asylum seekers, who were wrongly convicted of criminal offences, are unaware that they can apply to have their convictions quashed, but the government is doing nothing to help them, according to a group of migrant and refugee organisations. In the 1990s, as part of the drive to stop asylum seekers from coming
Faith schools survey follows report criticisms
Ofsted has been ordered to carry out a survey of some faith schools, weeks after a critical, right-wing report was published on Muslim schools. Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, has ordered Ofsted to carry out a survey of a small selection of independent faith schools to examine how they