The impact of the Australian experience of detaining all asylum seekers in centres – the ‘Pacific Solution’ – has many parallels with what is happening in the UK. Below we reproduce the press release issued by Oxfam and A Just Australia on their new report, A Price Too High: The cost of Australia’s approach to
Theme: Health
New report criticises ‘fast track’ asylum claims
A new report released by Bail for Immigration Detainees shows that women asylum seekers are set up to fail if their case is decided when they are in detention. Since May 2005, the Home Office has detained over 800 women in order to ‘fast track’ their claims for asylum. The report Refusal factory – women’s
Home Office removes Iraqis surreptitiously
On the three previous occasions in which military flights have been used to remove Iraqis from the UK, the Home Office has faced severe criticism. Now, it appears, small numbers of Iraqis are being quietly removed on other flights which are less open to public scrutiny. IRR News has learned that two or three Iraqis
Gypsies and Travellers and the equalities debate
The equalities world is in a state of flux, with a wide-ranging debate triggered by the Discrimination Law Review and questions about the future of multiculturalism. Two campaigners for Travellers’ rights highlight the possible implications for Gypsies and Travellers. Gypsies and Travellers have been described as one of the most marginalised minorities in society, as
Slavery museum opens in Liverpool
An International Museum of Slavery will open in Liverpool this week to mark the bicentenary of the abolition of the British slave trade – the first national museum in the world to deal with transatlantic slavery and its legacies. It will open on 23 August, Slavery Remembrance Day 2007, a day that commemorates the uprising
What you can do
Possible actions on the proposed deportation charter flight to DR Congo. If any DR Congo refused asylum seekers are detained and given removal directions, it is suggested they seek legal advice immediately. It might be possible for each individual case to be challenged by way of further representations to the Home Office on the basis
Another deportation charter flight to DR Congo
In recent weeks, asylum seekers from DR Congo have been served with removal directions for a specially chartered flight on 30 August. Others have been given removal directions for 20 August. The DR Congo Country Guidance case The charter flight is taking place just weeks before the ‘BK’ case, which is a Country Guidance case
Protest statement against DRC deportations launched
Following the recent disappearance of Lufu Ndombasi after he was deported to the Democratic Republic of Congo, anti-deportation campaigners have launched a petition to stop a Home Office charter flight to Kinshasa in August. The statement reads: ‘We protest in the strongest possible terms at the plans to deport failed asylum seekers en bloc to
Kala Tara
An important new resource for History, Citizenship and English teachers, based on interviews with former members of Britain’s Asian Youth Movements and fellow activists, explores how Asian communities across Britain successfully resisted racism and fascism in the 1970s and 1980s. Produced as Part of the Second Generation Asians Resisting Racism Project, Kala Tara: a History
Birmingham parents challenge educational underachievement
More than 70 concerned parents, teachers, governors, councillors and local people came together in Digbeth, Birmingham, last week to discuss how to get local schools to do better for their underachieving pupils. The meeting was co-ordinated by mother-of-two Naseem Akhtar, who wanted to see how much community interest there was in an issue she has