A report on the inspection of Haslar Immigration Removal Centre, conducted in May by Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers, has elucidated a number of serious concerns regarding the safety, accommodation and legal representation of detainees. Some custody staff at Haslar, which is run by the Prison Service on behalf of the Immigration and Nationality
Theme: Health
‘This policy is ripping apart our family’
Here we reproduce a speech given by 19-year-old Flores Sukula to a meeting in parliament on 17 October. She is an asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), whose family (mother, brothers and sisters) was one of the first to be made destitute under new asylum laws. ‘Our lives are very difficult now.
It’s anti-racism that was failed, not multiculturalism that failed
No country in Europe could be more proud of its multicultural experiment than Britain. But, in the wake of 7 July, or rather because Blair refuses to accept that the war in Iraq could have played a part in breeding home-grown suicide bombers, multiculturalism has become the whipping boy. And the more he divaricates from
Letting the words come out
The Write to Life project of the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture has published A story from There to Here in which thirteen refugees record their experiences as short stories. Established in 1997 as a therapeutic writing group, Write to Life now has twenty clients and seven volunteer professional writers. Its
Racial violence after 7 July – week 13
Incidents of racial violence and harassment over the last two weeks 4 October 2005: Police arrest three people on suspicion of perverting the course of justice in connection with the murder of Black teenager Anthony Walker in Huyton, Merseyside. (BBC News 4.10.05) 30 September 2005: The Inquiry into the racist murder of Zahid Mubarek at
‘Scandalous’ UK immigration practices claim another family
The deportation, this morning, of the Vucaj family to Kosovo has been condemned by supporters who have led a vociferous campaign to keep them in Scotland. The Kosovan family were fighting deportation following a dawn raid on their family home in Scotstoun, Glasgow on 13 September. The Vucajs, who have been living in Scotland since
Celebrating the Black radical tradition
To mark Black History Month, the Institute of Race Relations publishes Cedric Robinson and the philosophy of Black resistance – a special issue of Race & Class dedicated to one of the world’s outstanding thinkers on the history of Black struggle. Professor Robinson, one of the most challenging Black academics in the US, has also
Black History Month events 2005
A selection of Black History Month events taking place across the UK in 2005. Friday 30 September, Africa Friday Late, an evening themed around the contemporary culture of Africa. The highlight will be a ‘Fashion in Motion’ where the work of leading fashion designers from Africa will be shown. There will also be an African
Racial violence after 7 July – week 11
Incidents of racial violence and harassment in this, the eleventh week since the London bombings. 21 September 2005: 31-year-old Gareth Lukey admits racially aggravated disorderly conduct after forcing an Asian businessman staying at the same hotel as Lukey to empty out his luggage, while accusing him of hiding a bomb, just days after the London
Vigil for Manuel Bravo at Yarl’s Wood
On Saturday, 17 September, two days after 35-year-old Manuel Bravo, an Angolan asylum seeker, was found hanged in a stairwell at Yarl’s Wood removal centre in Bedford, campaigners held a vigil at the centre in his memory. On Thursday 15 September, Manuel Bravo who had been detained at the centre overnight with his 13-year-old son,