A new report by Amnesty International (AI) calls on the government to ‘justify the lawfulness of detention’ of each and every single asylum seeker in the UK. AI concludes that in many cases the detention of asylum seekers is ‘protracted, inappropriate and disproportionate’. The report, Seeking asylum is not a crime: Detention of people who
Theme: Health
Captain criticised for bringing refugees to Felixstowe
The captain of the MV Clementine Maersk, one of the largest container ships in the world, has been criticised in the tabloid press for bringing 27 refugees who were rescued in the Mediterranean Sea near Sicily, to the UK. According to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which has praised
Supporting asylum seeker and refugee students – new developments
Last month, the General Teaching Council’s Achieve network held its largest event so far, a conference looking at issues related to supporting asylum seeker and refugee students. Sixty delegates attended the conference in London on 11 May 2005 and a similar number had to be turned away due to the high demand. The agenda for
Mounting criticism of detention of asylum-seeking children
In the last month, there have been a number of critical reports published into the detention of asylum-seeking children in the UK and the provision of care for them. Yesterday, Alvaro Gil-Robles, the European Commissioner for Human Rights, commented that ‘it is worrying… to note both the frequency and the duration of the detention of
ID cards: implications for Black, Minority Ethnic, migrant and refugee communities
The Identity Cards Bill, introduced on 25 May 2005, is aimed at enabling the policing of a harder boundary of entitlement between British citizens and foreigners. The result will be the creation of a new under-class of those who are ‘sans plastique’. The government’s ID cards programme is being justified by the perceived need to
Primary school children rally to save their friends from deportation
St John’s RC Primary School, Rochdale, is to hold a rally today as part of its campaign to prevent the deportation of seven asylum-seeking children and their families. School children will join a procession along the streets of Rochdale to a local church, where a mass will be held in support of children’s rights. Children
Asylum charities accuse Legal Services Commission of systematically denying access to justice
Campaigners are calling for all those concerned with asylum seekers and migrants to lobby their MPs to reinstate full access to legal aid. A dossier of evidence compiled by the charities Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) and Asylum Aid – entitled Justice Denied: Asylum and Immigration Legal Aid, A System in Crisis – documents the
Worries over DNA and racial profiling
Black men are four times more likely than White men to be on the national DNA database and there is growing concern about racial profiling in criminal investigations. The police national DNA database (NDNAD), launched in 1995, now contains almost three million profiles. The prospect of everyone providing a DNA profile for the database is
Asylum death deemed misadventure
A jury has returned a verdict of death by misadventure following a three-day inquest into the death of Nariman Tahmasebi, a 27-year-old Iranian asylum seeker who was found hanged in Lewes prison in February 2002. Nariman Tahmasebi fled to the UK following a period of detention in Iran for his political beliefs. Refused asylum in
No duty to save immigrant lives, rules House of Lords
On Thursday 5 May, as voters went to the polls in a general election dominated by immigration and asylum, the House of Lords issued a judgment which effectively condemns hundreds of immigrants to a premature and painful death, according to human rights lawyers. Five Law Lords, sitting as the highest appeal court in the land,