Two asylum-seeking students who were forced to leave their school because of harassment are now facing deportation. Last September, a police investigation was launched at Parkside Community College in Plymouth, after a group of forty White students chanted ‘P*kis Out’ en masse in the school playground. The level of racism in the school had been
Theme: Health
Telling it like it is
In the week that the government announced a fall in the number of asylum seekers coming to the UK, the Scottish Refugee Council released a guide on The truth about asylum. The pocket guide, Tell it like it is: The truth about asylum published by the Scottish, Welsh and English Refugee Councils and Student Action
Deportation of dedicated community worker opposed
Earlier this week, a campaign was launched in Manchester town hall to support the right to stay in the UK of Perparim Demaj, a Kosovan asylum seeker. Perparim arrived in the UK in 1998 after fleeing persecution in Kosovo and was granted temporary leave to remain. He came to Manchester, where he learned English and
Campaign to reduce risk of prostate cancer in Black men
Macmillan Cancer Relief aims to provide information to target prostate cancer awareness within the Black male community. A new Toolkit for health and social care professionals is intended to implement cultural sensitivity and encourage more Black men to seek help. A new manual has been launched by the cancer charity to combat the high prevalence
Black British history: Remembering Malcolm’s visit to Smethwick
Forty years ago this week, Malcolm X visited Britain, just a short while before his untimely death. IRR News looks back. By February 1965, Malcolm had broken with his former idol Elijah Muhammad of the Nation of Islam and, having completed his tour of Africa and visit to Mecca, carried with him a spirit of
Fire cover cuts could affect Black communities
Local firefighters and the Fire Brigades Union are concerned that the West Midlands Fire Service’s plans to reduce fire cover could endanger the lives of vulnerable communities, especially Black and Minority Ethnic families and businesses, in some of the most deprived areas of the region. Andy Dennis, chair of West Midlands Fire Brigades Union, told
Citizens’ enquiry into service provision at Lunar House
Earlier this week, South London Citizens, an alliance of trade union branches, faith communities, schools and student groups from six south London boroughs, launched its own ‘citizens enquiry’ into service provision at the Immigration and Nationality Directorate offices at Lunar House in Croydon. The enquiry is to take oral and written evidence and will consider
Campaign launched for full access to HIV services for migrants
The Terrence Higgins Trust has launched a campaign to highlight the needs of migrant HIV sufferers who are being denied public healthcare under current NHS regulations. In April 2004, new NHS charging regulations were introduced to limit HIV treatment. The new regulations were a response to allegations of ‘treatment tourism’ – the idea that people
Desperate asylum seeker takes own life
At the end of January, an inquest into the death of Kurdish asylum seeker Ako Mahmood Ahmed recorded a verdict of suicide. He died after jumping from a bridge at a Coventry shopping centre in August 2004. Ako Mahmood Ahmed arrived in the UK in May 2004 and was ‘dispersed’ to Coventry in June where
No apology as courts expose double discrimination
In December, the Law Lords found that the government disciminated against Roma in immigration controls and against foreign nationals in anti-terrorist detentions. Together, the judgments reveal a mindset that has not changed since the creation of a ‘Fortress Europe’ in the 1980s. In two landmark legal judgments, the House of Lords, Britain’s highest court, has