Why the new London mayor’s culture adviser can hardly be regarded as a step up from the old mayor’s equality adviser. Let me declare from the outset, I have a vested interest in writing this. I find Munira Mirza hard to stomach. I don’t know her personally, I have never even seen her. But every
Theme: Sport
Condemning the unborn
British asylum policies are condemning increasing numbers of children to illness, poverty and deprivation before they are even born. On the top floor of a high-rise flat in Leeds a young mother sits with her newborn child. Unlike most new mothers she is not surrounded by cards and flowers. Nor is she surrounded by well-wishers.
What to do in the event of an asylum-seeker death
A guide on what to do in the event of the death of an asylum seeker has been published by the Institute of Race Relations. This 13-page briefing paper, Asylum deaths; what to do next (pdf file, 232kb), by Harmit Athwal, contains information as to where in the system asylum seekers are most at risk
Access to healthcare should be a right, not a fight
The government is currently considering charging failed asylum seekers and undocumented migrants for NHS primary health care. A number of civil society organisations are concerned that such charges could prevent vulnerable people, including pregnant women and children, from accessing vital treatment. A briefing paper explaining the proposed changes and their potential impact can be downloaded
Medical Justice launch party
The fun was definitely put into fundraising at the launch party of campaigning charity Medical Justice at London nightclub Cargo on 3 July. Featuring a musical line-up good enough to coax even the most uncharitable of folk out on a school night, Cargo’s bare brick arches were filled with hundreds of people dancing to a
Scotland’s BME resource library
Edinburgh-based voluntary organisation Minority Ethnic Carers of People Project (MECOPP) has launched a national resource library for Black and Minority Ethnic (BME ) communities, supported by the Big Lottery Fund, which holds information on a variety of health and social care issues. While MECOPP works specifically to support BME carers in the Lothians, the new
National continence charity tackles under-representation
Education and Resources for Improving Childhood Continence (ERIC), the national charity providing information and support on childhood problems of bedwetting, daytime wetting, constipation and soiling, is anxious to extend its work within Black and minority ethnic (BME) communities. Around one in twelve young people in the UK are affected, but it has become apparent that
Roll call of deaths of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants, 1989-2010
IRR has, since 1989, been recording the deaths of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants – two of the most vulnerable sections of our society – as a result of attempting to enter the UK, self-harm, denial of medical treatment, destitution, hazardous working conditions or racist attacks. Forced by circumstances beyond their control to seek a
Kenny Peter’s inquest points to asylum failures
On 15 September, an inquest found that yet another asylum seeker had taken his life in detention. Unusually, in such cases, in addition to a self-harm verdict, the jury also listed the numerous ways in which the system, supposed to care for vulnerable detainees, had failed to do so. Kenny Peter, a 24-year-old African asylum
A day in the death of an asylum seeker
IRR News reports on the recent inquest into the death of an Ethiopian asylum seeker found hanged in September 2004, just hours after being taken to hospital by friends because he had suicidal feelings. Almost once a month in the UK, an asylum seeker, wracked with anxiety about the possibility of being returned and worn