The recent intervention of the Home Secretary in the dealings of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) shows a worrying disregard for the rule of law. The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, had been battling with judges at the SIAC (the court which hears appeals against national security deportation) at the end of February 2009, when
Theme: Violence and harassment
New teaching materials on Black history
Innovative lesson plans based on key documents from within the IRR’s Black History Collection can now be downloaded from its website. Teachers of Citizenship and History and anyone interested in Black history in the UK are invited to use the resources that have just been created around items selected from the Institute of Race Relations’
Speaking for the youth of the banlieues
An interview with Abdul Zahiri, an activist with ACJ REV in Avignon. At the Social Forum of the Banlieues (FSQP) at Nanterre, Paris, in October 2008, Naima Bouteldja interviewed Abdel Zahiri, 28, an activist living in a banlieue populated by 20,000 people, in Avignon (southeast France). He is a member of AJC REV, a local
A Muslim feminist in France speaks out
An interview with Zahra Ali, president of Al Houda, a Muslim women’s organisation. During the Social Forum of the Banlieues (FSQP), in October 2008 at Nanterre, Paris, Naima Bouteldja interviewed Zahra Ali, 22, the president of Al Houda, a Rennes-based Muslim women’s organisation. Zahra, a student, is preparing a dissertation on the emergence of a
Coroners and Justice Bill
Some provisions in this vast, unwieldy Bill threaten to undermine still further civil rights and protections, particularly for victims of state violence. The Coroners and Justice Bill, which had its second reading in the House of Commons on 26 January 2009, is a massive hotchpotch which deals with child pornography, defences to homicide charges and
New report reveals serious flaws in asylum process
A National Audit Office report confirms many long-standing complaints made by refugee and campaigning groups about unfairness in the asylum process. The report from the National Audit Office (NAO), Management of Asylum Applications by the UK Border Agency, is concerned with value for taxpayers’ money, and at first sight therefore is not a promising source.
Crusade against the undocumented
Every day, across the UK, aggressive raids are being carried out at workplaces to root out those without papers. Britain’s ethnic restaurant sector is under attack from government officials who, in their single-minded drive to meet ever higher targets for deportation, have no interest in the impact of their policies on small family businesses or
Government U-turn on ‘single identity group’ funding
The government has quietly announced a U-turn on a controversial proposal to withdraw funding from organisations which work for only one ethnic group and not across groups. The draft proposal issued by Hazel Blears in February 2008 suggested that funding (both governmental and private) be re-focused specifically towards organisations which complied with the government’s community
Travellers awaiting court appeal speak of racism and prejudice
Traveller families living on Dale Farm in Essex are facing what they describe as an outpouring of racism and prejudice as they await a Court of Appeal decision on their threatened eviction. The site at Dale Farm houses some ninety families, all of whom will be evicted if Basildon District Council is successful: it is
Remote controls against refugees
A new report by the Refugee Council examines how border controls are endangering the lives of refugees. The report, Remote Controls: how UK border controls are endangering the lives of refugees, traces the development and effect of the obstacles put in the way of asylum seekers fleeing to safety in the UK and Europe, and