A report published by Refugee Action explores the causes and effects of destitution among rejected asylum seekers in the UK. ‘The Destitution Trap’ is centred on interviews carried out with 125 people in nine cities in the UK by a team of independent consultants with extensive experience in the field of human rights and asylum.
Theme: Violence and harassment
Home Office still planning to send people back to Iraqi Kurdistan
Over the last ten days the Home Office has been arresting rejected Iraqi Kurdish asylum seekers in Manchester, Birmingham and Doncaster, presumably with a view to attempting another forced removal to Northern Iraq. This is happening at a time when the UNHCR is warning that Iraq cannot deal with the number of displaced persons it
‘Strangers into Citizens’ – for the regularisation of UK people without status
A campaign calling for an amnesty for irregular migrant workers has been launched. ‘Strangers into Citizens’ is a year-long campaign aimed at stimulating a public call for a government policy to introduce a one-off limited regularisation of the many thousands of people who have made new lives in the UK without having official status. Such
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
Enforcing the language barrier
Recent cuts to English language classes suggest that the government fears the integration of migrants more than it supports it. On 18 October the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) announced that it would no longer fund basic ‘English for Speakers of Other Languages’ (ESOL) classes. The essential free classes were massively oversubscribed. Namely, they were
Letter from the Netherlands
A contributor to the IRR’s European Race Audit writes on recent developments in the Netherlands. Dear IRR, ‘The party here in the Netherlands just keeps on getting better and better. Just when I thought I had heard it all, along comes immigration minister Rita Verdonk’s newest brain child. Regional police forces in the Netherlands can
Two landmark asylum judgements
Two important cases, reported this week, vindicate the rights of refugees to recognition and fair treatment. In the first case, the House of Lords upheld Zainab Fornah’s right to refugee status as a young woman from Sierra Leone who, after abduction and repeated rape by rebel soldiers during the country’s civil war, was threatened with
Profiling Muslim students is unlawful in Germany
British universities are being asked to inform Special Branch of the suspicious behaviour of ‘Asian-looking and Muslim’ students. But a court in Germany has already ruled that profiling Arab students, in the name of countering terrorism, is incompatible with the German Constitution. Post-September 11, Germany developed the most extensive systems of religious and racial profiling
Deported asylum seeker condemns Home Office from Iraqi Kurdish hospital
IRR News has been forwarded two letters from Iraqi asylum seekers who were deported last month on a military flight. ‘My name is Burhan Namiq, I was born on 6 March 1980 and am from Kadamfary in Sulaimanyha city, Kurdistan Iraq. I was deported from the UK in September 2006. Since returning to Kurdistan I
After the Swiss referendum
Nearly 70 per cent of those who voted in a referendum in Switzerland on September 24 said yes to reform of immigration and asylum laws. But the committee formed to oppose laws, which, according to UNHCR are amongst the harshest in Europe, has announced that it will build on the support of the 32 per