2006
Some stories
Human rights advocacy graduates speak out
Two days before Human Rights Day, sixteen asylum seekers and refugees graduated from an intensive human rights advocacy course.
14 December 2006 (831 words)
Ugandan gay rights activist struggles to stay
After enduring torture and imprisonment in Uganda and hardship in detention at Harmondsworth removal centre, a gay rights activist is still struggling to stay in the UK.
7 December 2006 (587 words)
Sergey Baranyuk forgotten at Harmondsworth
A recent inquest into the death of Ukrainian asylum seeker Sergey Baranyuk provided a glimpse of how asylum seekers are treated behind the closed doors of removal centres in the UK - detained, forgotten and slowly driven to despair.
7 December 2006 (1344 words)
Tributes paid to James Ozigi
Most Senior Apostle James Ozigi, general secretary of the Council of African and Caribbean Churches and chair of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church in the UK, has died in Nigeria.
30 November 2006 (430 words)
Forced deportations are leading to death and injury
The violence that arises out of forced deportation policies has been in the news in Austria, Germany and France where, last week, a police officer was convicted of the manslaughter of Ethiopian asylum seeker Mariame Getu Hagos in 2003.
28 November 2006 (1311 words)
Speaking out against poverty
On 6 December at Westminster Central hall, National Poverty Hearings will take place - an opportunity for those suffering from the effects of destitution to speak to those who can do something.
23 November 2006 (152 words)
What price justice?
A campaign has been launched to persuade the government to guarantee an adequately funded legal aid system ensuring quality representation and access to justice for all.
16 November 2006 (171 words)
Dedicated asylum legal advice for women
The Refugee Women's Resource Project at Asylum Aid has established a pilot scheme offering legal advice on asylum issues to women.
16 November 2006 (126 words)
Chronicler of Black history dies
Peter Fryer, the author of 'Staying Power: the history of black people in Britain' died on 31 October. His funeral is on Wednesday 8 November at 2pm at Islington Crematorium, High Road, East Finchley, London N2 9AG.
6 November 2006 (369 words)
Letter from the Netherlands
A contributor to the IRR's European Race Audit writes on recent developments in the Netherlands.
2 November 2006 (652 words)
Abiy Fessfha Abebe: 'I can't go back. I rather die'
On 20 September, a brief inquest was held into the death of Abiy Fessfha Abebe, a 35-year-old Ethiopian asylum seeker who was found hanged at Greenbank accommodation centre in Liverpool the day after he was told that his asylum claim had been refused. The coroner found 'it more likely than not he died by his own hand'.
2 November 2006 (634 words)
Two landmark asylum judgements
Two important cases, reported this week, vindicate the rights of refugees to recognition and fair treatment.
26 October 2006 (316 words)
Remembering Nasser Al Shdaida
Last week in Burgess Park, south London, the Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers (SDCAS), held a memorial service and tree planting ceremony for Syrian asylum seeker, Nasser Al Shdaida, who took his life earlier this year after his asylum claim was refused.
26 October 2006 (310 words)
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.
19 October 2006 (300 words)
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.
18 October 2006 (708 words)
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.
5 October 2006 (1883 words)
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 cent of the electorate which opposed the laws to create a more progressive approach to asylum.*
4 October 2006 (731 words)
Conference finds common cause
Over 250 individuals representing more than eighty organisations (listed below) attended the Institute of Race Relations' one-day conference, Racism, Liberty and the 'War on Terror' on Saturday 16 September.
21 September 2006 (609 words)
Iraqi Kurdish asylum seekers recount enforced removal
Two of the thirty-two Iraqi Kurds who were deported to northern Iraq on a military plane this week have given eye-witness accounts of their enforced removal.
7 September 2006 (461 words)
Bournemouth campaigner protests against arrest and strip search
A Black man, who has been campaigning against Dorset police since being sprayed with CS gas in his own car, and whose story was reported by IRR News in March, says he has been victimised again by police.
17 August 2006 (264 words)