Immigration - new material (89)
01 April 2008
Human Rights at the Southern Border. Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos de Andalucía March 2008. This APDHA annual report monitors violations of human rights that occur in border areas, particularly with regards to the migration routes that lead to Spain from the southern borders. The report was compiled through a collection of data from the media, statistics released by the government, information provided by partner organisations in Morocco, Africa and the Canary islands, and in-house research conducted through APDHA missions on the ground. Available: http://www.apdha.org/
Agenda de la Diversidad [Guide for Diversity]. Mugak June 2008. This is a directory of sources related to immigration and media professionals. It seeks to make the diversity existing in society visible, promoting the leading role of minorities with their own voices to enable them to feel represented as part of the media and of society itself. This is done by promoting the involvement in society and the media of diverse people and collectives. The guide is a tool that seeks to enable journalists to have rapid access to people connected with migratory processes and to become aware of the possibility of promoting their visibility as subjects and sources of valid information to talk about countries of origin or of their situation as immigrants, while accepting their possible involvement as expert and professional sources in each of their fields of social or professional specialisation. At the same time, this tool enables access by these minorities to those professionals who are participating in this initiative.
11 Million: the Children's Commissioner's findings and recommendations regarding the care of unaccompanied asylum seeking children in the London Borough of Hillingdon. The Children's Commissioner, March 2008, pp. 40. This report examines the situation of approximately 6,035 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in England, the majority of whom are located in London and the southeast. It concludes that many have fled persecution only to find themselves deprived of support in the UK. Addressing Hillingdon council, the home of Heathrow Airport and about 1,000 asylum seeking children, the Commissioner voices issues raised by the children, which include: "isolation; the lack of an independent visitor; frustration at not being able to access additional educational courses; problems with getting health needs addressed; a lack of clarity about their legal status under the Children Act 1989; the lack of allocated social workers; and a lack of knowledge about care plans, pathway plans, the content of these plans, and the role of independent reviewing officers". See: http://www.childrenscommissioner.org/documents/Hillingdon_FINAL4.pdf
Fit for Purpose Yet? Report of interim findings Chris Hobson, Jonathan Cox & Nicholas Sagovsky. Independent Asylum Commission, 2008, pp 110. This report by a committee of experts concludes that while the asylum system is "improved and improving" it is "still unfit for purpose" (using the words of former Home Secretary John Reid in 2006). Its key conclusions are: "The system still denies sanctuary to some who genuinely need it and ought to be entitled to it; is not firm enough in returning those whose claims are refused; and is marred by inhumanity in its treatment of the vulnerable." It is particularly critical of the restrictions leading to a lack of legal representation for asylum seekers and problems with legal aid that had "forced many law firms to withdraw from offering advice on asylum claims as they do not believe they can operate effectively within the new restriction of only being able to claim for five hours work per case", (p37). Available as a free download at: http://www.independentasylumcommission.org.uk
Immigration, Faith and Cohesion. Hitanthi Jayaweera and Tufal Choudhury, Joseph Rowntree Foundation March 2008. This report is based on research carried out with migrant communities in Bradford, Birmingham and Newham into claims, in official reports following the 2001 urban disorders, that a lack of community cohesion was a key underlying factor. Among the report's conclusions is that the "perceived need to teach 'common values' to migrants may be overstated."
Immigration law update, Alan Caskie. SCOLAG Legal Jourmal no 64 (February) 2008, pp. 41-45. Review of significant court cases from Scotland and England in the fields of asylum and immigration and nationality law.