Asylum Update September 18th 2009
18 September 2009
Research
Language, Asylum, and the National Order by Jan Blommaert in Current Anthropology Vol 50 No 4. Research based on the case study of a Rwandan refugee in the UK.
Mental health care needs of refugees by Craig, T.; Jajua, P. M.; Warfa, N. in Psychiatry Vol 8; No 9.
Lesser youth? Particular universalisms and young separated migrants in East London by Sinha, Shamser and Uppal, Shruti in the Journal of Youth Studies Vol 12. No. 3.
- See summary of this report in our RAL database.
The CHALLENGE project: Final Policy Recommendations on the Changing Landscape of European Liberty and Security by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) provides a summary of the main policy implications arising from this research in relation to the Stockholm programme and the Common European Asylum System.
Policy and Law
In a recent Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) judgment, it was considered that a lesbian woman from Albania ‘will only establish a right to refugee status if she can establish that the apprehended violation of her fundamental rights is likely to attain a substantial level of seriousness'.
See
- Phil Woolas comments on UKBA treatment of LGBT asylum claims
In this recent ruling, the Court of Appeal established that trivial offences committed by refugees could not rationally be considered 'particularly serious', as to justify deportation. See comments by the Institute of Race Relations
The Refugee Council has updated the following policy briefings:
The UK Borders Agency has launched a public consultation on the fees it charges for its immigration and visa services.
The European Commission has presented a proposal to allow access to EURODAC for police forces and Europol. EURODAC is the database that holds the fingerprints of asylum seekers in Europe.
- Read the reports by the European Commission here and here.
- Read the European Parliament's Resolution of 12 December 2007 on the fight against terrorism
The European Commission has also presented an Impact Assessment of the recently proposed Joint EU Resettlement programme . See also:
- The Commission's working document on this proposal.
Events
Wednesday October 14th, 12.30pm to 3pm, The Centre for Disability and Social Inclusion at City University, London: Seminar on US and UK routes to employment for disabled people: a comparative analysis. RSVP to Doria Pilling
Positive Action in Housing Ltd has started its Autumn/Winter 2009 season of Equality & Diversity Training. Visit for information or e mail Zandra Yeaman.
Resources
‘Asylum in Europe: Now it's up to you' is a leaflet by ECRE and UNHCR with key facts and figures on the asylum process in Europe.
Curriculum guide for Somali. This guide draws on recent policy developments in language teaching, including the Key Stage 2 Framework and the Key Stage 3 Strategy, and is linked to the Languages Ladder.
The Refugee Council's multilingual site has been updated.
