Artin

Last October, four people from a single family died when their boat sank in the English Channel. Rasoul Iran-Nejad, 35, Shiva Mohammad Panahi, 35, Anita, nine, and Armin, six. 15-month-old Artin was missing. This week, his body was found on the coast of Norway. In 2015, Nilufer Demir's photograph of three-year-old Alan Kurdi focused our …

Colloquium on the UN and the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda 28.04.21

Please note, these are my own notes and are not complete.I made them for my personal use and have decided to share for those who may be interested in some of the points which came out of this colloquim. Hosted by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Rwanda to the United NationsChair:  Valentine Rugwabiza, …

The Lost Rights of Brexit – 8 so far and counting

Midnight, January 1st 2021EU citizens were not simultaneously handed Removal Directions. There was no 10-mile-long queue at the ports. And the shops were not empty. But there were losses, and they are at risk of being overlooked in the pandemic. Rough sleepersOn 1st January, it became legal to deport EEA nationals with temporary permission to …

Safe and legal routes

My reply from MP Thérèse Coffey calling for safe and legal routes to the UK: "Thank you for contacting me about migrants crossing the English Channel. The Home Secretary has said that we must make this route unviable in order to secure a long-term solution to the issue. The National Crime Agency, Border Force and …

Refugee news summary: Europe’s ‘shield’

Europe Greek-Turkish border European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen used  the language of the far-right earlier this month when she called the Greek border Europe's 'shield.' Josep Borrell, EU foreign policy chief, told asylum seekers and migrants not to come to the border. After Turkey 'opened the doors to Europe', Greece suspended new asylum …

Make this election less racist

Days away from the election and not a single party has shown itself aware of the racism ingrained inside every issue in this country. The overt white supremacists -  our Prime Minister and the Conservatives, and the Brexit Party - are unapologetically on or above the red line. They're dangerous and simply stonewall concerns. Jeremy …

Expat or immigrant?

The threat to the dam has receded. The power is back on. The residents of Whaley Bridge, homeless for almost a week, have returned, and the blackout at Ipswich Hospital is over. "We have been overwhelmed by the generosity and community spirit shown from across the High Peak and beyond,” High Peak Borough Council said. …

Today

  Something happened Today Which set the cat among the pigeons and fluttered the dovecote Stop! Listen! How on earth do we respond? Armageddon awaits, if we get this wrong! So Let us put a loony up against an expert Let them both be white and middle aged and male Let us draw swords and …

Refugee Week 2019 – one year on

  A year ago, I posted a summary of global news about refugees and migrants. It was a horribly depressing picture. On the eve of Refugee Week 2019, it feels like nothing has changed and a lot has got worse   2018: The Guardian published a list of 34,361 people who died trying to reach …

Greta Thunberg’s Quiet Revolution

At last! Thank God for Greta Thunberg and her quiet revolution. History is filled with radically quiet, quietly radical women, overlooked first by its male guardians then by the ‘strong women’ movement – fantastically welcome, but in danger of excluding the mild, the shy and the dull (a charming adjective ascribed to Dorothy Hodgkin by …