News

American civil rights campaigner Reverend Jesse Jackson will address a press conference in east London on Thursday to publicly give his backing to the growing number of calls for an independent judicial inquiry into the current handling of deaths in police custody.

A number of agencies including Operation Hope and Recovery, The United Friends and Families Campaign, Inquest, Black Mental Health UK, Operation Black Vote and the Campaign 4 Justice have come together to stand with the families who have been affected by these tragedies.

We are heading towards the festive period with the less-than-brilliant news that  unemployment figures in the UK has hit a 17-year high following the loss of thousands of jobs in the public sector.

Official figures show 2.64 million people are now out of work with youth unemployment now standing at over one million. And economists fear the numbers are set to rise in the New Year. The Office for National Statistics said that the current unemployment rate of 8.3 percent was the highest since 1996.

Nearly six million people who are eligible to vote have not been registered according to the Electoral Commission.

The independent elections watchdog's research shows that the number of people not on the electoral roll has increased over the last decade. The report, released today, also shows that only 77 percent of the Black and Minority Ethnic community are on the register compared with 86 percent of white voters. Shockingly, just over a half of 19-to-24 year olds are signed up to vote while 2.6 million people wrongly believe they have been registered.

The family of Mark Duggan, the man who was shot dead by police in August, have no confidence in the official investigation into his death.

The Tottenham man's death, which is said to have triggered the summer riots that blighted London and other cities in England, is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Father-of-four Duggan was a passenger in a minicab which was stopped in Tottenham by police as part of a planned operation. He died of a single gunshot wound to the chest.

Reports that the Government is planning to use the criminal law to protect victims of domestic violence and forced marriages will be a welcome one for campaigners.

According to reports at the weekend, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is set to launch a consultation to consider proposals as to how domestic violence should be defined for these purposes. The consultation on forced marriage, the Daily Telegraph reported, is to be under the control of the Home Office and is expected to focus of introducing a specific criminal offence.

A documentary which looks at the underlying reasons behind the riots in August and the lessons that can be learnt from them is to be screened this week.

Riot From Wrong is an hour-long film made by Fully Focused production’s youth steering group. The project has been a four-month long project which included 45 hours of footage, 60 interviews with a variety of people across the country and more than 200 hours of editing.

A leading African human rights lawyer has received the alternative Nobel Prize.

Jacqueline Moudeina from Chad was honoured by The Livelihood Award for her tireless work in the country including her drive to bring former dictator Hissene Habre to justice.

Moudeina was honoured alongside Huang Ming from China, Ina May Gaskin from the USA as well as the not-for-profit organisation GRAIN at the 2011 awards which honours and supports those "offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing the world.

Racism in football has been the hot topic of the moment, with plenty of stories and incidents which indicate that discrimination in the sport, just as in society has not been fully eradicated.

Those who have felt the full force of racist abuse bear the physical and mental scars which cannot be eradicated. Black players in the 1980s were pelted with bananas and regularly faced abuse, even from their own fans. But what of the Asian experience? There has always been a concern about the lack of numbers in the professional ranks.

It has been a bad week for the English Defence League as members from the far-right group were given jail sentences.

In a week where members of the EDL and British National Party have hijacked the case of a woman accused of hurling racist abuse at tram passenger, the court appearances and sentencing of members of both far-right groups continues to show the nasty elements which exist in both groups.

Campaigners are continuing their call for those taken into police custody under the Mental Health Act not to have their DNA taken.

Black Mental Health UK (BMH UK) along with Big Brother Watch (BBW) and Gene Watch UK have written to Lord Henley calling to ensure that people taken into custody under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act do not have their DNA taken, in the same way as suspected criminals.