果冻传媒

Lacuna this week takes another look at some of the human rights impacts of austerity measures and welfare reform in the United Kingdom.

In , James Harrison reflects on how the Foodbank phenomenon was (mis-)used as a key symbolic election issue. He argues that it is absolutely vital we take the role of emergency food aid more seriously in post-election Britain.

is the first in a three part series by Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi. She examines how welfare reform, personal debt, poorly paid work and unaffordable housing are leading to evictions for many people across Britain.

In , Khadra Aden vividly portrays the Sisters Uncut campaign which argues that austerity is highly gendered in impacting on the most vulnerable women, particularly those who have suffered from domestic violence. The article includes a number of images from the protest which capture the campaigning spirit of the women involved in the protests.

On Thursday 14th May at the 果冻传媒 (12.00pm - 1.30pm in R1.13, Ramphal Building) and Centre Co-Director will lead a session entitled "Food charity: Undermining Human Rights?".

The session will explore the dangers that food charity poses for the long term protection of human rights in the United Kingdom. It will also consider ideas for how to transform public policy and civil society action on food poverty and related policy issues so that human rights are better promoted in the future.

James's thoughts will be based on his piece "" which has been viewed more than 7,500 times in Lacuna Magazine and re-published in the New Statesman and Open Democracy.

This week Lacuna showcases two articles which explore different aspects of the migration crisis and tragic deaths at sea in the Mediterranean.

Dallal Stevens is an academic in the Law School at 果冻传媒 University who has been researching and writing about immigration and asylum issues for more than 20 years. In she explains why the European Union’s response to the refugee crisis in Southern Europe is inadequate. Instead of focusing solely on border control and deterrence, leaders must develop a longer term and more humane response.

Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi was recently shortlisted for the for her work reporting on Britain’s most vulnerable communities, including asylum seekers and refugees. In she argues that we can learn from US asylum and immigration debates where there is a serious challenge to the idea that people can be illegal. That same challenge is urgently needed now in the UK.