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This week Lacuna returns to migration against the backdrop of the worsening refugee crisis across Europe.

Focusing on the UK, in The Man in Room Six our writer-in-residence Rebecca Omonira interviews a mentally ill detainee who is seriously disturbed by the death of a fellow detainee. His detention raises important questions about the government’s use of the policy. Detention Without Walls is a short documentary which tells the individual stories of former detainees. In Protesting Detention Keira Koroma meets some of these protestors at an action outside Yarl’s Wood immigration detention centre.

Further afield, in Trapped: Eritrean and Sudanese Refugees in Israel Naomi Clugston reports on the Holot detention camp in Israel where the government arbitrarily detains asylum seekers. And in About North Korea Charlotte Bailey interviews playwright Mia Chung about her new play ‘You For Me For You’, which tells the story of two sisters from North Korea, bringing to the life the psychological battles facing migrants fleeing horrific circumstances.

And in our creative section, Clare Lavery challenges the stunted use of language in the mainstream media when it comes to discussing migrants and migration. Her poem Uprooting explores the notion of movement, searching for a home and finding a new voice amid the hate and anger often directed towards migrants and refugees.

Guest lecture by Yasmine Ahmed, Rights Watch UK

On Thursday 11^th February, Yasmine Ahmed, director of Rights Watch UK, visited Warwick to deliver a lecture on “Why Human Rights Matter: the UK’s human rights record from Belfast to Basra.”

Drawing on Rights Watch UK’s long experience working on human rights issues in Northern Ireland and elsewhere, Yasmine’s talk explored British counterinsurgency practices and the ways in which practices first encountered in Northern Ireland have been “exported” to operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The recent case of Keyu and others v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (2015) brought an all-but-forgotten war crime by British troops back into the public spotlight. The decision of the Supreme Court in Keyu was that ECHR jurisdiction did not apply to the actions of British troops in Malaya in 1948. This was undoubtedly a disappointing outcome for the families concerned, but it also stands as an important reminder of the value of the ECHR and of the Human Rights Act in providing oversight and enforcement over military operations today.

Yasmine’s talk was inspiring and insightful, and much appreciated by the audience. We hope to welcome her again soon!

We are also looking for a student (or 2 students working together) to produce a film of the week of events which will take place in week 10 entitled 'Protest and Performance Week'. The film will creatively explore the ideas, thoughts, conversations etc. which take place across the week, for publication in Lacuna Magazine. We are able to pay students at standard research assistant rates (£10 per hour approx.). If you are interested, please send a CV and covering letter of no more than 500 words, explaining your experience and how you would go about filming the week of events to J.Harrison.3@warwick.ac.uk no later than Friday 4 March at 6pm.