Title: Institute of Race Relations

Source/Sponsoring Agency: Institute of Race Relations

URL: http://www.irr.org.uk/

Date Checked: 1/6/2011      Status: Active

Date Annotated: 1/5/2011

Topics: Civil Rights; Human Rights Law

Other keywords: Immigration Law

Contents: Founded in 1958 as an independent educational charity, the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) had an original mission of collecting resources, performing research, and disseminating information on race relations throughout the world. In 1972, IRR transitioned from an academic-style institution into a think-tank devoted to “responding to the needs of Black people and making direct analyses of insitutionalised racism in Britain and the rest of Europe.” The IRR continues its research and analysis work reflecting the realities of those who suffer racial oppression. The website provides information about and access to IRR’s publications and research. IRR publishes two journals, Race & Class and the European Race Audit. Race & Class is a multidisciplinary quarterly journal looking at “racism, empire and gloabalisation.” Recent articles cover racial profiling, migrant labor in Canada, and imprisonment of foreign nationals. The European Race Audit includes an array of briefing papers addressing topics of asylum, refugee rights, and civil liberties. IRR’s current research addresses racism in both Britain and Europe. In Britain, the IRR is researching racial violence, self-harm of asylum seekers, and deaths of persons while in police or hospital custody. The focus in Europe is emerging racism, including xeno-racism and Islamophobia. Material on the site, or linked to related websites, is organized for topical access. Topics include policing, employment, managed migration, and national security. Users should also be aware that IRR maintains a library collection housed at the University of Warwick that includes books, pamphlets, and journals. Known as the Sivanandan Collection, the catalog for it is available on the site. Another collection, housed at the IRR, provides materials on Black history. The collection includes posters, leaflets, campaign materials, flyers, and newspaper clippings from the 1950s through the 1980s. Topics include labor unions, the Black Power movement, and education. The catalog for the collection is available on the site.

Author of Annotation: M. Morrison