Calling for a fair new plan for refugees
As we head towards a General Election, we are proud to have added our name to the Fair Begins Here promise from the coalition campaign Together With Refugees.
As we head towards a General Election, we are proud to have added our name to the Fair Begins Here promise from the coalition campaign Together With Refugees.
We are dismayed at the passing of the Safety of Rwanda Bill, which declares Rwanda to be ‘safe’ despite the opposite finding by the Supreme Court, and in doing so allows the UK government to put people seeking asylum at great risk by sending them there.
Last week, the Home Office shamefully discredited the findings of our report, written jointly with Humans for Rights Network, which provided detailed evidence of the irreparable and profound harm caused to residents housed in the asylum camp at Wethersfield airfield.
As representatives of medical humanitarian and healthcare organisations, we call on the government to urgently abandon its plans to push through its ‘Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill’, which risks exposing men, women, including pregnant women, and children to irreparable harm.
We are appalled that the government is continuing to push the Safety of Rwanda Bill through the House of Commons. Those who could be sent to Rwanda include people who have endured the worst of human cruelty in their countries of origin or during their arduous journeys to the UK, or often both. It is inhumane to send them to a third country which they know nothing about, and which has a track record of human rights abuses. This includes sending people back to countries where they were persecuted.
We are deeply saddened at the news that a man died by suicide on the Bibby Stockholm Barge. We are however not surprised. This was as predictable as it was tragic.
Many survivors, who have already endured terrible exploitation and abuse, have struggled to get the secure status and support they need. However, new information about a Home Office secret policy and u-turn on previous commitments have shown just how bad the situation has got.
The government has been pushing the use of X-ray and MRI scans to find out the age of young people seeking asylum. NGOs and medical bodies have raised serious concerns that these so-called ‘scientific methods’ are not just inaccurate but potentially harmful.
Despite mounting opposition, the government remains determined to house people seeking asylum in large scale ‘accommodation centres’ on former military bases, causing significant harm to those who have already survived arduous journeys to reach the UK.
As a coalition of 290 organisations we condemn the passage of the Illegal Migration Act, and stand in solidarity with all who will be affected.
The Home Office agreed to withdraw, review and revise its new policy that required a potential victim of trafficking to provide ‘objective’ evidence for their trafficking experiences in order to receive a first stage decision under the National Referral Mechanism (NRM).
This Government, through the ‘Illegal' Migration Bill, seeks to strip those fleeing war, persecution and human rights abuses of their right to seek safety in this country. It seeks to destroy long held principles of fairness in our justice system – that of access to the courts and equality before the law. The Helen Bamber Foundation and Asylum Aid will resist the passing and implementation of this Bill with all the means at our disposal.