- Advocacy and campaigning Initiatives
- Government and Parliamentary updates
- Reports and research
- Resources, events, jobs and training
- What we’re reading, watching and listening to
- Advocacy and campaigning Initiatives
Refugee Week
A great big Happy Refugee Week to all of our friends and partners, and most especially to the wonderful Refugees and people in the asylum system that have chosen to make the UK their home.
Don’t forget to check for events in your local area this week and celebrate sanctuary.
Fight for Asylum Rights
Resilience in Focus: Stories of Strength from Refugee Week Ambassadors
During Refugee Week, we’re celebrating the extraordinary resilience of people who have sought safety and built new lives in the UK and beyond. From Agnès’s defiant activism to Amanda’s journey to live openly as her true self, the Refugee Week Ambassadors remind us that empathy, perseverance, and advocacy are powerful forces for change. Their stories of survival, strength, and leadership are a testament to the courage it takes not only to rebuild but to lift others as they rise.
Watch and listen to their stories here.
Urgent Delays Denying Justice: The Appeals Backlog Crisis
The 80% surge in the immigration tribunal appeals backlog, now at 90,000 cases, leaves thousands of asylum seekers in an unbearable state of uncertainty. This significant delay hinders their ability to rebuild lives and is a serious concern for the fairness of our asylum system. Our Fight for Asylum Rights campaign urges immediate action to ensure timely and just decisions for all individuals seeking protection. Read the full article here.
Solidarity Not Strangers
As part of our work to push back against incessant anti migrant rhetoric, with partners we’re working to build solidarity and resistance at a community level under Solidarity Not Strangers. This is designed to be an intersectional statement of solidarity with Migrants, LGBTQI people, Disabled people and any groups scapegoated for political gain. The pledge is still open for signatures, and we’ve developed these shared assets that are free for anyone to use. Look out for further campaigning actions coming very soon.
Migrants Rights Network have this statement open for signatures in response to the hugely distressing racist violence in Northern Ireland
Communities Not Camps
Some residents at the Wethersfield camp in Essex have received letters from the Home Office rejecting requests for asylum support on the grounds that they are ‘in an immigration removal centre’ – despite the camp not being designated as such. Meanwhile, the BBC is reporting that the Government is considering expansion of the site, despite opposition from MPs from across the political spectrum as well as campaigners and rights groups. The Helen Bamber Foundation’s latest briefing – Asylum Accommodation in Wethersfield, two years on – calls for immediate closure of the camp and reveals new data showing 393 safeguarding referrals there in the first three months of 2025.
2. Government and Parliamentary updates
Minister appears in front of Home Affairs Select Committee
Minister Angela Eagle and senior Home Office officials appeared before the Home Affairs Select Committee’s inquiry on asylum accommodation, facing questions on contract compliance, Stay Belvedere, profits, monitoring, safeguarding and plans going forwards, with the Minister stating she has ’clocked’ the upcoming contract break clauses. The Chair of the Committee has also commented on the pledge to end the use of hotels in the Spending Review, saying ‘Targets on their own are not enough, they need to be delivered’. Coverage here and here, you can watch the session here.
Westminster Hall debate on Child Poverty and No Recourse to Public Funds
Olivia Blake MP brought a debate on this issue into Westminster Hall, highlighting the pernicious effects of NRPF on migrant children and women, data gaps and the need for the child poverty strategy to address this issue. Coverage here, watch here and read here.
3. Reports and research
No access to Justice: mapping the UK’s continuing immigration and asylum legal aid crisis
Dr Jo Wilding has produced this follow up report to her 2022 ‘No access to justice’ report, examining immigration and asylum legal aid and other free or low cost services in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The report includes a comprehensive region by region analysis of demand and provision, identifying gaps, and recommendations for key stakeholders.
‘I told them the Truth’ – an update on Humans For Rights Network’s report on the criminalisation of people crossing in Small Boats in partnership with Refugee Legal Support, Border Criminologies and Captain Support
4. Resources, events, jobs and training
As it’s Refugee Week there are thousands of wonderful events throughout the UK. Please check the schedule here.
Jobs
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Our friends at NACCOM are advertising for a Head of External Affairs closing on 8th July
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Star are looking for new Trustees and a new Trustee Board Co Chair. Details here. Deadline 11th July
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New Citizens Gateway are seeking an Advice Team Manager and an Outreach Support worker – Deadline 22nd July
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We’re recruiting for a Yorkshire Campaigns Manager, with two weeks left to apply
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5. What we’re reading, watching and listening to
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The latest issue of Exodus – produced by refugees and people seeking asylum for the community and covering news, sector and system developments, arts, sport and more!
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The latest episode of Desert Island Discs featuring the indefatigable Lord Alf Dubbs
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This from Rene Cassin on lessons from the Kindertransport
