Trade unions call for Safe Passage
Trade unions call for Safe Passage Open letter on refugees and campaigning against racism The continued demonisation of refugees and the dangerous rhetoric employed by senior government figures is now spreading the risk to life beyond the Channel. The disgraceful mobilisation on 10 February 2023 by the far right to terrorise refugees in Knowsley is a direct consequence of the words and actions of the government. Fascists have become emboldened. The government must change course to prevent them advancing further. In December 2022, four people died in the English Channel whilst attempting to cross in a small boat. This tragedy …
“Safe Routes Now” say UK public
The majority of the UK public (58%) support safe routes for refugees to travel to the UK in order to apply for asylum, according to a new YouGov poll commissioned by the refugee charity Care4Calais. An amendment to the Illegal Migration Bill calling for Safe Passage will be debated in Parliament today. Support for safe routes rises to 77% amongst Labour voters and 78% amongst Liberal Democrat voters. The YouGov poll also shows that 65% of the UK public are sympathetic towards refugees seeking a safer life for themselves and their families. And 70% of the UK public believe £40.85 …
Meeting the King
Last week our friend Aziz received a mystery invitation to an event at the local community centre. The person in charge didn’t explain and told him not to tell anyone. Aziz was bemused but said ok. He’s an open, friendly and easy-going guy, a 28-year-old refugee from Sudan whom Care4Calais supported before he received his leave to remain. Now he doesn’t have to worry about his asylum case any more he’s busy carving out a career as an artist. But as it turned out, he used this event to share some very important experiences. When he arrived at the centre, …
Clear-up operation in Dunkirk
Today we did a special clear-up operation in Dunkirk after police evicted hundreds of refugees. Evictions happen often in Dunkirk and Calais, as the authorities persist with this cruel and ineffective way of deterring refugees from gathering. They’re always upsetting, but this one was particularly hard for the refugees here because there was next to no warning. That meant they didn’t have time to pack up their tents and belongings, so a huge amount of people’s possessions were left behind. It was horrible to see clothes, shoes, toys and other things from people’s lives just scattered around on …
Emergency Appeal: Snow in Calais
Today Calais woke up with snow covering the frozen ground, and bitter gales hammering the sites where refugees are living in flimsy tents. The conditions are horrific and likely to get worse. Right now there are nearly 2,000 women, men and children sleeping rough here in northern France, many of them without adequate clothing, footwear or shelter. The nights are cold, and the days little better. The ground is heavy, wet mud, and to make things worse, unexpected police evictions have forced people to flee some sites, leaving tents and possessions behind. When it’s this cold it takes clothes days …
“We had to come on a boat”
This is Mina. She’s a seven-year-old Kurdish refugee from Iraq, super-bright, absolutely bursting with life, and one of the bravest little girls I’ve ever known. I met her at a clothes distribution. She was tugging at my sleeve to show me her school badge and tell me how much she loved her new English school. She likes drawing and painting best, she said, but she gets good marks “in most things.” “I’ll be there tomorrow, ” she said. “I can’t wait.” She chattered away about all sorts – favourite colour (pink), her new shiny shoes, how her dad built PCs …
Rishi’s new (?) plan for small boats
Tomorrow the Government is expected to launch its most draconian anti-refugee legalisation yet, as Rishi Sunak bids to make the UK off-limits to any refugees other than those his government hand-picks. It is anticipated that under the new laws, people arriving on small boats will: • Have their asylum claims made automatically ‘inadmissible’ • Be subject to mass detention • Be removed to a third country as soon as practicable • Be permanently banned from returning to the UK • Be unable to use family rights laws to stop deportation This raises immediate practical issues. • Firstly, mass detention may …
VIAN, a Refugee Environmental Project
This remarkable environmental project, run by refugees, is one of the friendliest, most energetic and cheerful groups you could imagine, doing something rather extraordinary in a little corner of the English countryside. These refugees are from countries like Iran, Namibia, Iraq, Sudan and Afghanistan. Together they pick up litter – and not just from pavements but from tree roots, ditches, canals and streams. ‘We love nature and the environment,’ their leader, a Kurdish Iranian man called Bahman, told me. ‘Every week local people tell us an area that needs to be cleaned, and we come to do it. It’s our …
We could bring almost nothing with us. No clothes, no friends.
When we arrived for our distribution today, small children wearing flimsy clothes and flip-flops were standing outside, waiting for us in the cold. My heart went out to them, and to the adults hovering behind, also dressed in t-shirts and other clothes far too light for a wintry English day. Fortunately, we brought hundreds of winter coats and shoes for them. We had to do the distribution outside, so we set up and got cracking as quickly as we could. It was so busy! We give people the chance to change their first choices, and we know how appreciated this …
Not only homeless in Ilford but penniless too
Ali is a young asylum seeker who spent a year living in one of the Reading hotels I volunteer in, before the Home Office moved him to a room in a house fifty miles away in Ilford. This should have been a new start for him, but a mix-up with the accommodation arrangements and address records left Ali not only homeless in Ilford but penniless too. Imagine how that feels: not only being in a completely new and alien place, in a country you don’t know well, but also homeless, and without any way of paying for anything at all. …