Articles

The Afghan refugee situation has exposed what’s wrong with the proposed Nationality and Borders Bill

WEDNESDAY 29 SEPTEMBER, 2021 Escaping for your life is never going to be a neat, orderly affair, where you can carry all your evidence with you or travel via conventional routes. This has been starkly illustrated by events in Afghanistan over the last month. Even UK passport holders are stuck in Afghanistan. Yet, the Nationality and Borders Bill would make journeying to the UK without permission a criminal offence. Compared to the 2.2 million Afghan refugees in Iran and Pakistan alone, the UK government has said it will only accept 20,000…

WEDNESDAY 29 SEPTEMBER, 2021 Escaping for your life is never going to be a neat, orderly affair, where you can carry all your evidence with you or travel via conventional…

I'm A Migrant: Dipesh Pandya on being an activist through art

One of Dipesh Pandya’s earliest memories is also his first experience as a migrant: at three years old, while migrating from his native Tanzania to England, he and his grandmother were held by immigration control authorities in Heathrow. Speaking on Zoom from his home in Margate, southeast England, he describes how they “had to go through a process of proving” that they were allowed to be there. Dipesh is an artist and activist whose work focuses on race and migration – a venture he was inspired to pursue as a…

One of Dipesh Pandya’s earliest memories is also his first experience as a migrant: at three years old, while migrating from his native Tanzania to England, he and his grandmother…

Immigrants and the NHS: hidden hands, hidden history

MONDAY 19 JULY, 2021 In the latest of our occasional commentaries on the coverage of migration in the media, Daniel Nelson looks at BBC One's new programme Our NHS: A Hidden History. The NHS is a system that needs migrants but didn’t always want them. That is one of historian and commentator David Olusoga’s opening shots in his BBC One programme, Our NHS: A Hidden History. “From the very start,” he says, “the NHS was only able to deliver on its promises by drawing into its ranks nurses, doctors, auxiliaries…

MONDAY 19 JULY, 2021 In the latest of our occasional commentaries on the coverage of migration in the media, Daniel Nelson looks at BBC One's new programme Our NHS: A…

Bashir’s Story: ‘I am a Brummie but I am treated differently’

TUESDAY 13 JULY, 2021 At age just 14, Bashir Ahmadzai fled for his life to the UK from Khost, eastern Afghanistan, escaping violence and Taliban recruitment. Now, at 27 years old, his claim for asylum has been rejected by the Home Office, and he is being told to return to Afghanistan. Upon arrival, Bashir was placed into the foster care system under a local authority. As a young man, he was placed into a foster family, where he received care and was able to pursue his education. Completing his diploma…

TUESDAY 13 JULY, 2021 At age just 14, Bashir Ahmadzai fled for his life to the UK from Khost, eastern Afghanistan, escaping violence and Taliban recruitment. Now, at 27 years…

'We so-called "foreigners" are framed as either victims or villains'

THURSDAY 1 JULY, 2021 Christine Bacon is so weary of lazy media treatment of immigrants as victims or villains that she is taking action. She has started a podcast series, I am an Immigrant, which aims to help shift the public conversation on immigration. For Christine, the personal is the political. Since arriving in the UK from Australia in 2004, she says, immigration has constantly been in the news, yet she feels the media has never reflected her own experience of immigration - or the lives of millions of fellow immigrants.…

THURSDAY 1 JULY, 2021 Christine Bacon is so weary of lazy media treatment of immigrants as victims or villains that she is taking action. She has started a podcast series, I…

Welcome centres not detention centres

Migrant Voice volunteer Helen Davey explores the carceral architecture behind the UK immigration system's way of housing and detaining migrants - and why detention centres shouldn't exist. The UK’s system of housing and detaining migrants is rooted in hostile architecture and poor design. This includes inadequate accommodation and the deliberate placing of vulnerable people in buildings on the peripheries of cities and towns, isolated from society. Ultimately, architecture and the placement of architecture is a fundamental issue when it comes to the UK’s immigration policies. All this is underpinned by…

Migrant Voice volunteer Helen Davey explores the carceral architecture behind the UK immigration system's way of housing and detaining migrants - and why detention centres shouldn't exist. The UK’s system…

Refugee Week: Nas' story

To mark Refugee Week, our volunteer Silvia Tadiello interviews Migrant Voice ambassador Nas about his journey to the UK from Afghanistan - and his battle to be granted leave to remain. During Nas’ long battle with the Home Office to have his refugee status recognised, his resilience was what made him keep going. “I think the system is designed like that,” he says, “they refuse applications, they make people tired – and some people give up, some go underground. But I knew my rights and I knew I was telling…

To mark Refugee Week, our volunteer Silvia Tadiello interviews Migrant Voice ambassador Nas about his journey to the UK from Afghanistan - and his battle to be granted leave to…

Refugee Week: ‘The Man Who Fell From The Sky’

For Refugee Week, our volunteer Katherine Hayes explores the documentary The Man Who Fell From The Sky to coincide with a free screening of the film on Thursday 17 June. To register for the film screening click here. In 2015, two men - Themba Cabeka and Carlito Vale - hid in the landing gear of a flight from Johannesburg to London. Vale tragically fell to his death, but Cabeka, against all odds, survived. The story of these men is the subject of a documentary, The Man Who Fell From The Sky, released…

For Refugee Week, our volunteer Katherine Hayes explores the documentary The Man Who Fell From The Sky to coincide with a free screening of the film on Thursday 17 June. To register…

Give permanent residence to all refugees now

Although the Government’s proposed amendments to the asylum system have gained their fair share of criticism, my first impression - as a partner of a refugee who came to Britain after fleeing persecution - is that they finally propose corrections to wrong policies introduced in the last 15 years. Until 2005, an asylum claimant deemed to have a genuine case that qualified them to be recognised as a refugee would have been granted Indefinite Leave to Remain – permanent residence, recognising their need for future certainty and stability. But Tony Blair’s…

Although the Government’s proposed amendments to the asylum system have gained their fair share of criticism, my first impression - as a partner of a refugee who came to Britain after…

Rupa tastes success after a difficult journey

When Shaheda Banu Rupa moved to Britain with her husband and three-year-old daughter, it felt like the greatest mistake of her life. Life in London and then Oxford was a struggle: "The physically demanding work, the blatant racial discrimination, my compromised health, and my immigrant status made my life unbearable.” The Bangladeshi university graduate (Geography and Environment) had emigrated with her husband in 2006 (he came under the Highly Skilled Migration Programme), and in Oxford she and her husband secured jobs with Tesco. But they were living with friends, and…

When Shaheda Banu Rupa moved to Britain with her husband and three-year-old daughter, it felt like the greatest mistake of her life. Life in London and then Oxford was a…

Articles

Articles

The Afghan refugee situation has exposed what’s wrong with the proposed Nationality and Borders Bill

WEDNESDAY 29 SEPTEMBER, 2021 Escaping for your life is never going to be a neat, orderly affair, where you can carry all your evidence with you or travel via conventional…

I'm A Migrant: Dipesh Pandya on being an activist through art

One of Dipesh Pandya’s earliest memories is also his first experience as a migrant: at three years old, while migrating from his native Tanzania to England, he and his grandmother…

Immigrants and the NHS: hidden hands, hidden history

MONDAY 19 JULY, 2021 In the latest of our occasional commentaries on the coverage of migration in the media, Daniel Nelson looks at BBC One's new programme Our NHS: A…

Bashir’s Story: ‘I am a Brummie but I am treated differently’

TUESDAY 13 JULY, 2021 At age just 14, Bashir Ahmadzai fled for his life to the UK from Khost, eastern Afghanistan, escaping violence and Taliban recruitment. Now, at 27 years…

'We so-called "foreigners" are framed as either victims or villains'

THURSDAY 1 JULY, 2021 Christine Bacon is so weary of lazy media treatment of immigrants as victims or villains that she is taking action. She has started a podcast series, I…

Welcome centres not detention centres

Migrant Voice volunteer Helen Davey explores the carceral architecture behind the UK immigration system's way of housing and detaining migrants - and why detention centres shouldn't exist. The UK’s system…

Refugee Week: Nas' story

To mark Refugee Week, our volunteer Silvia Tadiello interviews Migrant Voice ambassador Nas about his journey to the UK from Afghanistan - and his battle to be granted leave to…

Refugee Week: ‘The Man Who Fell From The Sky’

For Refugee Week, our volunteer Katherine Hayes explores the documentary The Man Who Fell From The Sky to coincide with a free screening of the film on Thursday 17 June. To register…

Give permanent residence to all refugees now

Although the Government’s proposed amendments to the asylum system have gained their fair share of criticism, my first impression - as a partner of a refugee who came to Britain after…

Rupa tastes success after a difficult journey

When Shaheda Banu Rupa moved to Britain with her husband and three-year-old daughter, it felt like the greatest mistake of her life. Life in London and then Oxford was a…

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