From protection to deterrence

Editorials

From protection to deterrence

The UK Government’s plan to turn people into human cargo and send them against their will to Rwanda is chilling. It would effectively end the UK’s participation in the United Nations Refugee Convention, moving Britain away from protecting refugees to deterring them. The Government is seeking, by any means and at almost any cost, to avoid its international responsibilities while demanding other countries take theirs. Much of the Government’s rhetoric is about legal routes for those seeking asylum, but safe legal routes are not available to all who need them.…

The UK Government’s plan to turn people into human cargo and send them against their will to Rwanda is chilling. It would effectively end the UK’s participation in the United…

War of words

WEDNESDAY 9 MARCH, 2022 Words heal, explain, inform, enlighten. They can also hurt, muddle, mislead, misinform. And as reactions to the 2 million - and still rising - Ukrainian refugees show, they can reveal. Many responses have been heartwarming and helpful: scores of Germans holding placards offering rooms in their homes to people they’ve never met; Poland taking in 1.2 million refugees by 8 March backed up by small cash payments for each newcomer from a specially created £1.3 billion fund. Others have been slow, confused, and ill-considered. Sadly, the…

WEDNESDAY 9 MARCH, 2022 Words heal, explain, inform, enlighten. They can also hurt, muddle, mislead, misinform. And as reactions to the 2 million - and still rising - Ukrainian refugees…

Eight years of injustice: It's time for the Home Office to face up and pay up

THURSDAY 24 FEBRUARY, 2022 A second BBC Newsnight programme, broadcast on 23 February, again highlighted the huge miscarriage of justice affecting tens of thousands of international students due to the Home Office's insistence on using flawed evidence to take action against them. Eight years ago, tens of thousands of students were wrongly accused of cheating on an English-language test and were forced to return their countries because, overnight, they were barred from their courses and from working in Britain, renting accommodation or using the NHS. Some were detained. Some were deported. Those who stayed…

THURSDAY 24 FEBRUARY, 2022 A second BBC Newsnight programme, broadcast on 23 February, again highlighted the huge miscarriage of justice affecting tens of thousands of international students due to the Home Office's…

The Home Office must right its wrongs after Newsnight revelations

FRIDAY 11 FEBRUARY, 2022 The BBC Newsnight investigation broadcast on 9 February into the expulsion of tens of thousands of overseas students is a decisive moment in the #MyFutureBack campaign to clear the students’ names. The investigation cast serious doubts on key parts of the evidence used by the government to justify its mass expulsions in the wake of a 2014 BBC Panorama programme report of allegations of cheating in two privately run test centres for English-language skills. That alone is sufficient to collapse the Home Office’s refusal to confront…

FRIDAY 11 FEBRUARY, 2022 The BBC Newsnight investigation broadcast on 9 February into the expulsion of tens of thousands of overseas students is a decisive moment in the #MyFutureBack campaign…

Eight years of injustice: we fight on

"A BBC investigation has raised fresh doubts about the evidence used to throw thousands of people out of the UK for allegedly cheating in an English language test. Whistleblower testimony and official documents obtained by Newsnight reveal the Home Office has continued to try to remove people based on the claims of the international testing organisation ETS - despite knowing of serious concerns about its conduct and flaws in its data.” – BBC website, 9 February 2022 We reacted with shock, disbelief and indignation when a group of overseas students…

"A BBC investigation has raised fresh doubts about the evidence used to throw thousands of people out of the UK for allegedly cheating in an English language test. Whistleblower testimony…

Clause 9 - devaluing the British passport

We are deeply concerned about Clause 9 of the Nationality and Borders Bill (the Bill) which would turn millions of us in this country into second-class citizens. Clause 9 of the Bill currently going through parliament would enable the Secretary of State to deprive a person of their British citizenship without notice. This clause generates fear. It makes many British people feel unsafe. It betrays millions of us. It devalues the British passport. It is racist, because those most affected, and most likely to be affected in the future, by…

We are deeply concerned about Clause 9 of the Nationality and Borders Bill (the Bill) which would turn millions of us in this country into second-class citizens. Clause 9 of…

Migrant Voice: Successes in a difficult year

THURSDAY 23 DECEMBER, 2021 End of year message from Migrant Voice director Nazek Ramadan What a year! Globally, there were political upheavals from Afghanistan to Myanmar, from Yemen to Ethiopia, and “silent” crises in regions such as the Sahel — all forcing millions of people to flee for their lives. Nationally, there were drownings in the Channel, massive changes in Britain’s migrant population as the impacts of Brexit began to be fully felt, and continuing ramifications of the inhumane, unjust and often unlawful “hostile environment”, not least in the new…

THURSDAY 23 DECEMBER, 2021 End of year message from Migrant Voice director Nazek Ramadan What a year! Globally, there were political upheavals from Afghanistan to Myanmar, from Yemen to Ethiopia,…

A dangerous Bill – how do we go forward?

THURSDAY 9 DECEMBER, 2021 “Shocking”, one of our members said. “I can't believe it's happened. I still have hope that this will be reversed. The system is already too hostile as it is.” The Government’s controversial Nationality and Borders Bill was voted through the House of Commons 298 to 231 on 8 December. Another member said: “This is an extremely dangerous power-grabbing Bill, that would make people think that they do not actually belong to this country. This Bill will cause immense human suffering to some of the most vulnerable…

THURSDAY 9 DECEMBER, 2021 “Shocking”, one of our members said. “I can't believe it's happened. I still have hope that this will be reversed. The system is already too hostile…

Channel Crossings: What about the people?

It's about time we talked about people. These are human beings. We are sad and heartbroken about the deaths in the Channel. But above all we are angry. Angry because the deaths were unnecessary and avoidable: they are the latest dreadful tragedy in a chain of events that stem from politicians’ preference for posturing over practical policy and humanity. Angry because all the focus of the government is on securitisation, militarisation, violence, fences, walls, barbed wire and very little focus on the people at the centre of this. The government(s)…

It's about time we talked about people. These are human beings. We are sad and heartbroken about the deaths in the Channel. But above all we are angry. Angry because…

We need a five-year route to settlement for everybody

THURSDAY 4 NOVEMBER, 2021 A five-year route to settlement would provide a faster and fairer route to settlement for tens of thousands of people living in the UK. We welcome recent news from the Home Office that some young people brought up or born in the UK without immigration status will now be able to apply for settlement after five years instead of ten. But there are more than 170,000 migrants in the UK whose pathway to settlement is ten-years or more. This change in rules will only benefit a…

THURSDAY 4 NOVEMBER, 2021 A five-year route to settlement would provide a faster and fairer route to settlement for tens of thousands of people living in the UK. We welcome…

From protection to deterrence

Editorials