7 February 2025: Remembering Janet Toye, stalwart member of Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network – QARN, and of the Steering Group when she died on 27 January 2025
Janet was active in Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network – QARN from its early days, and a member of Oxford Meeting for many years.
She convened the Oxford Meeting’s Human Rights and Asylum group; a note from 2009 records that Janet will draft a statement summarising our reasons for opposition to the current detention regime. She saw immigration detention as a human rights issue at an early stage.
In 2011 she reported to QARN that a group of 9 or 10 people in Oxford and Headington Local Meetings keep in touch about asylum issues: most are involved in support, visiting, fundraising or campaigning in association with 5 different local organisations. We have face to face contact, an email group, and occasional business meetings. We take asylum and immigration matters to our local business meetings, organise our food collections for destitute asylum seekers, and from time to time hold other events to maintain awareness about asylum issues. Janet played a leading role.
At that time Janet represented QARN on Still Human, Still Here, a national campaign to end destitution among asylum seekers. She kept us up to date with the work of Asylum Matters and forwarded many emails from other relevant campaigning organisations
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