20 November 2024: Seeds for change: Staying Alive – self-organising for survival

This is a strong interview with Loraine, Olivia and Maryam who are all very busy in various groups and their daily lives supporting people and working for change:

https://seedsforchange.podbean.com/e/staying-alive-self-organising-for-survival

We know them through StatusNow4All but that is just a small part of their reaching out. They are amazing people with a lot of insight having come through or still living in the asylum system.

They make some very pertinent comments which you may find helpful.

19 Nov 2024: NACCCOM: Annual data briefing 2023-2024

Bridget Young, Director of NACCOM, said;

“Our research shows that thousands of people each year are needlessly pushed into destitution and homelessness as they go through the asylum and immigration system. No one should have to experience trauma, hardship and injustice simply because of their immigration status, but this is the reality for so many.  

 “Every member of our communities should be able to thrive, not just survive, but that’s impossible when you don’t have a safe or stable home, or enough to eat. Urgent change is needed to ensure that the asylum and immigration system doesn’t keep driving up levels of destitution and homelessness, and fuelling injustice in refugee and migrant communities.”

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NACCOM’s latest Annual Survey data reveals that destitution and homelessness in migrant and refugee communities are on the rise in the UK, with thousands of people in the asylum and wider immigration system routinely experiencing trauma and hardship.

Our annual data briefing, Understanding destitution and homelessness in the asylum and immigration system, paints a comprehensive – and shocking – picture of the extent, impact and root causes of migrant destitution and homelessness in 2023/2024, and shines a spotlight on the increasing complexity of service provision in the sector, as voluntary organisations adapt to a turbulent policy landscape.

A hostile and failing asylum and immigration system, coupled with a chronic lack of social and affordable housing, and a general increase in demand for emergency homelessness assistance, are driving up levels of destitution and homelessness in migrant communities. NACCOM’s inspiring and dedicated frontline members continue to provide a vital safety net, but local capacity often can’t meet soaring demand, and unsustainable pressure is being placed on the voluntary sector – a bold programme of action is needed. 

The briefing also lays out a set of recommendations for policy reform to ensure that the asylum and immigration system doesn’t actively drive up levels of destitution and homelessness, as it is currently doing.

Read more here: https://naccom.org.uk/launching-our-new-data-briefing-2024-understanding-destitution-and-homelessness-in-the-asylum-and-immigration-system/

Continue reading “UK charity declares ‘refugee homelessness emergency’ as numbers hit record high”

19 November 2024: Memorandum of Understanding between the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration and His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons

This is good news – the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration and HP Chief Inspector of Prisons have previously worked on inquiries, for example in relation to Penally and Napier camps, but this new document make transparent the ways in which they intend to collaborate –

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/memorandum-of-understanding-between-the-the-independent-chief-inspector-of-borders-and-immigration-and-his-majestys-chief-inspector-of-prisons

Please find briefing papers in relation to immigration detention, that have been produced by Detention Action, Bail for Immigration Detainees – BID and Medical Justice to enable new MPs to have a good understanding f the concerns raised by organisations in relation to this practice.

Please feel free to send these briefings below to your MP, or direct them to this page and the websites of the organisations involved

Continue reading “Briefings for new MPs re: detention”

24 October 2024: Inspection report published: An inspection of contingency asylum accommodation (November 2023 – June 2024)

The report by David Bolt, Independent Chief Inspector of Borders & Immigration – ICIBI and his team on contingency asylum accommodation has been released.

See the Chief Inspector’s comments here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/inspection-report-published-an-inspection-of-contingency-asylum-accommodation-november-2023-june-2024

and the report, plus Home Office response here:

• An inspection of contingency asylum accommodation November 2023 – June 2024
• The Home Office responses to the Chief Inspector’s reports

16 October 2024: BBC: Migrant took own life after ‘multiple failings’ at UK detention centre

An inquest jury has found “multiple failings” and “missed opportunities” at an immigration detention centre contributed to a Colombian man taking his own life in 2023.

The coroner examining the death of Frank Ospina said he had been let down by the state “in numerous ways” which were “utterly regretful”.

Continue reading “Migrant took his own life after multiple failings at UK detention centre”

12 October 2024: Jesuit Refugee Service report: Destitute and in Danger: people made homeless by the asylum system

Destitute and in Danger, JRS UK’s new report, examines the experiences of homelessness among people refused asylum in London in the context of the cost-of-living crisis and following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Download the report

1 October 2024: Rethinking Security: Alternative Security Review

The Alternative Security Review was undertaken to create public dialogue in the UK on human and ecological security. It aims to show that there are other ways of creating security strategies, centring human and ecological security in policymaking.

Public engagement has been an important part of the Alternative Security Review. As well as the formal research activities that sought the opinions of ordinary people, such as the surveys and photovoice research, we ran a several informal projects as part of the ASR.

In the early stages of the project, we convened a series of Roundtable Discussions with Civil Society to explore the state of human security issues in the UK. What do groups working on or experiencing insecurity think about the government’s attitude towards and policy on human security? Where are the links with militarised ‘national security’? Does ‘national security’ harm the human security of certain groups within the UK? And what about climate breakdown?

• Read the full report
• Read the executive summary

Read more on the different components of the project here, and read the Executive and Full Reports: https://rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/alternative-security-review/

26 September 2024: Gov.uk: Independent report : Historical Roots of the Windrush Scandal: independent research report

”What this history tells us, above all, is that individual episodes or events do not happen in chronological isolation. Government departments operate in societies with long and complex histories which affect both the formulation and also the effects of policy. In the case of the Windrush Scandal, the ‘hostile environment’ policies implemented in the 2010s did not consider properly the people whose lives and heritage have been defined by the events described in this report.”

Executive summary: Learning lessons from history

This report tells two stories alongside one another. The first story it tells is that of the administration of what might loosely be called ‘immigration policy’ in the United Kingdom, in which the movement of people across the borders of the British Isles was periodically restricted and controlled. The second story it tells is that of the history of black people and other ethnic minorities in Britain, whose lives were profoundly shaped by the politics of race in the British Empire and, latterly, the United Kingdom.

Continue reading “The Historical Roots of the Windrush Scandal”