Month: June 2024

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Refugees at Home

May 2024: Refugees at Home: Deportations to Rwanda may be on hold and new detentions of asylum-seekers likewise – at least until July 5th – but there are still many refugees and asylum-seekers destitute, homeless and in need of help.

There is a fine Quaker tradition, going back generations, of assisting this community and of hosting people too.

And there is a huge demand, right now, for welcoming hosts, who might have a spare room in a town or city. (guests tend to get nervous in the country, with little transport, away from their communities and with no access to, for instance, Halal meat or Eritrean churches)

We have had many Quaker hosts at Refugees at Home and hope to welcome more.

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JCWI: We Move A manifesto for migrant justice

JCWI: We Move A manifesto for migrant justice:

Right now, migrants in our communities are under attack. But we know that things don’t have to be this way.

We can and must fight for justice for people who move. This manifesto lays out a roadmap towards achieving the fairer society we all deserve.

This manifesto calls for:
1. Rights – Everyone should be able to thrive, no matter where we’re from
2. Safety – We must welcome people who seek sanctuary on our shores
3. Dignity – We all deserve to live with dignity and feel safe in our homes and workplaces
4. Justice – We should all be able to defend our rights and hold the government accountable
5. Community – We all deserve to find care and belonging

Read more here: https://jcwi.org.uk/manifesto/

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Leaders should finally tell us the truth about migration: it’s here for good

7 June 2024: Guardian: Leaders should finally tell us the truth about migration: it’s here for good

It’s time to resist the right’s narrative of immigration as aberration. Nations thrive on it – and they always have done

The state is an invention. It’s a bureaucratic tool of governance for an arbitrarily defined landmass; an artifice made convincing through emotive storytelling. Although many countries have their “long, long ago” symbolic foundation story, in truth the vast majority of them have only existed as independent constitutions for a matter of decades. We, the nationals, are the result of millennia of migrations of ancestral hunter-gatherers, herders, farmers, merchants, students, industrialists; of colonists and colonisers; of people invading, fleeing, crusading, exploring, roaming, slave-trading; uprooted for war, work, fortune and love. The dense interconnectedness of the human family, our genetic similarity, means that in terms of our biology, there are no different races. We can all claim ancestry from across the world.

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General Election 2024

You or your Meeting may be reaching out to election candidates, raising concerns about the need for fair and compassionate policies for refugees and asylum seekers. QARN has a couple of leaflets that might be useful:

  • A one-page set of recommendations for a more supportive environment: See here.
  •  A further 4-page briefing giving more detail and background on these recommendations: Longer briefing

There is also a webpage on the Quakers in Britain site with suggestions on how to reach out to candidates with regard to Quaker concerns, including a template email for individuals or Meetings to contact their candidates.

There are many other resources on our website on migration and asylum rights, and you can also contact us at info@qarn.org.uk.

People may find this useful: https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/commentaries/uk-election-2024-immigration-policy-tracker/

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Remembering Crystal Dickinson who died 10 May 2024

Crystal Dickinson was engaged with QARN in its early days, from 2009. As a founder member of Yarls Wood Befrienders, and their first Chair 2001-2004  she had a great concern for the women held in detention in the centre, and demonstrated her concern in very practical ways. One reminisced on how she had brought her much needed and appreciated toiletries every week. 

Crystal  also supported QARNs advocacy work and  gave evidence from her own experience for QARNs submissions to parliamentary committees.  She had a wide ranging interest in asylum and migration issues.  She sometimes wrote think pieces for discussion.

She was a stalwart activist, participating in protests and demonstrations, wearing a hoodie with QARN insignia and carrying a board she had designed herself. When COVID arrived and in-person meetings were no longer possible  Crystal wrote that she would set aside a particular day and time and invited Friends to join her in holding one another in the light in those dark days.

Crystal will be remembered with affection for her thought-provoking, quirky and direct input, and she will be missed by so many for her warmth and humanity, and  her steadfast commitment over many years. 

We can smile when we follow her example – as she signed off an email – cfhiL  (cross fingers and hold in Light). We now hold Crystal and her family in the Light

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