Campaigning letters we have signed

February 22, 2022March 11, 2022

BID and Liberty call for an end to intrusive GPS monitoring

This has direct impact on time-served prisoners who are ‘released’ on immigration bail.

Read more: 22 February 2022: Freemovement, https://rb.gy/h3pxxv

QARN signed this letter:

14 June 2021: from BID and Liberty: Our letter, signed by 42 organisations, was covered in an article below in the Guardian

The most recent Home Office bail policy sets out its plan to transition from radio frequency
monitoring to GPS monitoring for people on immigration bail. Whereas radio frequency monitoring can verify whether a person is where they should be at a given time, GPS monitoring provides 24/7 real time location monitoring, tracking an individual’s every move: it tells you where someone has gone, where they have shopped, what GP’s practice they have been to, and much more. Those who are being monitored in this way do not know when the ordeal will end because there is no time limit for how long people will be tracked.

February 4, 2022February 4, 2022

Letter: Remove Clause 9 of the Borders Bill

29 January 2022: Migrant Voice letter: QARN has signed this:

Today (27 January 2022), a coalition of community groups has sent an open letter signed by more than 100 organisations and individuals to the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, asking for the removal of Clause 9 from the Bill.

The letter was sent this morning to the Prime Minister and will also be copied to members of the House of Lords, who will be debating the Nationality and Borders Bill in Committee today.

Clause 9 extends the powers of the Home Secretary to remove Citizenship from British nationals. If the Bill passes with the clause still in place, the Home Secretary will not have to notify any individual whose British citizenship they may decide to revoke.

The coalition was convened by Nazek Ramadan, Executive Director of Migrant Voice and Councillor Khaled Noor, Chairperson, The Muslim Professionals Forum.

January 26, 2022February 4, 2022

JCWI: ‘We also want to be safe’ – Sign our open letter

19 January 2022: You can sign the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants – JCWI letter as an individual or organisation – QARN has signed this letter: ‘We also want to be safe’ – Sign our open letter

Faced with COVID, the Government should have done everything in its power to ensure everyone had support. Everyone needs a way to earn a living, access to the public safety net if they need it, safe accommodation, and access to vaccines and the NHS.

But Hostile Environment policies cut undocumented migrants off from these basic rights. Because they don’t have the right piece of paper in their passport, people without status have been left destitute, homeless, and afraid or unable to get help during the pandemic.

We need accountability, and change. The public inquiry into the Government handling of COVID is getting underway now. We are calling on the Chair to make sure the experiences of all migrants, including those without status, are part of her investigation.

Scroll down to add your name to our open letter today, to be part of the movement calling for change.

Read more and sign here: https://www.jcwi.org.uk/migrants-covid-inquiry

June 24, 2021June 24, 2021

The UN Human Rights Council must urgently respond to the global pattern of pushbacks, human rights violations, and lethal disregard for human life at international borders

QUNO has been involved in preparing this letter which you will find on various websites, and QARN along with others has signed it:

23 June 2021: To: Member and observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council
Re: The UN Human Rights Council must urgently respond to the global pattern of pushbacks, human rights violations, and lethal disregard for human life at international borders

Dear Excellencies,

The undersigned civil society organizations write to express our grave concern about widespread, unlawful, and sometimes severe mistreatment of migrants at and around international borders around the world and to call on the Human Rights Council to take appropriate action by establishing an independent monitoring mechanism on pushbacks and collective expulsions, and the accompanying violations used to enact them.

April 30, 2021June 16, 2021

Women for Refugee Women

QARN signed this letter

Updated 16 June 2021 – see the response below:

30 April 2021: Women for Refugee Women: New Plan will harm women:

OVER 70 LEADERS WORKING WITH REFUGEE WOMEN COME TOGETHER TO HIGHLIGHT TO THE HOME SECRETARY THAT HER NEW PLAN FOR IMMIGRATION WILL HARM WOMEN

The government’s New Plan for Immigration will harm women seeking asylum. Today, 30 April 2020, more than 70 leaders of organisations and groups supporting women who have sought asylum write to the Home Secretary to express shared concerns about the New Plan.

Read the full letter below:

April 30, 2021May 22, 2021

Concerns about New Plan for Immigration consultation process

QARN signed this letter: 30 April 2021: Guardian: ‘Sham’: 200 groups criticise UK government consultation on refugee policy

Bodies say survey is poorly designed, rushed and may exclude refugees from responding

Almost 200 organisations have branded a government consultation on fundamental changes to refugee policy “a sham”.

A total of 192 refugee, human rights, legal and faith groups have signed a public statement condemning the six-week consultation on the government’s New Plan for Immigration as “vague, unworkable, cruel and potentially unlawful”.

January 12, 2021September 18, 2023

Petition: housing vulnerable asylum seekers in portacabins on wasteland next to Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre

It’s the middle of a grim winter, the pandemic is fiercer than ever, and yet the Home Office wants to force hundreds of vulnerable refugees into cramped portacabins at the infamous Yarl’s Wood detention centre.

This is a cruel way to treat refugees, it’s badly planned policy and it should be stopped. One brave local resident has today launched a legal challenge to halt the Government in its tracks. It’s a cause we should all support.

December 11, 2020

Quaker Statement on Migration

10 DECEMBER 2020: QUNO: Quaker Statement on Migration

Working together American Friends Service Committee, Britain Yearly Meeting, Friends Committee for National Legislation, Quaker Council for European Affairs and Quaker United Nations Office have developed a statement on migration drawing on Quaker foundations and work with migrants and on migration. The core of the statement says:

December 8, 2020December 9, 2020

AVID: 60+ organisations join our call to close the barracks and engage with civil society

8 December 2020: AVID: Today, we sent a letter to the Immigration Minister and Shadow Home Secretary highlighting the risks of housing vulnerable asylum-seekers in crowded barracks where social distancing is impossible, and urging them to implement community-based alternatives, to avoid further harm. Our letters were co-signed by more than 60 community organisations working with people in detention or seeking asylum.

Read the letter to the Immigration Minister Chris Philp MP

‘Given the significant backlog in processing asylum applications, made worse during the current pandemic, it is time to consider alternatives. The government has talked about a reset moment for migration. Now is the time, but this can only be done by involving and engaging with civil society and people with experience of the system.’

Read the letter to the Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds MP

April 25, 2020December 8, 2020

QARN signed in support of Freed Voices letter

24 April 2020 to Rt Hon Priti Patel MP, Home Secretary

Dear Home Secretary,

We, Freed Voices, are writing to express our concern regarding the serious risks posed by Covid-19 to those who continue to be held in Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) across the UK.

The risk to life in IRCs has been made clear by independent experts.[1] As you will know, the one and only purpose of immigration detention is to facilitate imminent removals from the UK. There is no need for anyone’s life to be risked while global travel restrictions prevent such removals. We therefore urge you to immediately release all those held under immigration powers in the UK and put on hold any further detentions.

We also seek urgent answers as to why, in contrast to the approach taken by the Ministry of Justice in prisons, there appears to be almost no testing for Covid-19 taking place in IRCs for staff or those detained.