Category: Most Recent

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.

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17 September 2024: Right to Remain and No To Hassockfield demonstration on 19 October 2024 – to end immigration detention

STOP PRESS – These Walls Must Fall and the No to Hassockfield campaign call for the national demonstration to end immigration detention on 19 October 2024 at Hassockfield/Derwentside

We call on our communities to join us to say no to immigration detention and the government’s detention expansion plan!

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3 September 2024: Guardian: Women fleeing rape face coercion and control by Home Office contractors

Survey says refugee women are subjected to voyeurism and sexual harassment by male staff at hotels

Women who have fled rape, forced marriage and sexual exploitation are being subjected to coercion and control by Home Office contractors in hotels, according to new research.

The charity Women for Refugee Women has carried out the first research specifically focusing on the experiences of women in Home Office asylum seeker hotels. The researchers include seven women who have previously lived in such accommodation.

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3 September 2024: Guardian: Six children among 12 dead in Channel as crowded boat ‘ripped open’

Pregnant woman among those killed in ‘horrifying’ incident as charities call on government to establish safe routes

Six children and a pregnant woman are among at least 12 people who died after a boat carrying dozens of asylum seekers to the UK was “ripped open” in one of the worst Channel tragedies since the small boats crisis began.

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30 August 2024: Guardian: UK immigration strategy increases risk of exploitation, say charities

Home secretary urged to to make it easier for undocumented migrants to regularise their immigration status

The government’s policy of ramping up immigration raids and detaining and deporting undocumented migrants is driving more people underground and increasing their risks of exploitation, dozens of charities have warned.

In a letter on Friday, coordinated by Migrant Voice, more than 80 organisations including Care4Calais, City of Sanctuary UK, Anti-Slavery International, Doctors of the World UK and Safe Passage International are calling on the home secretary to make it easier for undocumented migrants to regularise their immigration status so they can work with less risk of falling prey to exploitative employers and human trafficking gangs.

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6 August 2024: JCWI: Our statement on the racist attacks across the UK

The escalation of far-right, racist and Islamophobic violence against our communities in recent days is horrifying. These targeted attacks on migrants, Muslims and people of colour do not occur in isolation – they are the direct result of years of racist, dehumanising policies and language being peddled by our politicians and the media.  

The far right has been emboldened by hateful media narratives and a race to the bottom in migration policies, with established parties battling it out to see who can enact the most cruelly and publicly.  

Now, we see the results – people up and down the country are scared for their lives, terrified that they have a target on their backs because of the colour of their skin or the way they speak. That fear is very real, because the violence is very real. Look at events in Rotherham – an attempt to burn down a hotel housing people seeking sanctuary is an attempted mass murder, and it’s time we named that.  

For too long, politicians and the media have scapegoated our communities to distract from the very real issues we all face. We’re living through a cost-of-living crisis that makes life harder for all of us, huge NHS waiting times and the ever-growing impacts of climate breakdown. Those in power, and those who support them, have preferred to distract us from these issues by demonising people who move, and targeting Muslims and people of colour. 

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