28 July 2024: Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network welcomes measures to restore asylum rights
Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN) welcomes some of the changes being made by the Labour Party in its initial weeks in Government, specifically the ending of the use of the ‘Bibby Stockholm’ and other inappropriate housing, abolishing the policy to remove people seeking asylum to Rwanda, lifting the ban on people claiming asylum who arrive in UK for example on small boats. We will celebrate when the UK re-engages with the Refugee Convention and European Convention on Human Rights.
We wait to see how the Government intends to manage its promise to ‘fast-track’ asylum claims and to tackle the backlog which has held so many people waiting to build a life over many years. We hope to see proven alternatives to immigration detention rolled out and existing detention centres closed. In addition, the UK should work constructively with other countries, especially in Europe, to assist refugees. This includes creating safe routes, so people do not need to risk their lives.
When people who have come through the asylum process receive Discretionary Leave to Remain, they should not be expected to wait for ten years until they can be settled in UK, nor should they be expected to pay exorbitant fees for their application to remain in the UK, or a health surcharge. The many thousands of individuals caught in this punitive system constitute an additional hidden backlog which urgently needs to be addressed.
We believe that the whole asylum system needs to be overhauled and new systems created that centre the voices of those with personal experiences.
We believe that the life of the Spirit is in everyone. Compassion and justice should be the central principles of immigration policy. This means welcoming refugees and upholding international law. Based on shared lives alongside refugees, we celebrate when people are given sanctuary and can rebuild their shattered lives. We see how refugees’ skills can help communities to thrive. Yet, in a society with huge concentrations of wealth, we have been fed the line that if we treat asylum seekers humanely, it must be at the expense of lower income UK citizens. This is just not true. People and their human rights come first; there is plenty to go around if fairly shared.
This is our leaflet outlining some of the changes we want to see: QARN – What do Quakers hope for, after the 2024 General Election