Migrant Voice

@migrantvoice.bsky.social

3860 Followers 518 Following

We are a migrant-led national organisation empowering migrants to speak out, challenge perceptions and change public debate, in the media and to policymakers. Offices in London, Glasgow and Birmingham.

Today the Public Accounts Committee has warned that the asylum system is on the “brink of collapse”. This is not the fault of people stuck in it as they seek safety. This is the outcome of years of hostile, and costly, policies which see private firms making vast profits providing substandard accommodation, an initial decision making process which even the Home Office acknowledges fails to meet its own standards, and political rhetoric which continues to demonise those seeking asylum. We have a system designed to cause fear and distress. A system designed to harm those in it. We need a better system, a system which doesn’t rely on soundbites for the media, but instead focuses on genuine protection for those most in need of it.
The Migrant Voice team with Seamus Logan MP and speakers including Nick Beales from Refugee and Migrant Justice and Sachintha Hetti Thanthiri from Skill Migrants Alliance
Graphic saying "We are who we are because of migration"
Graphic saying: International Women’s Day Policies designed to deter migration often place migrant women at greater risk of poverty, exploitation, and abuse. 💼 Work restrictions Women on many visa types or with insecure status face limited access to work, increasing financial dependence and vulnerability. 🏠 “No Recourse to Public Funds” Many migrant women cannot access basic support like housing or benefits, even when escaping abuse. ⚖️ Barriers to safety Fear of immigration enforcement can prevent women from reporting domestic violence or seeking help. 👩‍👧 Impact on families Migrant mothers are more likely to face poverty and instability due to restrictions on work and support. On International Women’s Day, support and empower migrant women
Graphic showing how asylum policies have shifted from protection to deterrence since the 1980's
Video of Migrant Voice members talking about the impact of the current asylum system on their health and wellbeing, and how the Home Secretary's changes today will make things worse.
The Home Secretary's decision, without any attempt at consultation or oversight, to limit refugees to 30 months in the UK before having to have their claims re-confirmed is a cruel, inhumane, and ultimately unworkable policy. The Home Secretary has claimed it is necessary to tackle "legitimate grievances". There is nothing legitimate about denying those fleeing war and persecution the ability to rebuild their lives. There is nothing legitimate about leaving them in limbo, increasing the stress and trauma they are already going through, and reinforcing hostility and racism against them. People seeking asylum often already have to wait years for their claims to be heard. Increasing the number of cases which the Home Office deals with is obviously never going to be feasible. The Home Secretary knows this. That is why she has pushed this through via the backdoor without any consultation. Instead of trying to grab headlines to appear "tough", this government needs to be ensuring that those who come here seeking safety are able to receive it faster, and more effectively. This latest PR stunt from the Home Office runs counter to any practical measures which are needed.
The comments by Jim Ratcliffe are not only offensive and harmful but blatantly incorrect, and will stir further hate and division. Working with organisations such as Show Racism the Red Card, Migrant Voice has – as part of the -"Migration. Making Britain Great" campaign -highlighted that the diversity of the Premier League, and migrants playing in it, is a strength that is reflected in Britain's communities. Immigration doesn't undermine a country's character; it enhances it. British culture, including football, is based on migration, on adapting and evolving to new ideas. That is something to be celebrated, not condemned. Nazek Ramadan Director, Migrant Voice
Our statement: 'It is a 'bold", by which we mean offensive, move for the co-owner of Manchester United to state such blatantly racist and incorrect information about migrants. The Premier League is a wonderful example of how diversity and immigration can bring strengths and benefits to wider groups. The same is true of immigration as a whole. We are stronger together than divided. We are stronger when we don't discriminate. When we come to the UK we integrate, we form bonds, we are part of communities. Those spreading racism and hate want to see communities divided, but we know that more people stand united" With screenshot from Sky News saying: "'UK has been colonised by immigrants', says INEOS boss and Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe In an interview with Sky News's Ed Conway, Sir Jim says Britain faces profound political, social and economic challenges, among them an unprecedented rise in immigration in recent years."
Attendees and trainers for today's session on public speaking training
Participants sitting at our session in Birmingham
Today marks International Human Rights Day. Only last month the European Convention on Human Rights marked its 75th anniversary. Against the backdrop of this however we are seeing a concerted attack on human rights. We see countries, including the UK, calling for the ECHR to be “reformed” to ensure that migrants, especially those seeking safety having fled war and persecution, have their rights reduced, or ignored entirely. The argument put forward for this is that the rights of some need to be reduced in order to forestall the rise of the far right. We must remember, reducing rights for some reduces rights for everyone. The ECHR was created in the wake of World War 2. Those creating it knew the dangers of extreme ideology better than anyone. They saw the need to protect refugees, and how people must be protected at all costs from having their rights removed. To claim it is “outdated” is to ignore the reasons why it was created in the first place, the protections it provides. If we are to “review” in light of our current times then that must be to strengthen those protections, not weaken them. The very basis of human rights is they must apply equally to all. Those who wrote the ECHR knew first-hand the harm which is caused by saying that some groups deserve fewer protections than others. Our current politicians must not undermine those protections now.
Image of people laughing together with the writing: "Migrants are not statistics. We are part of communities. We are your colleagues, friends and family. Donate today to combat misinformation about migrants".
Picture of the panel for the report launch
Graphic showing the details for our IMD event, including: Date 18th December Time: 2-9pm Location: St Johns, Hyde Park Crescent, London, W2 2QD
A pictures of a fence with the words saying: Misinformation about migrants harms everyone It creates division within communities Support Migrant Voice to combat it
A picture of the Palace of Westminster with shadows of people walking imposed over the front
The anti-asylum proposals being set out by the Home Secretary reinforce the dehumanisation of individuals coming to the UK to seek safety and set the UK on a course for even more inhumanity. We know from the existing 20-year-route how it put people's lives on hold and prevents them from settling. It leaves people in precarious positions and at more risk of exploitation. It denies them the ability to be able to rebuild their lives after suffering unimaginable horrors, as well as leaving them in fear that at any moment they may be ripped away from their family and friends once again. We need an asylum system which treats those coming for safety with dignity and respect. A system which processes their applications faster and more effectively. A system which allows them the right to work so that they can integrate and support themselves. What the Home Secretary proposes is one which treats them with contempt and hostility.
In response to the Home Affairs Select Committee report into asylum accommodation, we have seen first-hand the conditions which some of those placed in hotels face. For all of the misinformation spread about them, these are not “Five Star Hotels”. People crammed 11 to a room, food so poor that it has caused at least one person we spoke to to develop diabetes, Thirty people using one bathroom, and the list goes on. All the while firms responsible for these hotels are making vast profits off of the suffering of others. Hotels are better than camps, or barges, but that is a low bar for anyone to accept. As the Home Affairs Select Committee flagged, if this, or the previous, government stopped wasting money on performative anti-asylum stunts, and actually invested in community schemes to help support everyone, provided those seeking asylum with the right to work, and ensured that claims was processed faster, and more correctly, then there would not be the need for these hotels in the first place.
Graphic showing two graphs, which compare the costs migrants have to pay on specific routes to other countries.
Red background with two of our staff team wearing red tops and the writing "We're supporting Wear Red Day and joining in standing against racism"
Carla Denyer and Nazek Ramadan
Carla Denyer MP and Migrant Voice Director Nazek Ramadan
Migrant charity director 'relieved' by ruling published at 16:17 16:17 The director of the charity Migrant Voice says she is "relieved" following the Court of Appeal's ruling. "The alternative was setting a dangerous precedent which would embolden the far right to further target those seeking safety," Nazek Ramadan tells the BBC. She points out that there are still "many serious issues with hotels for people seeking asylum", with many often lacking "the most basic of necessities". "Until this government starts investing in community schemes to provide better support though, hotels are at least better than the leaving people in camps or making them homeless," she adds.
The High Court’s decision to block people seeking asylum from being placed in a hotel in Epping opens the door for more councils to follow suit, placing those who came to this country seeking safety under yet more uncertainty and fear. We know from our own report into the use of hotels that many are unsuitable, but this judgement does nothing to change that. Instead, it risks leaving those in need of support out in the cold, or placed in inhumane camps. Rhetoric by this, and the previous, government, have contributed to hostility towards those in hotels, when they could have been investing in community schemes to support everyone. It is imperative that those who have come to this country seeking sanctuary receive it, and are not allowed to become yet more victims of the far-right hate we have seen spreading across this country.