by FIDELIS CHEBE (CEO, Migrant Action) In February, 120 people – mainly women – detained at Yarl’s Wood immigration detention centre in Bedfordshire embarked on a 3-day hunger strike that ended up lasting over a month. There was a staggering lack of interest by the mainstream media to cover the strike and expose the inhumane […]
European citizens rights group, The 3 Million, lodged 128 questions to the Home Office regarding the status of European Union citizens in the United Kingdom after Brexit. Previous reports have flagged that issues surrounding the EU citizens’ residency and settled status remain unresolved, with children – whose status is dependent on their parents’ – being
According to the Guardian: Campaigners are claiming victory amid reports that the government is to back down on a controversial requirement that schools must collect data on their pupils’ nationality and country of birth. The campaign group Against Borders for Children (ABC), which has fought against the policy since its introduction in September 2016, welcomed
March 2018 The Migrants’ Rights Network (MRN) was funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation to implement the Route to your Rights (RTYR) project, a qualitative research and advocacy project, which was conducted from August 2017 until March 2018. The project explored issues that push migrants into a more vulnerable state, like labour exploitation and homelessness
MRN’s Route to Your Rights project sought to document the challenges that migrants face in settling in the UK. The stories collected through interviews with both migrants and support workers show how difficulties linked to immigration administration, housing and employment often reinforce each other, compounded by gendered vulnerabilities. Many migrants thus face an extended and
Violet Dickenson and John Grayson, who have worked with the South Yorkshire Migration & Asylum Action Group (SYMAAG), wrote two articles – here and here – for the Open Democracy website providing details about the lives of homeless refugee families forced to live in unsafe hostels. The families are placed in hostels because they have “no
Asylum seekers who are awaiting a Home Office decisions cannot work, must often reside as a fixed address, and report regularly to a Home Office outpost. In addition, it appears that new guidance introduced since January 2018 is also preventing young asylum seekers from studying, the Observer reports. “Significant numbers” of young refugees have been
The case of Paul Tate, reported on my the Guardian, exemplifies the Kafka-esque proportions that immigration detention decisions can take. Paul Tate says he was born in Wales (Bangor) and has never left the UK in his life. Yet following his release from prison, he has been in immigration detention in Morton Hall for 4
January 2018 During 2017 the Migrants’ Rights Network coordinated the Outsider Project in four locations across England, in response to the steadily worsening perception of, and increased hostility towards, migrants living in the UK. The design of the Outsider Project aimed to ensure that both its approach and delivery was migrant led. The project’s approach
