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Who is welcome project
Who is Welcome

After a series of successful online events which explored the intersections of different identities with migration status, we have expanded this work into a wider campaign.

Building on the themes explored in the Who is Welcome event series, which included the relationship of racism, Islamophobia and queerness with migration, we are pleased to launch the Who is Welcome campaign alongside our Words Matter campaign.

Migration is often looked at as a siloed issue. Campaigning and policy work rarely looks at the construction of migrants through an intersectional lens or how racism shapes our idea of who is welcome in the West. At the Migrants’ Rights Network, understanding the role intersections of identity play in shaping migration, including refugee, policies is central to our campaigning work. We must understand and be honest about who harmful migration, including asylum, policies are aimed at, and why.

The language of ‘welcome’ also has hidden meaning. A ‘welcome’ places the destination country as a hospitable ‘host’ that welcomes ‘guests’ (in this case migrants) who in turn are expected to be grateful. This rhetoric reinforces the problematic ideas that migrants, including refugees, must contribute, integrate and exhibit gratitude thus creating a hierarchy and the notion of conditional belonging. By calling this campaign ‘Who Is Welcome”, we are also questioning the inherent nature of migration and belonging that creates the host/guest relationship.

Who is Welcome events

The recording for the first event can be accessed here.

Our reflections on our second event can be accessed here.

The recording for the third event can be accessed here.

The recording for the fourth event can be accessed here.

Podcast

Episode 1: Patriotism and Migration

Episode 2: Queerness and Migration

Episode 3: Masculinity and Migration

In this project:

Updates

Our latest articles about WHO IS WELCOME?

  • Trans+ Pride- Together we are stronger

    Over the last year, anti-migrant racism and transphobia are rising. That’s why showing up and building strong intersectional movements for change is absolutely vital. As migrants, as trans people, as People of Colour, as queers, as people who stand in solidarity with them, we will continue to fight, just as our ancestors before us always…

  • Transphobia, the gender binary and migration

    In the UK, institutional transphobia and anti-migrant policies are on the rise. This is creating unique struggles for trans+ migrants. For non-binary migrants specifically, there are additional barriers arising from the lack of legal recognition of non-binary people in the UK. ‘Non-binary’ is largely used either as an identity itself or an umbrella category for…

  • What does the Supreme Court ruling mean for trans+ migrants?

    As a migration charity, we are very vocal about attacks on other marginalised groups because migration is not a siloed issue. Since the Supreme Court ruling on the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010, a number of queer and trans+ migrants in our Network have expressed their distress about the verdict and…

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