| ASK YOUR CANDIDATES TO SUPPORT THE INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED RIGHT TO CLAIM ASYLUM FOR PEOPLE FLEEING WAR AND PERSECUTION Please use our template letter below and here to email your candidates and ask where they stand on protecting the right to claim asylum and enabling people to get a fair hearing. Find your candidates email addresses here. Please forward any responses you get to gwad@allwomencount.net MORE INFORMATION People are fleeing to the UK because they’re escaping war, persecution, starvation and the climate crisis. They are forced to take perilous journeys because there are no “legal” routes[i] and they are desperate to be safe. Recent draconian legislation[ii] has removed the right to claim asylum and protection for most people, no matter what horrors they have faced. Women are being hit hardest by these laws, especially mothers and rape survivors. Over 70% of women asylum seekers have fled rape and other torture. Victims are being punished if they delay reporting sexual violence and can be fast-tracked for deportation, including to Rwanda. New detention centres/camps will lead to more abuse, including rape[iii]. People denied refugee status lose their right to family reunion so mums and children are left suffering the unbearable pain of indefinite separation[iv]. When asylum claims are closed all support stops and women (and children) are left destitute. A recent survey[v] of over 100 women asylum seekers found that 60% were “destitute” that is living on less than £70 a week. Women spoke about rape and exploitation by those they are forced to depend on for help. Politicians and some in the media tell many lies about immigration so here are some facts: The asylum system is not overloaded by “meritless claims”. People are denied a fair hearing by a system saturated with sexism, racism and other prejudice, and by officials trained in a “culture of disbelief and carelessness”[vi] to refuse claims no matter how compelling. Legal aid fees for immigration have been cut by 48% since 1996. Lawyers have been forced to stop doing this work and asylum seekers can’t find representation[vii]. Immigrant people are not a drain on the UK, they contribute more in taxes than they receive in benefits[viii]. One in five NHS staff are non-UK nationals, showing how important immigrant people are to keeping the health service afloat[ix]. |
Treating asylum seekers and refugees as disposable aims to lower everyone’s standards, to get people used to some lives not counting. Measures introduced against asylum seekers are soon extended to others — enforced destitution is now widespread[x]. Immigration policy is economic policy – promoting racism and making people destitute boosts profits for big business as all workers have less power to refuse exploitation and low pay. After centuries of slavery and colonialism and the theft of people and resources from Africa and many other places, immigrant people are saying: we have the right to be here in the UK to claim back some of that wealth.[xi]. The public has welcomed refugees more than the government – look at the response to Ukrainians escaping war. Watching the daily genocide against Palestinian people, who wouldn’t support their right to flee to safety? A growing movement, spearheaded by asylum seekers, on beaches, in churches, schools, villages, in towns and cities, is determined to defend the rights of all those seeking refuge. UK-born or not, with or without papers, in defending immigrants and asylum seekers we defend ourselves from a callous government of whatever affiliation. See here[xii] for specific demands for change. Global Women Against Deportations is a coalition based at the Crossroads Women’s Centre which includes the All African Women’s Group, a 100 strong organisation of women asylum seekers and refugees along with Legal Action for Women, Women Against Rape and Women of Colour/Global Women’s Strike. TEMPLATE LETTER TO CANDIDATE Dear [Name] I am writing to you as my prospective parliamentary candidate. I want to know whether you will support the internationally recognised right to claim asylum for people fleeing war and persecution. [Say something about your situation here – who you are, any experience you have of the asylum system and your concerns etc.] I am worried about the way that immigration is being used to whip up racism and divide people It is obvious to me that people do not leave their loved ones, their home and all that is familiar for no reason. They take this desperate decision to escape wars, persecution, starvation and death. Many have suffered rape and other torture in prison or elsewhere, seen their loved ones killed. They are forced to take perilous journeys because there are no “legal” [xiii] routes. I want to see an asylum and immigration process where people are able to get a fair hearing and are treated humanely. The vilification of asylum seekers by some politicians and media leads to horrifyingly bad treatment – people are being left destitute, detained or housed in hotels in appalling conditions, and deported regardless of the horrors they have escaped. Women and children are particularly affected. Over 70% of women asylum seekers have fled rape and other torture; victims of rape, domestic violence and trafficking are at risk of being fast tracked for deportation, including to Rwanda, there is evidence[xiv] of serious abuse, including rape, by predatory guards, against women in detention; mothers denied refugee status lose their right to family reunion so they and their children are left suffering the pain of indefinite separation. The hostile immigration environment is based on lies which can easily be disproven: The asylum system is not overloaded by “meritless claims” — people are denied a fair hearing because prejudice is endemic and officials are trained to disbelieve and refuse claims no matter how compelling, plus, it is almost impossible for people to find legal aid lawyers because fees for immigration have been cut by 48% since 1996 so many lawyers have been forced to stop doing this work[xv] Immigrant people are not a drain on the UK, they contribute more in taxes than they receive in benefits[xvi]. One in five NHS staff are non-UK nationals, showing how important immigrant people are to keeping the health service afloat[xvii]. I would like to know what action you will take if elected to parliament to defend the right of people to claim asylum and ensure that asylum seekers get a fair hearing and humane treatment. Signed: [Name] [Address including postcode] |
[i] There are no visa schemes for anyone fleeing persecution to apply to receive asylum in the UK, outside of the scheme for Ukrainians and for a very limited number of people from other countries like Afghanistan. https://www.amnesty.org.uk/resources/truth-about-safe-and-legal-routes
[ii] Nationality and Borders Act, 2022 and Illegal Migration Act, 2023.
[iii] Rape and Sexual Assault in Yarl’s Wood IRC, Women Against Rape, 2015, https://againstrape.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Report2015.pdf. Also, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-36804714
[iv] https://aawg.blog/mothers-campaign-for-family-reunion-2/
[v] Report: Up from Destitution – Women Against Rape
[vi] Thousands of women not reporting rape due to Home Office stigma and “culture of disbelief” https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/home-office-rape-survivors-sexual-abuse-destitution-homeless-a9250746.html and https://www.freedomfromtorture.org/news/beyond-belief-our-new-report-reveals-a-home-office-culture-tainted-by-prejudice
[vii] https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/duncan-lewis-takes-government-to-court-over-legal-aid-fees/5119980.article#:~:text=The%20firm%20says%20a%2048,find%20a%20lawyer%20to%20represent
[viii] https://www.ucl.ac.uk/economics/about-department/fiscal-effects-immigration-uk#:~:text=Our%20analysis%20thus%20suggests%20that,often%20maintained%20in%20public%20debate.
[ix] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/feb/12/record-one-in-five-nhs-staff-in-england-are-non-uk-nationals-figures-show
[x] 3.8 million people experienced destitution in 2022, including around one million children. https://www.jrf.org.uk/deep-poverty-and-destitution/destitution-in-the-uk-2023
[xi] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/aug/20/past.hearafrica05
[xii] https://aawg.blog/about/
[xiii] There are no visa schemes for anyone fleeing persecution to apply to receive asylum in the UK, outside of the scheme for Ukrainians and for a very limited number of people from other countries like Afghanistan. https://www.amnesty.org.uk/resources/truth-about-safe-and-legal-routes
[xiv] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jun/15/yarls-wood-report-calling-for-closure-decade-abuse-complaints
[xv] https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/duncan-lewis-takes-government-to-court-over-legal-aid-fees/5119980.article#:~:text=The%20firm%20says%20a%2048,find%20a%20lawyer%20to%20represent
[xvi] https://www.ucl.ac.uk/economics/about-department/fiscal-effects-immigration-uk#:~:text=Our%20analysis%20thus%20suggests%20that,often%20maintained%20in%20public%20debate.
[xvii] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/feb/12/record-one-in-five-nhs-staff-in-england-are-non-uk-nationals-figures-show
All African Women's Group 