
December 2021
The Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, Prime Minister and Minister for the Union
Cc: The Rt Hon Priti Patel MP, Secretary of State for the Home Office Department
Dear Prime Minister,
Channel Crossings Deaths
We are writing as representatives of civil society, refugee and homelessness organisations, lawyers, social housing providers, trade unions, teachers unions, educational institutions and of faith and belief communities across the United Kingdom, who share common values of care, compassion and fairness.
We wish to express our grave concerns about the way this Government is handling its responsibilities under the International Refugee Convention of 1951, and how it has responded to last week’s tragedy in the English Channel, where seventeen men, seven women - one of whom was pregnant - and three young children from Kurdistan drowned while trying to cross to Dover. What is happening now is a choice made by people.
The Refugee Convention enshrines the right to seek protection in a third country. The UK - like most other countries - has willingly undertaken a moral and legal commitment to help those in greatest need, in flight from persecution and abuse, in order that they can be safe and rebuild their lives.
But in contrast to the UK’s proud history in refugee protection, this Government’s response to recent tragedies has made clear that it is now prepared to stoke and pander to the xenophobia and anti-immigrant hatred of a small section of the population with extreme opposition to refugees, even to the point of leaving human beings to drown in the freezing waters of the Channel.
Your Home Secretary seeks to undermine sympathy for refugees by claiming 70% of Channel crossers are “economic migrants not genuine asylum seekers.” That is false. Her own Department’s data shows that virtually all seek asylum. And looking at the figures for the top ten nationalities arriving in small boats, 61% of asylum seekers are granted it at the initial stage, and 59% of the rest on appeal. That means that well over 70% of those coming across the Channel in small boats are indeed genuine asylum seekers, and not ‘economic migrants’.
That is hardly surprising. Figures from the Refugee Council show that over 90% of people who arrive on boats are from refugee-producing countries, like Syria, Iran, Iraq and Yemen. These people are fleeing persecution and destitution, and the sea route from France is the only one open to them. The UK schemes in practice no longer exist. We have closed the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme, scrapped the Dubs child refugee scheme, and do not have an Afghan scheme up and running.
In the last 18 months, 3,187 Iranians crossed the Channel - the largest group by nationality. In that same period, just one arrived by the official route. How many came from Yemen, which is riven by civil war and famine, during these 18 months? None by the official route. Not one.
To quote Lord Kerr in the recent Housing of Lords Debate on Channel Crossing Drownings:
“Mourning the dead has not stopped the UK Government from planning to break with the Refugee Convention. The Nationality and Borders Bill seeks to criminalise those who survive the peril of the seas and those at Dover who try to help them, and is in danger of wreaking murderous consequences for the relatively few who seek sanctuary here. This Anti-Refugee Bill does nothing to increase safe routes. With limited resettlement options, dangerous crossings are the only route for most people claiming asylum in the UK. Further, there is no evidence to support the Government’s claims that the changes proposed in the bill will undermine smuggling networks. Of course we can go down that road, and abandon our international reputation and responsibilities. But if we do, let us at least admit that what drives us is prejudice, and not the facts. Because the facts do not support a case for cruelty.
The facts are that 90% of the world's refugees remain in their own region. Europe does not take its fair share of the world’s refugees, and nor does the UK. We are not the preferred destination in Europe. We are well down on the list.
Furthermore, overall UK refugee numbers are currently half of where they were 20 years ago. The reason that boat numbers are up is that people are being driven more and more to these dangerous sea crossings. Our failure to provide a safe route makes us complicit with the people smugglers. They may make a profit, but our failure to intervene has led to innocent people drowning.
And let us not forget that it was above all UK Government policy that took human smuggling from being a little-known activity to a profitable criminal enterprise. In 1987, Home Secretary Douglas Hurd introduced legislation to fine airlines carrying undocumented passengers. This meant refugees could no longer take flights, because there is no such thing as a refugee visa. People began arriving via ships, lorries, caravans and people carriers. A series of tragedies scarred the next few years, in particular, that of 58 Vietnamese people who suffocated in an airless shipping container.
In 2000, the then Home Secretary Jack Straw and his Prime Minister Tony Blair extended Hurd’s legislation to cover every means of transport. The owners of lorries, cars, vans, and trains carrying asylum seekers or migrants - wittingly or unwittingly - would be fined and risk confiscation of their vehicles. Blair’s legislation closed the last legitimate escape routes for tens of thousands of vulnerable people, bringing huge profits to criminals, and murderous consequences for those now forced to use traffickers to reach the UK.
Neither of these government measures stopped desperate people fleeing persecution and death. All that happened is that more people died.
And today the people smugglers are again rubbing their hands in glee as Western governments demand the sealing of borders. We understand that these criminals have no compassion for the plight of refugees, and do not care how many lose their lives. But surely we can expect more from the UK Government? Is it really the policy of this country to deny all responsibility, and stand by while human beings, men, women and children, drown in our seas?
Supporting people who need help is the right thing to do. Wherever we come from, we all have a right to feel safe.
As Prime Minister and Minister for the Union, we urge you to reconsider your approach. We call on you to withdraw the deeply flawed Nationality and Borders Bill currently going through Parliament, and instead introduce a humanitarian visa alongside safe routes to asylum in this country and allow refugees to safely rebuild their lives as part of our communities.
We look forward to your response.
Signed
Robina Qureshi
CEO
Positive Action in Housing
Sabir Zazai
CEO
Scottish Refugee Council
Eric and Phillipa Kempson
Hope Centre, Greece
JOHN KERR
LORD KERR OF KINLOCHARD
HOUSE OF LORDS
Jelina Berlow Rahman
Berlow Rahman Solicitors
Tam Dean Burn
Actor/Writer
Felix Kupay
Chair
ENTRAIDE (MUTUAL AID)
Deborah Rea
Ind. vol. For disabled asylum seekers
partners with British Red Cross, Community care and immigration lawyers.
Amanda Sebestyen
Independent supporter
Central African Refugee Centre
Maria Wilby
Senior Caseworker
Refugee Action - Colchester
Matthew Johnstone
Independent volunteer
Positive Action in Housing
Jude Lancet
Adviser
Haringey Migrant Support Centre
Polly McNamara
Homeless Caseworker
St Mungo’s
Jennifer Lindo
Homeless caseworker
St. Mungo’s
Durga Sivasathiaseelan
Outreach Lead
Doctors of the World
Anita Holmes
Homeless caseworker
St. Mungos
Grace Burgess
Safeguarding Lead
TimePeace
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Independent volunteer
Positive Action in Housing
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Founder
Care4Calais
Isobel Cairns
NRPF Specialist Caseworker
Solace Women’s Aid
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Caseworker volunteer
Leicester City of Sanctuary
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Pastor/Director
CREEM Glasgow
Helen C Mitchell
PPE Sales Manager
Promotional Warehouse
Pat Joyce
Team Leader
Devon & Cornwall Refugee Support, Plymouth
Michael Shaw
Volunteer
Central Asylum Yorkshire
Eleanor Brown
Director
CARAS
Andrea Cleaver
CEO
Welsh Refugee Council
Nicky Woods
CEO
Yarl’s Wood Befrienders
Rosario Guimba-Stewart
CEO
Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network
Sarah Grahame
Chair
Yarl’s Wood Befrienders
Eleanor Hitchman
Trustee
Yarl’s Wood Befriender
Sheila Melzak
Director
Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile
Dr Razia Shari
CEO
Kent Refugee Action Network
Debbie Royle
Deputy Director
Nottingham & Notts Refugee Forum
Abil Amir
Casework Coordinator
British Red Cross, Refugee Services
Nicola Lawton
Freelance Producer
Caroline O’Connor
CEO
Migrant Help
Amanda Church-Mcfarlane
Co-CEO
Abigail Housing
Suzanne Fletcher
Housing stream convenor
Tees Valley of Sanctuary
Stephen Smellie
Depute Convenor
UNISON Scotland
Ian Doig
Treasurer
Unison South Lanarkshire Branch
ShumonFarhad
Development Manager
SOLA Arts, Liverpool
Craig Sanderson
Commissioner
Edinburgh Poverty Commission
Magdalena Szlenkier
volunteer
Lewisham Donation Hub, Host and Home Visitor for Rooms for Refugees and Refugees at Home
Kiven Emmanuel
Operations and Strategy Officer
Plymouth Hope
Dr Janet Gilbert
General Manager
The Cotton Tree Trust
Kate Ramsden
Branch co-chair,
Aberdeenshire UNISON
Dr Rachel Smith
Lecturer
Lynn McCulloch FCIH
Social Housing Consultant
Lynn McCulloch Ltd
Stella Shyanguya
Trustee
Yarl's Wood Befrienders
Josh Treacher
Homeless Caseworker
St Mungo’s
Catherine Kirk
Trustee
Yarl's Wood Befrienders
Angela Huddart
Trustee
Yarl’s Wood Befrienders
Adam Baker
Director
Refugee Roots
Holly Donald
Homeless Caseworker
St Mungo’s
Aaron Leung
TEDx Coach, Corporate Trainer & Advocate for Refugees Worldwide
Global (Once part of Trinity Church)
Jessica Anslow
Coordinator
Yarl’s Wood Befrienders
David Brannan
Crisis intervention worker
The Marie Trust
Tom Ballantyne
Robert Swinfen
Convenor
The Iona Community Migration Network
Ashley More
Social Worker
Local Authority
Kirsten Hey
Occupational Therapist
City of Edinburgh Council
Jane Gibson
Social Worker
City of Edinburgh Council
Trishna Singh OBE
Director
Sikh Sanjog
Arthur Nicoll
Co-Chair
Dundee City UNISON
Karen Phillips
Service Coordinator
Amma Birth Companions
Roddy Hutchison
Community Care Assistant
Edinburgh City Council
Carolyn Housman
CEO
Children and Families Across Borders
Fraser Sutherland
CEO
Humanist Society Scotland
Sheza Afzal
Partnership Manager
EqualiTeach
Anne Sanderson
Ciara Shouldice
Allied Health
Abi Kingstone
Case worker
Community Cook Up, Haringey
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Branch Secretary
UNISON Glasgow
Michael Carberry
Director
Blochairn Housing Association
Najimee Parveen
Director
PATH (Scotland)
Naomi Webb
Executive Director
Good Chance Theatre
Callum Loughrie
CEC
COT
Beth Wilson
CEO
Bristol Refugee Rights
Victoria Stelikou
Victims of Slavery Client Adviser
Migrant Help
Karen Pearse
Director
Positive Action For Refugees and Asylum Seekers
Alison Summers
Volunteer
Torture ID and Freedom from Torture
John McFadden
Stand up to racism Scotland
Emma Baillie
Volunteer
Positive Action in Housing
Eunice Duthie
Social worker
CEC
Elli Free
Director
Room to Heal
Miriam Richardson
Psychotherapist
Margaret Gallacher
Chairperson
South Lanarkshire Unison branch
Paul Stuart
Branch Secretary
Unison Housing & Care Scotland Branch
Shirley Buchanan
Dep Welfare Officer
Glasgow City Unison
Danielle Gruerty
PTS Coach
Mayday Trust
Brian Cunningham
Co-ordinator
Bedfordshire Refugee & Asylum Seeker support
Ingrid Bain
Job Analyst
GLASGOW CITY COUNCIL