Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #antirefugeebill
Most recents (24)
For roughly ÂŁ20 million the Home Office could've cleared the asylum backlog it created, reducing associated costs such as hotels. Instead it plans to pay nearly ÂŁ10 billion on a policy which appears specifically designed to fail. #r4today 1/
thetimes.co.uk/article/4c2cf7…
thetimes.co.uk/article/4c2cf7…
The #IllegalBill, can only put more people at risk, including tens of thousands of children. It denies modern slavery victims protection, boosting gang control, and removes human rights from the most vulnerable, as well as sees children risk deportation 2/
theguardian.com/world/2023/mar…
theguardian.com/world/2023/mar…
The government's own figures show that, despite rhetoric of the likes of Braverman, the vast majority of those seeking asylum in the UK, by any means, receive it because they need it. Data also shows how few comparatively to likes of France etc UK takes 3/
How many of them will join those already being incorrectly classed as adults by Home Office social workers? How many risk being sent to Rwanda or stuck in camps? The government rejected amendments to the #antirefugeebill which could have helped. #r4today
metro.co.uk/2022/05/10/mor…
metro.co.uk/2022/05/10/mor…
Does the @ukhomeoffice think that increasing the inhumanity of the UK's asylum system will deter children seeking safety? Does @pritipatel think it will stop them trying to reach family members? Because anyone with half a braincell knows it won't.
We are already seeing separated children placed at more risk of trafficking and exploitation because of @ukhomeoffice policies. That's why organisations such as @Love146UK are fighting for child protection to the priority. Please support them today.
cafdonate.cafonline.org/20440#!/Donati…
cafdonate.cafonline.org/20440#!/Donati…
Much focus (rightly) on how Rwanda deportation policy will work & need for challenge in the courts
But another – less reported – effect of the announcement is the DEVASTATION that it (& wider #AntiRefugeeBill) has caused among people who have sought refugee protection in UK
1/11
But another – less reported – effect of the announcement is the DEVASTATION that it (& wider #AntiRefugeeBill) has caused among people who have sought refugee protection in UK
1/11
Rwanda policy sends out message that people seeking asylum aren’t welcome
Our Expert by Experience network @refugeeaction is deeply distressed by this, many already struggling with years of limbo in asylum system, many used similar routes to come to UK cos no safe routes
2/11
Our Expert by Experience network @refugeeaction is deeply distressed by this, many already struggling with years of limbo in asylum system, many used similar routes to come to UK cos no safe routes
2/11
These are future UK citizens, their children will grow up in our cities, towns & villages
The small-minded actions of UK gov have huge impact on these communities’ sense of UK as a fair place where they can access the justice they have been denied in their home country
3/11
The small-minded actions of UK gov have huge impact on these communities’ sense of UK as a fair place where they can access the justice they have been denied in their home country
3/11
In regards to the #AntiRefugeeBill, I get and understand the arguments for meeting halfway, but the world doesn't work like that. This isn't a bill which you can just tweak. It needs totally scrapping. No amount of tweaks will make it safe or humane. 1/
Is that risky, professionally speaking I would say yes, but it is also necessary. Even if all of the Lords amendments get reinstated and passed the bill is still fundamentally damaging not only to refugees, but also child protection, among other things. 2/
Sometimes compromise is good. Sometimes it is necessary and sometimes it is just enabling inhumanity on the basis it isn't "quite as bad as it was". That argument doesn't help those whose lives are destroyed by how bad it is though. 3/
The #NationalityAndBordersBill is back in the @UKHouseofLords. The Lords have to retain their previous stance and replace the amendments the commons stripped out. This bill is illegal and inhumane. It will only increase risks to refugees.
parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/76…
parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/76…
I have a lot of respect for Lord Paddick, but "no-one in their right mind would push back a dinghy" is not a strong enough safeguard against proposed pushbacks to warrant not standing against this policy.
A reminder that the #AntiRefugeeBill, if it becomes law, isn't just down to what this government would do, but what the next and the next. It is never enough in legislation to just say "we won't do that", because even if you won't the next government might.
🚨TODAY, MPs are voting on the Nationality & Borders Bill - also rightly known as the #AntiRefugeeBill - after peers made changes to it in the House of Lords.
👇🏽Here are some of the key changes MPs will consider and how we get them to scrap the #AntiRefugeeBill:
👇🏽Here are some of the key changes MPs will consider and how we get them to scrap the #AntiRefugeeBill:
Lords voted ❌ to “offshore” camps for people seeking refuge here. This would mean deportation and indefinite detention in remote, hidden camps for almost all refugees.
⚠️ Today MPs could vote offshore asylum camps back in. #StopNABB
⚠️ Today MPs could vote offshore asylum camps back in. #StopNABB
Lords voted ❌ to criminalising refugees for simply *arriving* in the UK. Every refugee who reaches us would, under this law, be subject to up to 4 years in prison.
⚠️ Today, MPs could vote criminalisation of refugees back in. #StopNABB
⚠️ Today, MPs could vote criminalisation of refugees back in. #StopNABB
Tomorrow MPs will vote, one by one, to take changes made in House of Lords back out of the #NationalityAndBordersBill which has rightly been called the #AntiRefugeeBill.
Here, in plain English, are some of the key changes that MPs will consider 🧵 #r4today
Here, in plain English, are some of the key changes that MPs will consider 🧵 #r4today
Lords voted to remove power for the Home Secretary to strip British nationals of citizenship without informing them of the fact.
Latest in a line of govts widening citizenship stripping powers.
Tomorrow, MPs are likely to vote this power back in. #citizenshipisaright #r4today
Latest in a line of govts widening citizenship stripping powers.
Tomorrow, MPs are likely to vote this power back in. #citizenshipisaright #r4today
Lords voted to remove the power for refugees to be sent “offshore” before we have examined their claim for protection.
This is immediate deportation for almost all refugees, to camps where we’d pay to keep them indefinitely.
Tomorrow MPs are likely to vote it back in. #r4today
This is immediate deportation for almost all refugees, to camps where we’d pay to keep them indefinitely.
Tomorrow MPs are likely to vote it back in. #r4today
An improvement, but the plan is still only a three year visa. People still need the right to seek asylum and be provided with long-term assistance. Not to mention, among other things, the real risks of exploitation which the sponsorship scheme opens up.
theguardian.com/world/2022/mar…
theguardian.com/world/2022/mar…
And this is a perfect example of why what is needed is for visas to be waived, not for a new visa scheme to be put. Home Office bureaucracy has been destroying people's lives for decades. Something tells me that increasing it isn't the way forward.
theguardian.com/world/2022/mar…
theguardian.com/world/2022/mar…
We have seen now schemes such as the seasonal workers scheme, you all remember, that was the one immigration minister Kevin Foster said Ukrainian refugees could use, have led to worker exploitation. This scheme risks being even worse.
Mishal Hussein rightly sceptical: it took the govt more than 6 months to establish its resettlement scheme for Afghan refugees & still hasn’t brought anyone new to safety under it since, so how can we have faith when we see similar news of chaos & delays for Ukrainians? #r4today
Ben Wallace full of misleading bluster about the 600 or so Ukrainians currently stuck in Calais he says will have their visas processed soon…
This chaos is a direct result of the govt’s brutal approach to refugees: they should be able to travel without needing a visa. #r4today
This chaos is a direct result of the govt’s brutal approach to refugees: they should be able to travel without needing a visa. #r4today
What if a Ukrainian family gives up on this farce and gets onto a small boat alongside refugees from Sudan and Iraq and Afghanistan? Will the government finally listen and provide safe, regulated travel from Calais to the UK for people who wish to seek asylum then? #r4today
Apologies for linking to the S*n, but this would be an absolutely enormous win. Patel seems to concede we need humanitarian safe routes for Ukraine.
We must continue to push for this level of response. 50 Ukrainians jumping through our visa hoops is not good enough. #r4today
We must continue to push for this level of response. 50 Ukrainians jumping through our visa hoops is not good enough. #r4today
This must force her to change track on her #NationalityAndBordersBill which is coming back to the Lords again this week.
That Bill criminalises refugees reaching the UK. If she recognises the need for humanitarian visas, she is conceding that cannot be right & must throw it out.
That Bill criminalises refugees reaching the UK. If she recognises the need for humanitarian visas, she is conceding that cannot be right & must throw it out.
If Patel concedes that Ukrainian refugees must not be expected to all stay in Poland - their “first safe country” and that the UK must play our part, then the argument is won. The Bill must go. Throw out the #AntiRefugeeBill #r4today
While we hear of a huge Russian advance on Kyiv, here’s Lord Kerr explaining clearly how the government’s #NationalityAndBordersBill will mean no Ukrainian could receive full refugee protection in the UK.
The Lords did the right thing last night, will MPs change course? #r4today
The Lords did the right thing last night, will MPs change course? #r4today
And while we are all eyes on Ukraine, we cannot forget the other refugees that this #AntiRefugeeBill is going to harm.
#r4today report of Afghan fathers selling their organs in order to feed their families has knocked the wind out of me. The least we can do is THROW OUT THIS BILL
#r4today report of Afghan fathers selling their organs in order to feed their families has knocked the wind out of me. The least we can do is THROW OUT THIS BILL
Yvette Cooper rightly says it’s so wrong Ukrainians living in the UK cannot bring elderly parents to join them here.
The rules on family reunion, for refugees and all migrants, are unnecessarily limited & cruel - and the #NationalityAndBordersBill will make it much worse #r4today
The rules on family reunion, for refugees and all migrants, are unnecessarily limited & cruel - and the #NationalityAndBordersBill will make it much worse #r4today
🔔🔔 LORDS VOTE TO REMOVE CLAUSE 11 FROM THE #NationalityAndBordersBill
And after this knock-out blow dealt by the cross bench Peer Lord Kerr, how could they do anything else?
A blow to the government's #AntiRefugeeBill and a stand taken in solidarity with Ukraine & refugees
And after this knock-out blow dealt by the cross bench Peer Lord Kerr, how could they do anything else?
A blow to the government's #AntiRefugeeBill and a stand taken in solidarity with Ukraine & refugees
They also voted to remove Clause 9, which allows people to br stripped of British citizenship without notice.
It's a sorry state of affairs when our elected representatives are so venal & corrupt that we must rely on the Lords to protect what's right
It's a sorry state of affairs when our elected representatives are so venal & corrupt that we must rely on the Lords to protect what's right
For the blow-by-blow of today's Lords' debates and votes on the Bill tonight, Jon's excellent thread is where you need to be. I'm tapping out after that high on Clause 11. Knackered. Take her away, Jon.
With the #AntiRefugeeBill now being debated in the @UKHouseofLords it's worth re-upping this thread. The #BordersBill does nothing to make the asylum system "fairer". It denies refugees their guaranteed rights under international law. It will only make things worse.
There is no question that the #NationalityAndBordersBill violates multiple international laws. This isn't just about abstract elements of law though. It is about humanity. This bill will criminalise some of the most vulnerable people in the world.
We are seeing the need for UK to provide asylum to Ukrainian citizens right now, and UK failing at this. This isn't new though. Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans, Eritreans, Yemenis, etc etc, people just trying to find a place they feel safe having lost everything, will be criminalised.
Today the House of Lords debate & vote on the #NationalityAndBordersBill #AntiRefugeeBill
Under this law, Ukrainians reaching the UK for protection would be considered criminals, denied the right to seek asylum, sent to offshore detention. It must be thrown out. #r4today
Under this law, Ukrainians reaching the UK for protection would be considered criminals, denied the right to seek asylum, sent to offshore detention. It must be thrown out. #r4today
Tom Tugendhat on #r4today says he thinks UK is likely to “end up” doing the same for Ukrainian refugees as the whole EU has: visa free travel and no need to seek asylum on arrival, automatic grant of work visas.
I will believe THAT when I see it….
I will believe THAT when I see it….
Tom Tugendhat, who was in Afghanistan & was praised for his emotional speech about how we must not abandon the Afghans who served with him to the Taliban, who reckons we’re about to give Ukrainians visa free travel, was not asked his feelings on the #AntiRefugeeBill on #r4today
The #BordersBill removing "for gain" in reasons for facilitating channel crossings isn't just about rescue operations. It means asylum seekers who steer boats can be prosecuted, even if they are not in anyway linked to a gang. It criminalises those seeking safety @UKHouseofLords.
Could someone please explain to Lord Green what population density means. Watching him trying to make out that the UK couldn't take more asylum seekers, despite taking substantially fewer, because it is "full" is just embarrassing.
Lord Griffiths making it clear that the two tier system for asylum seekers proposed in #AntiRefugeeBill would violate Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, basically the UK will be breaking international law and undermining a core principle of the global refugee regime.
THREAD: However @ukhomeoffice spins it, the inevitable outcome of the #BordersBill is that it undermines the international refugee regime. Not only does it violate multiple international laws, it will benefit the very gangs it's claimed to be tackling and put lives at risk. 1
Creating a two tier system for refugees is a clear violation of Article 31 of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which prevents the refugees being penalised for their manner of entry into a country. 2/
unhcr.org/uk/3b66c2aa10
unhcr.org/uk/3b66c2aa10
The government has tried to claim that it doesn't apply due to asylum seekers coming from France. There are so many issues with this that it is hard to start, but let's run through a couple of the big ones. 3/
I’ve found the coverage of the inquest into Alexander Tekle’s suicide too painful to comment on.
Until now.
(This will be a LONG one.)
🧵1/?
Until now.
(This will be a LONG one.)
🧵1/?
This is in part due to some high-quality, humanising coverage from journalists such as @maybulman and @ameliagentleman - an antidote to the dehumanising weaponisation of the issue by Patel et al and their disingenuous deployment of stats.
2/?
2/?
However, the main reason I’ve been so affected is because after 11 years of working on age assessment in a focused way and longer in the refugee sector
It. Just. Feels. So. Depressingly. Familiar.
3/?
It. Just. Feels. So. Depressingly. Familiar.
3/?
#2021RoundUp 🧵
We’re looking back on 2021 - the challenges and the losses, as well as the strength and determination of our incredible coalition and the power of the wins we've achieved together for survivors of violence against women and girls ⬇️
We’re looking back on 2021 - the challenges and the losses, as well as the strength and determination of our incredible coalition and the power of the wins we've achieved together for survivors of violence against women and girls ⬇️
Sarah Everard. Bibaa Henry. Nicole Smallman. Sabina Nessa. Countless others.
2021 took a heavy toll. United in grief and rage, we took to the streets in remembrance, demanding change and propelling a national conversation about violence against women on a level never seen before
2021 took a heavy toll. United in grief and rage, we took to the streets in remembrance, demanding change and propelling a national conversation about violence against women on a level never seen before
Although our landmark case against the CPS came to an end, we continue our fight for #RapeJusticeNow.
We may not have won in court, but by rallying together with thousands of incredible survivors, we put rape on the agenda like never before bit.ly/3yAsSVq
We may not have won in court, but by rallying together with thousands of incredible survivors, we put rape on the agenda like never before bit.ly/3yAsSVq
Fun fact -
The principle in UK law that it is not a crime to enter through irregular means to seek asylum goes back way before the Refugee Convention.
You can find it in the 1905 Aliens Act.
That's the British history this govt is tearing up this week with its #AntiRefugeeBill
The principle in UK law that it is not a crime to enter through irregular means to seek asylum goes back way before the Refugee Convention.
You can find it in the 1905 Aliens Act.
That's the British history this govt is tearing up this week with its #AntiRefugeeBill
History nerds, there's a fun one for you.
In the mean time, the government will be in court again next week, trying to lock another man up for exercising that very right.
Thanks to the big legal brain that gave me this tidbit when we were discussing the case this morning :)
In the mean time, the government will be in court again next week, trying to lock another man up for exercising that very right.
Thanks to the big legal brain that gave me this tidbit when we were discussing the case this morning :)
Priti Patel's attitude to refugees is, in the most literal sense, practically Victorian.
Throw the whole woman away.
Throw the whole woman away.
This govt has just voted in favour of the #AntiRefugeeBill during its final reading in the House of Commons.
If this bill passes into law, it will punish many people fleeing from war and persecution for trying to seek safety here.
1/
If this bill passes into law, it will punish many people fleeing from war and persecution for trying to seek safety here.
1/
It could mean that people fleeing war & torture, are sent to off-shore prison-like camps, stripped of their rights to seek safety & may mean they can never see their families again.
2/
2/
We may feel at odds during moments like these, but right now it's more important than ever to take action.
Most of us want an asylum system that reflects the humanity & decency we believe in. So before it passes, we need to tell this govt we don't support this cruel bill.
3/
Most of us want an asylum system that reflects the humanity & decency we believe in. So before it passes, we need to tell this govt we don't support this cruel bill.
3/
Guns, planes and bombs were the soundtrack to my childhood. Growing up in eastern Afghanistan, I had a good life. My father was a doctor, my mother was a housewife and midwife. But when I was ten, many closed members of my family were killed by US soldiers,-
who believed we were hiding weapons and sheltering Taliban. This was when my struggle began.If the US was going make a deal with the Taliban they should have done in 2003/5,we would saved around 100k Afghan live. I would have still have my loved ones, not forced to flee/displaced
I was just 12 years old when my brother and I began to receive demands from the Taliban and from the government. The Taliban wanted us to fight or die, the government wanted us to become informants. We were terrified.
Christ on a bike, there is some weapon's grade tone policing from the Conservative benches here. Seems a bit rich considering some of the statements that the government has made in favour of the #AntiRefugeeBill
I'd sit this one out if I was a Conservative MP claiming that because the #AntiRefugeeBill doesn't specifically say that it is racist that it won't discriminate based upon race, particularly when government's own impact assessment warns of risks it will.
gov.uk/government/pub…
gov.uk/government/pub…
Weird how so many of the people who claim "citizenship is a privilege not a right" are the ones who know that they couldn't possibly have it removed without significant issues and violations of international law in the first place isn't it?
There are genuinely so many ways in which the #AntiRefugeeBill is going to ruin people's lives. It wont even be possible for me to cover half of it.
The list of new clauses & amendments they will debate in parliament today, only on ONE section out of 7 barely fits on my screen.
The list of new clauses & amendments they will debate in parliament today, only on ONE section out of 7 barely fits on my screen.
British democracy: Where our parliamentary representatives get about five minutes per life-ruining, justice-denying, cruel, ineffective, barbaric measure in the #AntiRefugeeBill.
For those interested in why 51 is highlighted up there, it's one of the government's new ones. Snuck in last week so most wont even hear about it, yet it's one of the worst of them.
It imposes a four year prison sentence on anybody who is unable to renew their immigration status
It imposes a four year prison sentence on anybody who is unable to renew their immigration status
We are deeply saddened and angered by the needless deaths of people trying to reach safety in the UK.
The continued loss of life in the Channel as well as in detention centres around the country are a direct result of the Government's racist #HostileEnvironment policies.
The answer can never be to ramp up toxic policies - which Gov's Nationality and Borders Bill (aka #AntiRefugeeBill) does by proposing pushbacks at sea and offshore 'processing' of asylum seekers.
And just this week Gov announced a new prison-like detention centre for women.
And just this week Gov announced a new prison-like detention centre for women.
