Today, MPs return early from their Summer break to discuss the crisis in Afghanistan.

Patel will claim her pledge to resettle just 5,000 people this year to the UK represents a world-leading response to the situation.

Here is @JCWI_UK's briefing #r4today jcwi.org.uk/briefing-the-a…
@JCWI_UK Andy Burnham outlines chaotic mismanagement in the existing UK asylum system, people being transferred between accommodation with no notice.

Rightly calls for a fully-funded national dispersal scheme, that leaves Local Authorities providing sanctuary struggling. #r4today
Burnham also questioned the low numbers of resettlement places pledged, highlighting the fact that we have been militarily implicated in Afghanistan for 20 years.

Says 35,000 would be more appropriate resettlement target. If he means this year, I'd say that's a start. #r4today
Meanwhile, in order to respond to the situation in Afghanistan the govt MUST change it's direction on refugee protection in this country.

It is inevitable that Afghans will escape the Taliban outside of official resettlement schemes & be in no less need of our help. #r4today
JCWI is calling for:

👉 All 3,000 outstanding asylum applications by Afghan nationals in the UK to be granted immediately
👉 Expedited process to grant protection to any Afghan submitting a new or fresh claim
👉 No Afghan to be subjected to 'inadmissibility' rules
#r4today
👉 Any Afghan national currently held in detention to be released immediately
👉 Lift barriers to family reunification procedures for Afghans, including expanding criteria to include siblings and parents of applicants
👉 Widen criteria of official relocation scheme
#r4today
Don't know about you, but I have little faith in our 'leaders' to bring about a swift resolution for peace & security in Afghanistan.

Refugees will seek our help in the coming months & years. We MUST throw out this government's plans to criminalise their journeys. #r4today
***Obviously in my second tweet I meant to say 'that supports Local Authorities providing sanctuary, rather than leaves them struggling. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Someone please bring me a coffee 😅😅
We @JCWI_UK, @AfghanCouncilGB & 80+ refugee organisations wrote to the Home Secretary demanding this urgent action

We must protect Afghans already in the UK, offer escape routes to their loved ones & abandon plans to criminalise those coming in the future jcwi.org.uk/dont-criminali…
@JCWI_UK @AfghanCouncilGB It is easy to feel completely helpless in the face of the horrifying scenes we have watched as the country fell this week.

But there are practical steps our government can take RIGHT NOW to reassure, support and protect our Afghan brothers & sisters. #r4today
@JCWI_UK @AfghanCouncilGB I do hope they'll ask Patel on #r4today what will happen to Afghans who do not fall into that lucky 5,000.

And also ask what her colleague Mercer may possibly have meant when he claimed yesterday members of her government deliberately introduced obstacles to relocation efforts?
@JCWI_UK @AfghanCouncilGB LOL are we seriously saying that Afghans at risk from the Taliban who are hearing that the UK will resettle 5,000 people will decide it's OK and they don't need to flee through irregular means?

Do they think Afghans can't count? #r4today
Patel again making no sense, not on top of the implications of her own policies, trying to steer the conversation back away from people who will inevitably make irregular journeys, pretending they will have any alternative. #r4today

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More from @ZoeJardiniere

9 Sep
On the level of wave machines: not only blatantly illegal & immoral,
Also speaks to sort of unhinged desperation, a willingness to genuinely make us a pariah state in the name of Patel’s job
& raises grim prospect of a standoff in dangerous waters w refugees as sacrifice #r4today
The irony is, cooperation w France to stop boats would be possible if we started by agreeing to take our share of refugees.
Instead, our position is that, due to geography, it is 100% their responsibility & we’re willing to put human lives at extreme risk to prove it. #r4today
This is, for incredibly obvious reasons, not a position that France or the EU can accept.
Patel is puffing up her chest for a fight to prove her dedication to the tabloid headlines.
The refugees are the ones, inevitably, caught once again in the cross-fire, or the waves. #r4today
Read 8 tweets
28 Jul
It's a week old, but I've been recovering from the vaccine for the last couple of days, so forgive me, but...
We need to talk about the Times view on Channel Crossings. 🧵🧵👇👇
thetimes.co.uk/article/the-ti…
First para, of course we hear of "Britain's overstretched asylum and immigration services" but by what measure are they over stretched?

As my followers will be bored of hearing, numbers of asylum seekers dropped dramatically in the last year. They were stable & low before that.
If our asylum system is indeed overstretched, while France, Germany, Italy, etc all receive many more asylum seekers than we do, why is that?

The Times is not curious to ask. The blame is clearly allocated already, no need to inquire.
Read 13 tweets
27 Jul
Unpopular, but I think encouraging people to take small actions each day to limit their climate impact is good, actually, cos if you are forced to act on something even in a minor way every day you will start thinking about it & maybe start thinking politicians should act more🤷‍♀️
Like I think the clapping for carers was good too for all it’s patronising twee side.

People generally hold values completely in the abstract. If they’re forced to think about them actively for a bit regularly I think it reinforces commitment a great deal. Makes it more real.
How often do average people really take time out of their day to think about the climate crisis? Not much. Maybe if they thought about it every time they load the dishwasher, even if fleetingly, they’d gradually invest more of their conception of self in wanting change.
Read 4 tweets
26 Jul
The Greek state so weak, so scared and so fascistic as to chicken out of recognising & awarding the work of @Iasonas_Apost rescuing refugees in distress in the Mediterranean.

Knowing Jason, I’m sure he’ll laugh off the award, but not the corrupt, wheedling far-right politicians.
I have personally been proud to work alongside @Iasonas_Apost in Lesvos and have continued to admire his dedicated work saving lives at sea.

The demonisation & even criminalisation of humanitarian, life saving work such as his has been building across Europe and we must fight it
Human lives will always matter more than Europe’s borders.

Jason’s work proves this and that is why they are so scared of it. Solidarity @Iasonas_Apost
Read 4 tweets
19 Jul
Second reading of the Nationality & Borders Bill happening now.

Priti Patel claiming that you and I have "had enough of open borders" so... I'm obviously going to really enjoy this. 😑😑😑😒😒😒 bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/b…
LMAO Theresa May intervenes to say 'ang on a moment mate, I designed a whole hostile environment aimed at kicking out and cruelly excluding as many migrants as possible, can Patel not make out like no one's been trying to be awful to immigrants in the last decade?!
Doesn't this just tell you everything though. I might as well switch it off right now (oh how I wish I would take my own advice and do that)
Patel's approach is more of the same failed and evil rubbish that has come from the Tories for years.

The racists will never be satisfied.
Read 30 tweets
10 Jul
This piece has started my morning off all wrong so I'm going to have to do a thread, guys 🧵😊

Extraordinary reactions from Conservative MPs to the CPS finally recognising what we all know:

Entering the UK for the purpose of seeking asylum is not a crime thetimes.co.uk/article/a18256…
(first, JCWI is a charity, it is extremely odd to refer to us as a 'left wing pressure group' & I hope the Times will amend this promptly)

Several asylum seekers are currently serving prison sentences for actions the CPS now admits should not have been prosecuted. It's not over.
The law against facilitating illegal entry has traditionally been used to prosecute smugglers.

People bringing migrants to the UK, often with no regard to their safety, for money.

Only recently has the govt started using it, horrifyingly, to prosecute asylum seekers themselves.
Read 14 tweets

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