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Daniel Sohege 🧡

@stand_for_all

Mar 15

It's absolutely brilliant that there has been such a huge response from the British public to accommodate refugees, and it is truly disturbing that we are in a place where 44,000 could feasibly to do so without even being DBS checked. #r4today. 1/

Over a number of years the previous "community sponsorship scheme" took about 600 people, so you can't even use that as a basis to argue what will or won't happen with the government #HomesForUkraine scheme. What you can do is look at the evidence and worry about safeguarding. 2/

"Light touch" National approach in the immediacy means people are being properly vetted before they take Ukrainian citizens into their homes. By only later on down the line having more detailed local authority checks you all but guarantee people slipping through the cracks. 3/

Read 10 tweets

Daniel Sohege 🧡

@stand_for_all

Mar 14

Gove's statement light on detail. No timeframe it seems for full implementation. No confirmation of long-term safeguarding. 6 month requirement for sponsors to provide accommodation, leaving open for future disruption, and social media to find matches. Not close to good enough

Any scheme cannot rely on the goodwill of the public. It needs proper frameworks. Use existing local authority frameworks and expand them with genuine investment as an example of how to implement a scheme now.

Currently this scheme still looks likely to minimise the number of people in the immediacy who can reach UK for safety, while putting the responsibility for protection on the public and allowing the government to sidestep criticism,

Read 13 tweets

Daniel Sohege 🧡

@stand_for_all

Mar 14

Thread: The government's latest scheme to help Ukrainian refugees raises quite a number of concerns and even more questions. Yes, the UK needs to do something, but this really doesn't seem like the answer based on the available information. 1/ #r4today

After calls for the UK to move quickly and waive visas it may seem strange to criticise the scheme. Waiving visas still, however, required that the government provide assistance and support for refugees. It was never about just saying "come in and sort yourselves out". 2/

The most significant risk is that increases the danger of refugees being exploited and even trafficked. We already see how a failure to provide proper specialist support puts, particularly children, at risk in hotels, this seems to multiply the issue. 3/
independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…

Read 16 tweets

Daniel Sohege 🧡

@stand_for_all

Mar 13

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…

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…

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.

Read 11 tweets

Daniel Sohege 🧡

@stand_for_all

Mar 12

THREAD: One of the main arguments which the UK uses for avoiding taking refugees is that they can seek asylum in "safe countries" before they arrive in Britain. That fact that "first safe country" doesn't actually exist in law is irrelevant. 1/

That is why it is so important not only to highlight the failures of the UK to provide protection, but also the risks posed to many asylum seekers in other countries, such as France and across the EU. 2/
hrw.org/world-report/2…

The EU's response to Ukrainian refugees has been astounding, and a direct contrast to the utter shambles which has been the UK's, but this really does highlight the unequal treatment of refugees within the EU as much as anything else. 3/

Read 9 tweets

Daniel Sohege 🧡

@stand_for_all

Mar 12

Thread: Conflicts are one of the main drivers of child trafficking. For years the UK government has conflated "trafficking", which can lead to long-term exploitation and "smuggling", which is predominantly transactional. 1/
bbc.co.uk/news/world-eur…

If the Government rejects amendments made by the House of Lords, the #nationalityandbordersbill will make it harder for trafficking survivors to come forward, by placing time limits on how long they have to present evidence and reveal the level of trauma they've been through. 2/

As the #Ukraine️ war continues we will see the tragic and inevitable rise of trafficking in the area, particularly with children. As it stands the UK government's proposed legislation would see them risk being treated as adults, disbelieved, and criminalised. 3/

Read 6 tweets

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