Kids born to refugees, seeking protection on the move in Europe are at risk of statelessness.
Parents without documents cannot always register their child’s birth, & women from some countries cannot pass on their nationality to kids born abroad. #StatelessJourneys
Migrants in Albania, Bulgaria, Czechia, Spain & Ukraine with stateless kids were given specialist support by @ENStatelessness members.
In this 5 min video, some of these families talk about their fight & what it means to be born without a nationality:
No child should be born without a nationality because of their parents’ migration status, or any reason
We urgently need to reform citizenship laws across Europe so any child born here who would be stateless can obtain nationality of the only country they know #StatelessJourneys
In the UK, Patel’s Nationality & Borders Act watered down protections that let kids born in the UK who would otherwise be stateless be recognised as British.
Across Europe the same prejudiced barriers stop children born to migrants from accessing their rights. #StatelessJourneys
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Announcing a 'Points Based System' (again) is completely meaningless. It's what both parties have said they'll do at least since Brexit, if not before.
I understand Labour is forever seeking the fudge, but here is what they SHOULD do...🪡
1. End the Hostile Environment
Contrary to what raging headlines would tell you, what matters isn't the number of immigrants one party or another would bring in, it's the rights they have.
Labour should pledge unambiguously to scrap all policies that criminalise migrant's lives.
That means getting rid of all surveillance & data-sharing on migrants & minorities.
NHS workers must be able to see patients, not passports, & provide healthcare without involving the Home Office.
Landlords must not bring racist immigration enforcement into our rental markets.
Can I be bothered to explain why this is obviously a pile of absolute rubbish?
I guess I can?
OK, so. Obviously, unbelievably obviously, Liz Truss is simply spouting the same baseless lies that have failed us all for decades. We badly need an honest approach to migration. 🧵
I should start with carrier sanctions - If an airline flies someone without the right visa to the UK, they're liable for fines to cover the cost of detention & deportation (& that kind of cruelty dont come cheap)
SOME people enter without the right documents, but relatively few.
IF a refugee manages this they can apply for asylum-
They'll be trapped without right to work in poor quality accommodation for years with the threat of deportation to Rwanda over them. Statistically likely to eventually be recognised as needing protection & allowed to rebuild.
Here’s the thing on “Rwanda plane was never meant to take off, it’s all a dead cat” : No.
1. The people who were supposed to be on that flight have been traumatised. This govt deports people whenever it can & would have deported them. Each one of them is what matters most.
2. That is not to say that the focus on performing insensate cruelty towards refugees isn’t a deliberate attempt to shore up the govt’s political position & move the conversation away from Johnson resigning - it is.
Just that they truly would sacrifice refugees to that end.
3. On the idea they wanted to lose in court to build their narrative against human rights, again, no.
They wanted to win in court and still present the same narrative about how courts/lawyers TRIED to get in the way.
This govt was already & always out for our Human Rights Act.
While Johnson crows over his success in supporting Ukraine against Russia, he is proposing to send Putin's other victims half way around the world, out of sight, out of mind.
Huge pseudo-detention camps for refugees, away from communities capable of supporting them is a recipe for isolation & hostility.
This govt is the first to use unsuitable hotels for asylum seekers, now it’s using its own failure there to justify this terrible solution #r4today
Refugees need decent conditions in communities that are adequately resourced - in funding from central govt and in terms of availability of services, access to legal & cultural support, etc.
And crucially given decisions quickly so they can move on & rebuild their lives #r4today
But what do we get?
Yet another unpopular, ill-thought through performance of cruelty from a govt that couldn’t run a bloody bath, let alone a credible asylum system.
They have got to go. We deserve a decent system for refugees and they are completely incapable of it. #r4today
10 years ago, Theresa May first publicly coined the term “hostile environment” - a set of policies designed to make life impossible for anyone who cant prove their formal immigration permission, in hopes enough cruelty would make them disappear.
These policies are proven to cause racial discrimination, wrongful detention & deportation of thousands, & to be a boon to criminals, traffickers & exploitative employers.
They have also caused an INCREASE in people living here without formal permission. jcwi.org.uk/the-hostile-en…
They include extortionate fees to renew a visa, increased use of temporary, short term visas & making it much more difficult to get your visa back again if you drop out of this restrictive system.
It doesn’t take a genius to see why this means more people trapped in the shadows.