Our vision is a compassionate refugee protection that aims to welcome, not punish and criminalise people seeking asylum. We are working to secure from Government a commitment to the principles of the Fight the Anti-Refugee Laws pledge and the blueprint for fixing our broken asylum system which was endorsed by over 300 organisations and 500 individuals following the 2024 General Election:

1. Defend the right to seek asylum in the UK in line with international law, by repealing the Illegal Migration Act and the Nationality and Borders Act;
2. Open safe routes for people seeking asylum to reach the UK so that people are not forced to risk their lives in the Channel, including providing visa routes, enabling families to reunite safely, and rebuilding refugee resettlement;
3. Abandon offshore processing, and further border externalisation as typified by the EU Migration Pact, and ensure that people are able to have their cases processed in the UK in a fair and timely way;
4. Resolve the legal aid crisis and ensure that everyone has access to good quality legal advice;
5. House people seeking asylum in communities, not camps, and close down all institutional accommodation including barracks, barges, hotels and hostels which cause unnecessary lasting harm at an eye-watering cost to the taxpayer whilst community-based accommodation is available;
6. Restore the right to work for people seeking asylum within six months of arrival so people can rebuild their lives in dignity and contribute £1.2 billion to the UK economy;
7. Increase asylum support rates so people seeking safety are not locked into poverty and forced to choose between essentials like food and toiletries;
8. End the use of immigration detention which restricts people’s freedom and liberty and causes immense harm to people’s physical and mental health;
9. End the criminalisation of people seeking asylum which sets the UK out of step with international law, does nothing to deter irregular migration and punishes those often fleeing wars we started in countries we colonised for simply seeking safety;
10. End the use of harmful rhetoric aimed at people seeking asylum, which contributes to a hostile environment which includes violence by far-right groups, and instead lead by example by promoting messages of compassion and welcome towards people seeking safety.

One of the most worrying impacts of the successive anti-refugee laws in recent years is the growing trend of unjust criminalisation of refugees committing the ‘crime’ of simply seeking safety, despite international law enshrining that human right. This is why these UK laws are a matter of rights. 

People fleeing to the UK in search of safety have not done so by choice. They have been forcibly displaced from their homes. Often due to wars we started in countries we colonised. Many are survivors of torture, trafficking, or modern slavery. Protections for survivors of these shocking crimes have been eroded by successive anti-refugee laws in the hostile environment British Governments have created for refugees.

According to our partners Humans for Rights Network, at least 500 people, including unaccompanied children, have been arrested and incarcerated for immigration offences including ‘illegal arrival’ since the Nationality & Borders Act of 2022. The vast majority are seeking asylum and are from countries such as Sudan and Afghanistan (with some of the highest success rate for asylum claims). The introduction of this criminalisation has not stopped people crossing in small boats, nor has it deterred smugglers from facilitating these journeys.

The new anti-terrorism powers that the Government’s hostile Border Security, Asylum & Immigration Bill would grant border enforcement agencies will more often than not target refugees, not smugglers. The only way to ‘smash the gangs’ and put smugglers out of business is the establishment of safe routes that would negate the need for irregular migration.