Campaigning
Why we campaign
Campaigning for a fair and just asylum process is, and has always been at the heart of what Lewes Refugee Support does. No-one feels the need to escape their home and set out on perilous journeys, unless they have no other option. We believe that people facing violence and persecution deserve to be treated with respect, care and compassion.
You have to understand that no-one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land.
Warsan Shire
However, the previous Government’s hostile environment policy towards people seeking asylum has made it virtually impossible to claim asylum in the UK without recourse to dangerous and expensive people-smuggling organisations.
The racist immigration policy of recent years meant that only if you are from Ukraine, Hong Kong or (for a very limited number) Afghanistan are there safe and legal routes to seek refuge in the UK.
The Nationalities and Borders Act, passed in April 2022, criminalises people seeking asylum if they arrive by so-called ‘unregulated routes’ such as those involving the precarious, small-boat Channel crossings. The Illegal Migration Act, 2023, that followed was equally brutal.
The previous Government pressed forward with its ‘Rwanda Policy’ whereby people seeking asylum in the UK were to be ‘processed’ off-shore. This was despite the fact that the Supreme Court in November 2023, ruled that Rwanda is not a ‘safe country’ because of its poor human rights record. Indeed, the UK upholds the right of people from Rwanda to claim asylum in the UK. On 23rd December 2023 the then Government published a piece of prospective legislation declaring that Rwanda was indeed a ‘safe country’ – this served to substantially limit people’s ability to challenge their relocation there in British courts.
We were therefore greatly heartened that this brutal policy was immediately repealed when the current Labour government took office in July of this year. However, the current government’s Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill of January 2025 still gives us much to campaign against.
Lewes Refugee Support Group has joined key national campaigns supporting refugee rights and we work with local organisations with similar aims.
There are many different ways in which you can get involved to campaign for a fair and humane asylum system where refugees are treated as people, not numbers. For information on the national campaigns that we are actively engaged with, please see the following:
The campaigns we are involved in
Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children (UASC) and Family Reunion
Safe Passage campaigns for families to be reunited and seeks the legal protection of Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASCs).
Safe Passage are pushing for parliamentarians to ensure family reunion is debated. The Refugee Family Reunion Bill, introduced in September 2024, seeks to fix the barriers to family reunion and give more refugees the right to be reunited with loved ones. Specifically, the bill would:
- Remove bureaucratic and financial barriers that make family reunion difficult.
- Enable children outside the UK to reunite with refugee siblings or other family members already in the country.
- Allow unaccompanied child refugees in the UK to sponsor their parents and siblings—a right they are currently denied.
Lewes Refugee Support endorses Safe Passage’s campaign.
Lift the ban
on the right to work
We continue to campaign for the right to work of those waiting for asylum claims to be processed – Lift the Ban.
People seeking asylum currently do not have the right to work while they are waiting for their asylum decisions. Some people can wait for as long as three years to hear whether they have been given the right to remain or refugee status.
This is incredibly damaging to the mental health of the individual as well as making them reliant on as little as £50 a week to ‘live’ on. As Joyce, who is seeking asylum, says below:
“We want to work, to pay bills, to pay tax. Put something into the community so that money can help the ones who really need help.”
Ending use of
indefinite detention
Lewes Refugee Support has joined with Detention Action to campaign for the end to indefinite detention and to unjust deportations.
The use of detention or the purposes of removal from the UK is inhumane, cruel and increasingly being used as a ‘catch all’ strategy with 15,864 people being indefinitely detained across the UK during 2023. As of December 2023, 39% of people leaving detention had been held for more than 28 days.
Some people are held for years with very limited access to legal support and with no idea of when they will be released.
Over 60% of immigration detainees are eventually released back into the community, having suffered imprisonment for no crime whatsoever.
The UK is the only European country where detention for the purpose of immigration can be indefinite.
Detention Action has long-campaigned for this to be set at 28 days maximum.
Opposition to
the Illegal migration ACT
We are members of Together With Refugees a coalition of over 500 organisations, charities and faith groups which campaign for a more compassionate approach to refugees. The coalition was founded by Asylum Matters, British Red Cross, Freedom from Torture, Rainbow Migration, Refugee Action, Refugee Council and Scottish Refugee Council.
TwR believes that how we treat refugees as a country reflects who we are as a country. It is calling for an approach to supporting refugees that is more effective, fair and humane. This means:
- the UK working with other countries to play our part in helping people who are forced to flee their homes.
- that people fleeing war and persecution should be able to seek safety in the UK no matter how they come here.
- people seeking safety can live in dignity while they wait for a decision on their asylum application.
- empowering refugees to rebuild their lives and make valuable contributions to our communities.
A new national campaign, Fair begins here, was launched on February 14th 2024, with the goal to ensure that the current government commits to a fair new plan for refugees. See website for more information.
wider networks
LEWES DISTRICT ANTI-RACISM ALLIANCE
This is a newly formed local alliance to raise awareness and promote racial justice within the Lewes district.
REFUGEE TALES
Refugee Tales walks in solidarity with people who have experienced immigration detention. It calls for an end to this arbitrary and brutal practice.
Volumes of Refugee Tales (I – V) are published by Comma Press. The books are a powerful testimony bearing witness to the lived experience of the UK’s immigration detention system.
Refugee Tales organises regular day-walks where people can share their stories while walking together.
Refugee Tales also organises an annual five day walk. 2025 is the 10 year anniversary of Refugee Tales, so in celebration, it is organising The Refugee Tales Festival of Walking. This will be held from 9-13th July and walkers will walk the Capital Ring around London, starting in Southwark and ending in Wimbledon. Each of the five walking days are followed by evenings of shared story telling and music. The shared purpose is to walk in solidarity with asylum seekers, migrants and refugees. To find out more, please visit the Refugee Tales website.
