Joint civil society solidarity statement on the Illegal Migration Bill
SDV is proud to be a signatory to this joint statement
As a coalition of 175 civil society organisations representing the human rights, migrant, refugee, asylum, anti-slavery and trafficking, children’s, women’s, LGBTQI+, disability rights and other sectors sectors, we call on Parliamentarians to urge the Government to immediately withdraw the ‘Illegal Migration Bill’.
We all deserve to live safe from harm and to be treated with compassion, dignity, and respect. But this shockingly cruel and inhumane Bill turns our country’s back on people fleeing war and persecution, blocking them from protection, support, or justice at a time they need it most.
The Bill is effectively a ban on asylum, extinguishing the right to seek refugee protection in the United Kingdom. It will put people seeking safety and a better life at risk of irreversible harm, with life and death consequences.
This Bill attacks the very core of human rights, which is the fundamental belief that we all have human rights regardless of who we are or where we are from. Instead, it separates people into categories of ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ of human rights. In stripping the most basic rights from people seeking safety and a better life, the Bill dismantles human rights protections for all of us.
The Bill deliberately and unacceptably excludes an entire category of people from the protections guaranteed under our domestic laws and international obligations.
It will almost certainly breach multiple international conventions and agreements, including the UN Refugee Convention, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (ECAT).
The Government has acknowledged that it cannot guarantee the Bill will be compatible with the ECHR, a legally binding instrument. The Convention represents the rights and values that we hold dear, including the right to life, protection from slavery and torture, and the right to liberty, which are all threatened by this Bill.
Not only does the Bill substantially threaten human rights, it aims to shield the Government from accountability when it does violate those rights by reducing parliamentary and judicial scrutiny.
The Bill includes the unprecedented and alarming proposal to disapply Section 3 of the Human Rights Act, which empowers our judges to interpret laws in a way that protects our rights. Without that protection, individuals affected by this Bill are limited from getting justice when their rights are violated.
The Bill hands vast delegated powers to the Secretary of State, including the power to amend laws in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, despite the fact that human rights are largely a devolved matter.
The Bill would also enable Ministers to ignore interim measures from the European Court of Human Rights – a rare yet vital last resort to halt proceedings like deportations when people’s lives are deemed at risk of extreme and irreversible harm.
This Bill would almost certainly be unlawful domestically and internationally. The Bill signals to the international community that the Government intends to commit human rights abuses while evading scrutiny and accountability, setting a dangerous example to other states.
More importantly, these cruel and inhumane plans are a stain on our collective moral conscience, attacking the values we cherish as a democratic, rights-respecting society. This Bill is a dangerous piece of legislation that will most certainly lead to irreparable harm, grave suffering, and possible deaths if enacted.
We stand united in solidarity with the individuals and families who would be directly harmed, and oppose the Government’s divisive attacks on refugees migrants, victims and survivors of human trafficking and modern slavery, and other people who move. We fiercely reject any attempts to undermine the universality of human rights.
We urge all Parliamentarians to urge the Government to withdraw the Bill.
Signed:
Danielle Roberts, Senior Policy and Development Officer, Here NI
Andrea Cleaver, CEO, Welsh Refugee Council
Paul Hook, Director, Asylum Matters
Deborah Gold, Chief Executive, National AIDS Trust
Saqib Deshmukh, Interim CEO, Alliance for Youth Justice
Deborah Coles, Executive Director, INQUEST
Chris Jones, Director, Statewatch
Declan Owens, Co-Chair, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
Declan Owens, CEO, Ecojustice Ireland
David Weaver, Chair, OBV
Lee Jasper, Co-Founder, Blaksox
Jess McQuail, Director, Just Fair
Emma Hutton, CEO, JustRight Scotland
Chloe Trew, Director, Participation and the Practice of Rights
Jonathan Senker, CEO, VoiceAbility
Andrew Copson, Chief Executive, Humanists UK
Tim Naor Hilton, Chief Executive, Refugee Action
Victoria Marks, Director, ATLEU
Clare Moseley, Chair, Care4Calais
Susanna Revolti, CEO, Borderlands
Mauricio Silva, IRD Coordinator, Columbans in Britain
Mia Hasenson-Gross, Executive Director, René Cassin, the Jewish voice for human rights
Amber Bauer, CEO, forRefugees
Lucy Nabijou, Coordinator, Haringey Welcome
Jane Lees, CEO, CommunityWorks
Ruhi Akhtar, CEO, Refugee Biriyani & Bananas
Naabil Khan, Volunteer Coordinator, STAR Exeter
Jeremy Thompson, Manager, Restore (a project of Birmingham Churches Together)
Miranda Reilly, Director, The Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees
Aisling Playford, Policy and Advocacy Manager, Rainbow Project
Toni Soni, Centre Director, Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre
Suleiman Abdulahi, Managing Director, Horn of Africa People’s Aid Northern Ireland
Andrea Cleaver, CEO, Welsh Refugee Council
Jabbar Hasan, Director, Iraqi Association
Jeannie Tweedie, Co-Director, Elmbridge CAN
Kayte Cable and Vicki Felgate, Co-Founders, Big Leaf Foundation
Aderonke Apata, Founder and CEO, African Rainbow Family
Sampson Low, Head of Policy, UNISON
Gisela Valle, Director, Latin American Women’s Rights Service
Aderonke Apata, Founder and Chairperson, Manchester Migrant Solidarity
Sue Lacey, Founder, Together100
Eleni Venaki, Director, The Comfrey Project
Karen Pearse, Director, Positive Action For Refugees and Asylum Seekers
Amos Schonfield, CEO, Our Second Home
Chloe Crowther, Bristol Defend Asylum Seekers Campaign
Tom Brake, Director, Unlock Democracy
Sebastian Rocca, Founder and CEO, Micro Rainbow
Sheila Mosley, Steering Group member, Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network – QARN
Mel Steel, Director, Voices in Exile
Ewan Roberts, CEO, Asylum Link Merseyside
William Gomes, Director, The William Gomes Podcast
Dr Razia Shariff, CEO, Kent Refugee Action Network
Andrea Simon, Director, End Violence Against Women Coalition
Emily Crowley, Chief Executive, Student Action for Refugees (STAR)
Tamsin Cook, Co-Artistic Director, Mafwa Theatre
Rose Caldwell, CEO, Plan International UK
Isobel Ingham-Barrow, CEO, Community Policy Forum
Clare Moody, Co-CEO, Equally Ours
Sadia Sikandar, Advisory Board, West End Refugee Services
Rosie MacPherson, Artistic Director & Joint CEO, Stand & Be Counted Theatre
Efi Stathopoulou, Programmes Manager, Refugee Legal Support
Ros Gowers, Coordinator, Evesham Vale Welcomes Refugees
Margaret Lennon, Director, Bridges Programmes
Daniel Boyle, Senior Parliamentary and Policy Officer, BEMIS Scotland
Elayne Hill, CEO, Central England Law Centre
Margaret Lennon, National Committee, Women for Independence – Independence for Women
Angus Clark, Chief Executive, Herts for Refugees
Liz Needham, Chair of Trustees, St Albans for Refugees
Jean-Pierre Moussally, community councillor of the agglomeration of Grand Calais Terres & Mers, EELV (French Green Party)
Nancy Kelley, CEO, Stonewall
Juliet Harris, Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights), Director
Shameem Ahmad, CEO, Public Law Project
Emma Ginn, Director, Medical Justice
Pete Ritchie, Director, Nourish Scotland
Fraser Sutherland, Chief Executive, Humanist Society Scotland
Alexandra Lopoukhine, Interim Executive Director, Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants
Georgina Fletcher, Chief Officer, Regional Refugee Forum North East
Catharine Walston, Trustee, Cambridge Refugee Resettlement Campaign
Catharine Walston, Chair of Executive, Cambridge Convoy Refugee Action Group
Rev Peta Evans, Senior Pastor, Metropolitan Community Church of North London
Jenni Regan, CEO, IMIX
Bridget Young, Director, NACCOM
Andrew Jackson, Chief Executive, Upbeat Communities
Sarah Fenby-Dixon, trustee, Refugee Aid Network
Kat Lorenz, Director, Asylum Support Appeals Project
Mhairi Snowden, Director, Human Rights Consortium Scotland
National Committee, Women for Independence
Will Sutcliffe, Chair, Bradford City of Sanctuary
Charles Dobson, Chairman, Skipton Refugee Support Group
Angie Pedley Co-ordinator, Craven Refugee Support Network
Angie Pedley, Co-ordinator, Craven District of Sanctuary
Robert Rae, Co-Director, Art27 Scotland
Amanda Jones, CEO, Shropshire Supports Refugees
Amy Lythgoe, Trustee, Together Now
Zara Mohammed, Secretary-General, Muslim Council of Britain
Maggie Pearse, Chair, BIASAN (Bradford Immigration and Asylum Support and Advice Network)
Daniel Tsz Kin Kwok, Director, The Hong Kong Scots CIC
Gail Heath, CEO, Pankhurst Trust (incorporating Manchester Women’s Aid)
Steve Newman, Chair, FODI (Friends of the Drop In for asylum seekers and refugees, Sunderland)
Alphonsine Kabagabo, Director, Women for Refugee Women
Tim Hopkins, Director, Equality Network
Gill Tipping, Co-chair, Lewes Organisation in Support of Refugees and Asylum Seekers (LOSRAS)
Lilian Geijsen, European Director, Ben & Jerry’s
Sian Summers-Rees, Chief Officer, City of Sanctuary UK
Chloe Wolfe, Charity Manager, Swindon City of Sanctuary
Helen Hodgson, Operations Director, Hope at Home
Lisa Norcross, Project and Fundraising Manager, Kairos Housing
Alan Gray, Chair, Forth Valley Migrant Support Network
Amanda Church-Mcfarlane, Co-CEO, Abigail Housing
Clare Campbell, Operations Manager, Walking With in North Tyneside
Stroud District Together With Refugees
Martha Spurrier, Director, Liberty
Nick Beales, Head of Campaigns, RAMFEL
Revd Jide Macaulay, Chief Executive Officer, House of Rainbow CIC
Lade Olugbemi, The Nous Organisation
Sandy Brindley, Chief Executive, Rape Crisis Scotland
Dennis Carney, Chair, Black Connection
Ros Holland, Chief Exec, Boaz Trust
Ted Britton, Chair of Trustees, WYDAN
Gwen Hines, Chief Executive, Save the Children
Jamie Balfour-Paul, Founder, Magic for Smiles
Avril Sharp, Policy Officer, Kalayaan
Dania Thomas, Director, Ubuntu Women Shelter
Mark Courtice, Chair of Trustees, Southampton and Winchester Visitors Group
Agnes Tolmie, Chair, The Scottish Women’s Convention
Kate Alexander, Director, Scottish Detainee Visitors
Simon Tyler, Director, Doctors of the World
Sacha Deshmukh, Chief Executive, Amnesty International UK
Dr. Patrick Roach, General Secretary, NASUWT
James Wilson, Director, Detention Action
Anna Lewis, CEO, Open Door North East
Simon Cheng, Director, Hongkongers in Britain
Jane Grimshaw, Convenor Hastings Supports Refugees
Julie Bishop, Director, Law Centres Network
Sattinder Collins, Chair, Tees Valley of Sanctuary
Elizabeth Long, Partnerships, Refugee, Asylum seeker & Migrant Action (RAMA)
Stephanie Neville, Project Manager, Stories of Hope and Home
Alison Pickup, Director, Asylum Aid
Kerry Smith, CEO, Helen Bamber Foundation
Ailsa Dunn Secretary Hay, Brecon and Talgarth Sanctuary for Refugees
Reverend Gerard Goshawk, Minister, Six Ways Erdington Baptist Church
Clare Henry, Management Committee, Exeter City of Sanctuary
Hayley Nelson BEM, Director, Learn for Life Enterprise
Sanchita Hosali, CEO, The British Institute of Human Rights
Paul Parker, Recording Clerk, Quakers in Britain
Clarissa Hanna, Chair, Faversham and Villages Refugee Solidarity Group
Dr Judith Turbyne, Chief Executive, Children in Scotland
Lucila Granada, CEO, Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX)
Marguerite Hunter Blair CEO Play Scotland
Fizza Qureshi, CEO, Migrants’ Rights Network
Robert Moore, Company Secretary, North Wales Regional Equality Network
Mark Kieran, CEO, Open Britain
Griff Ferris, Senior legal and policy officer, Fair Trials
Kris Harris, Policy Coordinator, Project 17
Debbie Ariyo OBE, CEO AFRUCA Safeguarding Children
Debbie Ariyo OBE, Chair BASNET
Pierre Makhlouf, Legal Director, Bail for Immigration Detainees
Chris Minnoch, CEO, Legal Aid Practitioners Group
Owen Temple, Chair, No To Hassockfield
Sneh Aurora, Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI)
Jim McCormick, Chief Executive, The Robertson Trust
John Good, Acting CEO, ActionAid UK
Suzanne Swinton, Chief Executive, Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance
Danny Sriskandarajah, CEO, Oxfam GB
Hugh Knowles and Miriam Turner, Co-Executive Directors, Friends of the Earth (England, Wales and Northern Ireland)
Donna-Louise Cobban, CEO, Beyond Detention
James Pearson, Director of Policy & Practice, Alzheimer Scotland
Yo Dunn, Director, National Autistic Taskforce
Enver Solomon, CEO, Refugee Council
Rev Caz Hague, Methodist Minister, Birmingham Circuit
Steve Cooke Chair Derbyshire Refugee Solidarity
Katrina Ffrench, Founder and Managing Director, UNJUST
Dr Shabna Begum, Director of Research, Runnymede Trust.
Yasmine Ahmed, UK Director, Human Rights Watch
