Joint civil society statement on the passage of the Illegal Migration Action

18th July 2023

As a coalition of 290 organisations representing the human rights, migrants’ rights, refugee and asylum, anti-trafficking, children’s, violence against women and girls, LGBTQI+, disability rights, health, LGBTQI+, housing, racial justice, criminal justice, arts, international development, environment, democracy, pan-equality, faith, access to justice, and other sectors, we condemn the passage of the Illegal Migration Act today, and stand in solidarity with all who will be affected.

We all deserve to live safe from harm. But this senselessly cruel Act will have a devastating impact on people’s lives. It turns our country’s back on people seeking safety, blocking them from protection, support, and justice at a time they need it most.

In abandoning the UK’s moral and legal obligations, the Act risks breaching multiple international human rights treaties including the Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights while shielding the Government from accountability. The UK Government has admitted that it cannot confirm if the Act is compatible with the UK’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Act will force people into situations that threaten their lives – whether by placing children in detention or sending people off to countries where their lives might be at grave risk. Moreover, the Act attacks the very core of human rights, which is the principle that we all have them regardless of who we are or where we are from. In stripping the most basic rights from people seeking safety and a better life, the Act dismantles human rights protections for all of us.

Either all of us have human rights, or none of us do. While the UK Government’s plans will harm those seeking safety the most, this is an attack on all of us and the values we hold dear.

The government has rushed through this law despite broad and deep opposition. But our fight is not over. As caring people, we will continue to fight for the right for people to seek safety and a better life without being forced to take dangerous journeys and without being punished for how they enter the UK. We will keep holding those in power to account for upholding the UK’s international obligations. We will strive for an asylum and immigration system that treats everyone with dignity and respect. We will stand in solidarity with and fight alongside everyone who makes the UK their home and build a society that treats everyone with compassion.

Signatories:

  1. Akiko Hart, Interim Director, Liberty

  2. Alexandra Loupoukhine, Interim Executive Director, JCWI

  3. Sonya Sceats, Chief Executive, Freedom from Torture

  4. Joyce Kallevik, Director, WISH

  5. Professor Robert Moore, NWREN

  6. Eiri Ohtani, Director, Right to Remain

  7. Alison Pickup, Director, Asylum Aid

  8. Jess McQuail, Director, Just Fair

  9. Julie Bishop, Director, Law Centres Network

  10. Kyle Taylor, Founder, Fair Vote UK

  11. Kerry Smith, CEO, Helen Bamber Foundation

  12. Andrea Simon, Director, End Violence Against Women Coalition

  13. Traci Kirkland, Head of Charity, Govan Community Project

  14. Amber Bauer, CEO, forRefugees

  15. Anna Rudd, Interim Director, ASSIST Sheffield

  16. Jim McAuliffe, Chair, Lighthouse Relief

  17. Robina Qureshi, Positive Action in Housing

  18. Kayte Cable and Vicki Felgate, Co-founders, Big Leaf Foundation

  19. Siân Summers-Rees, Chief Officer, City of Sanctuary UK

  20. Christine Bacon, Co-Artistic Director, Ice and Fire Theatre

  21. Mark Goldring, Director, Asylum Welcome

  22. Shameem Ahmad, CEO, Public Law Project

  23. Marguerite Hunter Blair, CEO, Play Scotland

  24. Aderonke Apata, Founder and CEO, African Rainbow Family

  25. Sarah Teather, Director, Jesuit Refugee Service UK

  26. Amos Schonfield, CEO, Our Second Home

  27. Emma Ginn, Director, Medical Justice

  28. Mia Hassenson-Gross, Director, René Cassin

  29. Katie Fennell, National Coordinator, KIND UK

  30. Dr Shabna Begum and Laurence Jay, Interim Co-CEO’s, Runnymede Trust

  31. Stephanie Habib, Executive Team, English for Action (EFA) London

  32. Anna MacDonald, Co-founder, Play for Progress

  33. Dr Helen Taylor, Director, Stories and Supper

  34. Anne Fox, CEO, Clinks

  35. Liz Fekete, Director, Institute of Race Relations

  36. Chris Jones, Director, Statewatch

  37. Leila Zadeh, Executive Director, Rainbow Migration

  38. Anna Jones, CEO & Co Founder, RefuAid

  39. Shoaib M Khan, Partner, SMK Law Solicitors

  40. William Gomes, Director, The William Gomes Podcast

  41. Alphonsine Kabagabo, Director, Women for Refugee Women

  42. Bridget Young, Director, NACCOM (No Accommodation Network)

  43. Dr Ruth Allen, Chief Executive, British Association of Social Workers

  44. Sebastian Rocca, CEO, Micro Rainbow

  45. Anber Raz, Chair of the Board of Trustees, Imkaan

  46. Naomi Webb, Executive Director, Good Chance Theatre

  47. Zara Mohammed, Secretary-General, Muslim Council of Britain

  48. Revd Dr Tessa Henry-Robinson, Moderator of General Assembly, United Reformed Church

  49. Trustee, Waltham Forest Migrant Action

  50. Rosario Guimba-Stewart, CEO, Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network (LRMN)

  51. Mel Steel, Director, Voices in Exile

  52. Lis Murphy, Creative Director, Music Action International

  53. Mariko Hayashi, Executive Director, Southeast and East Asian Centre (SEEAC)

  54. Zrinka Bralo, CEO, Migrants Organise

  55. Fizza Qureshi, CEO, Migrants’ Rights Network

  56. Robbie de Santos, Director of External Affairs, Stonewall

  57. Sally Daghlian OBE, CEO, Praxis

  58. Emily Crowley, Chief Executive, Student Action for Refugees (STAR)

  59. Peter Marsden, CEO, Concordis International

  60. Lara Parizotto & Alex Bulat, Co-Directors, Migrant Democracy Project

  61. Tim Naor Hilton, Chief Executive, Refugee Action

  62. Sacha Deshmukh, Chief Executive, Amnesty International UK

  63. Anthea Sully, Chief Executive, White Ribbon UK

  64. Souad Talsi MBE, Founder and Interim CEO, Al-Hasaniya Moroccan Women’s Project Ltd

  65. Hugh Russell, Chief Executive, Children in Wales – Plant Yng Nghymru

  66. Comfort Etim, Director, Refugee Women Connect

  67. James Wilson, Director, Detention Action

  68. Revd Gill Newton, President of the Methodist Conference

  69. Joanne MacInnes, West London Welcome

  70. Kerry Scarlett, Vice-President of the Methodist Conference

  71. Natasha Eeles, CEO & Founder, Bold Voices

  72. Dianna Nammi, Executive Director, IKWRO

  73. Alison, JURIES

  74. Christine Allen, Director, CAFOD

  75. Catharine Walston, Chair of Core Committee, Cambridge Refugee Resettlement Campaign

  76. Marissa Green, Chair of Trustees, Cambridge Convoy Refugee Action Group

  77. Jayne Butler, CEO, Rape Crisis England and Wales

  78. Marchu Belete & Sarah Cutler, Co-directors, Migration Exchange

  79. Aké Achi, Founding Chief Executive, Migrants At Work

  80. Aké Achi, CEO, Black Europeans

  81. Shaminder Ubhi, Director, Ashiana Network

  82. Yasmine Ahmed, UK Director, Human Rights Watch

  83. Angie Herrera, Director, Latin American Women’s Aid (LAWA)

  84. Harriet Wistrich, Director, Centre for Women’s Justice

  85. Iona Taylor, Advocacy and Campaigns Lead, Positive Action in Housing

  86. Emma Hutton, CEO, JustRight Scotland

  87. Nick Watts, Director, Together with Migrant Children

  88. Ruth Davison, CEO, Refuge

  89. Mollin Delve, CEO, PHOEBE

  90. Enver Solomon, CEO, Refugee Council

  91. Sabrina Qureshi, Founder and Coordinator, Million Women Rise Movement

  92. Jo Cobley, CEO, Young Roots

  93. Laura Tomson and Rachel Adamson, Co-Directors, Zero Tolerance

  94. Steven Smith, CEO, Care4Calais

  95. Kathy Evans, Chief Executive, Children England

  96. Indy Cross, Chief Executive Officer, Agenda Alliance

  97. Shari Brown, Partnership and Development Manager, Refugee and Migrant Centre (West Midlands)

  98. Kate Roberts, Head of Policy, FLEX

  99. Selma Taha, Executive Director, Southall Black Sisters

  100. Estelle Du Boulay, Director, Rights of Women

  101. Rita Gava, Kalayaan

  102. Natalie Collins, CEO, Own My Life

  103. Jason Thomas-Fournillier, Senior Administrator, Spectrum Rainbow Community

  104. Gisela Valle, Director, LAWRS

  105. Catherine Gladwell, Chief Executive, Refugee Education UK

  106. Barbara Drozdowicz, CEO, East European Resource Centre

  107. Lucy Nabijou, Coordinator, Haringey Welcome

  108. Dr David Brown, Chair, Birmingham City of Sanctuary

  109. Josie Naughton, CEO, Choose Love

  110. Danielle Roberts, Senior Policy and Development Officer, Here NI

  111. Khedijah Mohammed-Nur, Cofounder, Network of Eritrean Women-UK

  112. Rupert Skilbeck, Director, REDRESS

  113. Sophie Neuburg, Director, Medact

  114. Sharon Erdman, CEO, RASASC

  115. Ghadah Alnasseri, Head of Policy and Public Affairs, Hibiscus Initiatives

  116. Maddy Crowther, Co-Executive Director, Waging Peace

  117. Laura Kyrke-Smith, Executive Director, International Rescue Committee UK

  118. Eleanor Brown, CEO, CARAS Jane Lees, CEO, Communityworks

  119. Jo Benefield, Campaign Coordinator, Bristol Defend the Asylum Seekers Campaign

  120. Nicola David, Founder, One Life to Live

  121. Chris Rose, Chair, Craven District of Sanctuary

  122. Ben Gilchrist, Chief Executive, Caritas Shrewsbury

  123. Skipton Refugee Support Group

  124. Ailsa Dunn Secretary to Hay, Brecon and Talgarth Sanctuary for refugees

  125. Revd Canon Helen Cameron, Moderator, Free Churches Group

  126. Zita Holbourne, BARAC UK

  127. Angie Pedley, Treasurer, Settle Area Refugee Support

  128. Rosie MacPherson, Artistic Director and Joint CEO, Stand and Be Counted Theatre

  129. Dr Nicola Sharp-Jeffs OBE, CEO, Surviving Economic Abuse

  130. Astrid Laich, Secretary, Bournville Amnesty

  131. Kush Chottera, CEO, Europia

  132. Jeremy Thompson, Manager, Restore – a project of Birmingham Churches Together

  133. Anna Pincus, Director, Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group

  134. Tess Berry-Hart, Director, Citizens of the World Choir

  135. Georgina Fletcher, Chief Executive, Regional Refugee Forum North East

  136. Zlakha Ahmed, Chief Executive, Apna Haq

  137. Refugee and Migrant Partner Lead, Sector 3

  138. Mike Wild, Chief Executive, Macc

  139. Christopher Desira, Director, Seraphus

  140. Amanda Church-Mcfarlane, Co-CEO, Abigail Housing

  141. Professor Jenny Phillimore, Institute for Research into Superdiversity, University of Birmingham

  142. Revd. Ian Rutherford, City Centre Minister, Methodist Central Hall Manchester

  143. District Ecumenical Officer, Greater Manchester Churches Together

  144. Paul Parker, Recording Clerk, Quakers in Britain

  145. Martin Drewry, CEO, Health Poverty Action

  146. Mick Taylor, Project Coordinator, Support for Wigan Arrivals Project

  147. Gail Heath, CEO, Pankhurst Trust

  148. Miranda Reilly, Director, AVID

  149. Hayley Nelson BEM, Director, Learn for Life Enterprise

  150. Vivienne Hayes, CEO, WRC

  151. Vicar, St Paul’s Church

  152. Richy Thompson, Director of Public Affairs and Policy, Humanists UK

  153. Jan Foster, Trustee, Doncaster Conversation Club

  154. Jo Todd, CEO, Respect

  155. Jamie Balfour-Paul, Founder and Performing Magician, Magic for Smiles

  156. Sarah Lange, Lead Coordinator, Wyre Forest Supports Asylum Seekers

  157. Catherine Mackle, Director, Community Welcome cic

  158. Angus Clark, Chief Executive – Herts for Refugees

  159. Phil Kerton, Co-Director, Seeking Sanctuary

  160. Lisa-Marie Taylor, CEO, FiLiA

  161. Warren Elf MBE, Co-Chair, Faith Network for Manchester

  162. Sara Alsherif, Migrant Digital Justice Programme Manager, Open Rights group

  163. Charlie Zosseder, Director, Samphire

  164. Martin Cosarinsky Campos, Managing Director, Breadwinners

  165. Tom Cheesman, Trustee, Swansea Asylum Seekers Support

  166. Sanchita Hosali, CEO, British Institute of Human Rights

  167. Nathan D Ndlovu, Chairman, CARAG

  168. Kevin Hanratty, Director, Northern Ireland Human Rights Consortium

  169. Ian Hodson, National President, BFAWU

  170. Mauricio Silva – Inter-Religious Coordinator, Columbans in Britain

  171. Bishop Mike Royal, General Secretary, Churches Together in England

  172. Joan Hoult, CEO, Walking With in North Tyneside

  173. Johannah Dyer, Chair, Bromsgrove and District Asylum Seeker Support

  174. Patrick O’Dowd, Director, Caritas Diocese of Salford

  175. Dr Pat Bond, Chair, New to the UK, North Shields

  176. Barbara Hungin, Chair of Trustees, Justice First

  177. Programme Development Director, Railway Children

  178. Jabbar Hasan, Director, Iraqi Association

  179. Paul Hook, Director, Asylum Matters

  180. Revd Jide Macaulay, Founder & CEO House of Rainbow CIC

  181. Stephanie Neville, Project Manager

  182. Dr Ruvi Ziegler, Chair,  New Europeans UK

  183. Robert Hooper, Pastor, Oasis church

  184. Abigail Martin, Manager, St Chad’s Sanctuary

  185. Darren Knight, Chief Executive, George House Trust

  186. Toni Soni, Centre Director, Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre

  187. Imogen McIntosh, Aid Box Community

  188. Victoria Marks, Director, Anti Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit (ATLEU)

  189. Manuchehr Maleki, Co-Chair, SYMAAG

  190. Stuart Crosthwaite, Secretary, SYMAAG

  191. The Revd Steve Faber, Moderator, URC West Midlands Synod

  192. Misak Ohanian, CEO, Centre for Armenian Information and Advice

  193. Stan Beneš, Managing Director, Opora

  194. M Fahim, Manager, Afghan community and welfare centre

  195. Dr Paul Martin OBE, LGBT Foundation

  196. Nazee Akbari, CEO, New Citizens’ Gateway

  197. Rebecca Stevenson – Read – Centre Manager, St Vincent’s Centre Newcastle upon Tyne

  198. Zoe Gardner, National Committee, Another Europe is Possible

  199. Nicholas Prescott, Project Manager, Fallowfield & Withington Foodbank

  200. Seana Roberts, Manager, Merseyside Refugee Support Network

  201. Seana Roberts, Administrator, Liverpool City of Sanctuary

  202. Rabbi Warren Elf MBE, Rabbi, Southend and District Reform Synagogue

  203. Ros Holland, Chief Exec, Boaz Trust

  204. Nick Beales, RAMFEL

  205. Lara Bundock, CEO, Snowdrop Project

  206. Andrea Cleaver, CEO, Welsh Refugee Council

  207. Ailsa MacKenzie, Chief Officer, The Pyramid at Anderston

  208. Rachel Wing, Treasurer/Co Ordinator, Refugee and Asylum Seeker Project, Stockton on Tees

  209. David Weaver, Chair, Operation Black Vote

  210. Lee Jasper, Co-founder, Blaksox

  211. Efi Stathopoulou, Programmes Manager, Refugee Legal Support

  212. Vicar, St Paul’s Church Birmingham

  213. Kat Lorenz, Director, Asylum Support Appeals Project

  214. Denise McDowell, CEO, Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit

  215. Elham Kashefi, Tara Centre

  216. Maria Brul, Policy and Public Affairs Manager, Children and Families Across Borders

  217. Katie Morrison, CEO, Safe Passage

  218. Nazek Ramadan, Migrant Voice, Director

  219. Daniel Sohege, Director, Stand For All

  220. Stephanie Draper, Chief Executive, Bond

  221. Revd Kate Gray, The United Reformed Church, Wythenshawe

  222. Paddy Kelly, Director, Children’s Law Centre

  223. Clare Moody, Joint CEO, Equally Ours

  224. Sampson Low, Head of Policy, UNISON

  225. Frank Parnham, Secretary, Barnsley Borough City of Sanctuary

  226. Salma Ravat, CEO, One Roof Leicester

  227. Dr Sarah Hughes, Chief Executive, Mind

  228. Yvonne Rendell, Chair, Bromsgrove and Redditch Welcome Refugees

  229. Karen Parry, Chief Executive, Inclusion North

  230. Christine Rose Chair of the Core Group,Craven District of Sanctuary

  231. Beatrice Giaquinto, Director, Nottingham Arimathea Trust

  232. Gwen Hines, Chief Executive, Save the Children

  233. Jennifer Nadel and Matt Hawkins, Co-Directors, Compassion in Politics

  234. Andrew Belfield, Mosaic Justice Network

  235. Kamran Mallick, CEO, Disability Rights UK

  236. Liz Millman, North Wales Jamaica Society

  237. Liz Millman, Learning Links International CIC

  238. Garrick Prayogg project Manager, Cultural Diversity Network

  239. Rev. Dr. Joseph D Cortis coordinator of Caritas Leeds

  240. Zoe Bantleman, Legal Director, Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA)

  241. CEO, Cast – Communities and Sanctuary Seekers Together

  242. Jane Grimshaw, Convener, Hastings Supports Refugees

  243. Sarah Hayes, Vicar, St Germains Church Birmingham

  244. Polly Gifford, Co-Chair, Hastings Community of Sanctuary

  245. Ernie Whalley, Chair, Reach group, New North Road Baptist Church, Huddersfield

  246. Mojgan Bakhtiary, Development Manager, Taban

  247. Louise King, Director, Children’s Rights Alliance for England

  248. Alison Page, Chief Executive, Salford CVS

  249. Jo Walby, Chief Executive Officer, Salford CVS

  250. Aleema Shivji, Chief Impact Officer, Oxfam GB

  251. Gill Kelly, Chair, Wolverhampton City of Sanctuary

  252. Rose Caldwell, CEO, Plan International UK

  253. Frank Forman, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Refugee Forum

  254. Alex, General Advice Coordinator, Manchester Refugee Support Network

  255. Revd Sarah Jemison (Chair of Trustees), BEACON (Bradford Ecumenical Asylum Concern)

  256. Pauline Mary Ruth. Chair of Trustees. Trinity Safe Space Charity

  257. Abi Brunswick, Director, Project 17

  258. Dr Arabella Hamilton, Lay Chair of the Parochial Church Council

  259. Sian Summers-Rees, Chief Officer, City of Sanctuary UK

  260. Amy Lythgoe, Trustee, Together Now

  261. Miriam Turner and Hugh Knowles, Co-Executive Directors, Friends of the Earth (England, Wales and

  262. Northern Ireland)

  263. Mark Russell, CEO, The Children’s Society

  264. Humma Nizami, Executive Director, Race Equality Network

  265. Jonathan Senker, CEO, VoiceAbility

  266. Joanna Ewart-James, Executive Director, Freedom United

  267. Michael Mark, Trustee, The Cotton Tree Trust

  268. Areeba Hamid, Co-Executive Director, Greenpeace UK

  269. Andreea Dumitrache, Interim Co-CEO, the3million

  270. Stephanie Grimshaw, Head of Public Affairs and Policy, Welsh Women’s Aid

  271. Saqib Deshmukh, Interim Chief Executive, AYJ

  272. Joseph Kiwango, Manager, Revive

  273. Tufail Hussain, UK Director, Islamic Relief

  274. Eleni Venaki, Director, The Comfrey Project

  275. Amanda Littlewood, Refugees & Mentors CIC

  276. Sabir Zazai, Chief Executive, Scottish Refugee Council

  277. Úna Boyd, Committee on the Administration of Justice

  278. Eleonora Fais, Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group Coordinator, ATMG

  279. Rev Lynn Green, General Secretary, Baptist Union of Great Britain

  280. Emma Hawthorne, Chair, BIRCH

  281. Simon Tyler, Executive Director, Doctors of the World UK

  282. Laura, Director, Horton Community Farm

  283. Phil Davis, Director, Hope Projects

  284. Sally Hyman, founder and CEO, CRIBS International

  285. Mark Courtice (Chair), Southampton and Winchester Visitors Group

  286. Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary, NASUWT Teachers’ Union

  287. Trustee, Louth Churches for Refugees

  288. Jessica Davidson-Egan, Director, Refugee Welcome Homes

  289. Andrew Evans, CEO, METRO Charitye

  290. Nick Harborne, CEO, Refugee Support Group