Resources

Resources

Statement on far-right violence and attacks on asylum hotels

We are horrified and extremely concerned about the far-right racist attacks on asylum hotels and violence against people seeking asylum, refugees, migrants, and minority communities, particularly Muslims.   These disturbing images and threats of more organised attacks are taking a huge toll on the mental health of the people we work with – those who have survived some of the worst forms of human cruelty and have arrived in the UK in hope of finding protection.
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Press release on the flights to Rwanda being cancelled

At a hearing in the High Court this morning, the Home Secretary confirmed that no flights to Rwanda are currently scheduled or are intended to be scheduled. Surprisingly, despite what the Prime Minister said at the weekend, her lawyers were not yet able to confirm that the Rwanda policy is “dead and buried”. Consequently, it has not yet been withdrawn. As a result, Asylum Aid’s legal challenge to that policy remains live, while the new Home Secretary undertakes a review. The Home Secretary should now urgently confirm that there will be no flights ever, withdraw the policy and all Rwanda notices of intent. She should also start the process of repealing the Safety of Rwanda Act, which is an affront to the rule of law.
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Press release: Asylum Aid files judicial review claim challenging the Home Office’s Rwanda policy.

Asylum Aid has filed a claim in the High Court challenging the Home Office’s ‘Safety of Rwanda’ guidance (Policy). The charity argues that the Home Office’s Policy unlawfully instructs decision makers to ignore compelling evidence put forward by individuals showing that they would be at individual risk of being sent from Rwanda to another country where they face a risk of persecution, torture or even death. The Policy, Asylum Aid believes, is unlawful and misinterprets the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024, which was given Royal Assent on 25 April.
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Press Release on Asylum Aid launching legal action against the Home Office’s Safety of Rwanda policy.

Asylum Aid has launched legal action against the Home Office’s new Safety of Rwanda policy, published on 29 April 2024, on grounds that it is inconsistent with the Safety of Rwanda Act which got Royal Assent on 25 April. We have sent a pre-action protocol letter to the Home Office, highlighting that its policy, which details how the Act will be implemented, fundamentally misunderstands the Act, and seeks to undermine the will of the Parliament as reflected in the Act.
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Press release on the passing of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill

We are outraged at the passing of the Safety of Rwanda Bill, which declares Rwanda to be ‘safe’ despite the opposite finding by the Supreme Court, and without even letting the government’s own Monitoring Committee check whether its new Treaty with Rwanda has made any difference on the ground. The people the government wants to send to Rwanda include survivors of trafficking and torture and even children. The Rwanda removals scheme is designed to be deliberately cruel, and we have witnessed the deep and irreparable damage it has already caused to the mental health of our clients.  

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Asylum Aid’s statement on the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill

This Bill is an affront to the rule of law, basic standards of fairness and the protection of individual rights, which are the cornerstones of our democracy. It will violate our international law obligations – which even Rwanda sees as a step too far – and damage our reputation on the international stage. It shows a complete lack of respect for the constitutional role of the Courts in ensuring that the Government is not above the law and in upholding the will of Parliament.
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Secret Home Office policy denying leave to remain to confirmed victims of trafficking in the UK

In the High Court Asylum Aid argued that the Home Office operated a secret policy to frustrate the right to leave to remain of at least 1,600 people it had itself determined are confirmed victims of trafficking and modern slavery. The secret policy, approved by the then-Home Secretary, was to block the implementation of a landmark High Court judgment (KTT v SSHD) which required the Home Office to grant recognised modern slavery victims leave to remain where they had a pending asylum claim (‘KTT leave’).
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Response to the Supreme Court judgment on the Rwanda policy

We are delighted that the Supreme Court has upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal that Rwanda is not a safe country for people seeking asylum and that no-one should be sent to Rwanda. It is now time for the government to abandon measures under the Illegal Migration Act 2023 that would require the newly appointed Home Secretary to block people in need of protection from seeking asylum in the UK, and to send them to ‘third countries’ which would have included Rwanda.
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