| PRESS RELEASE – for immediate release 7 March 2023 Anti racists condemn latest human rights assault on refugees in government’s ‘Illegal Immigration Bill’ and pledge to mobilise opposition Anti racists are mobilising opposition to the government’s unveiling of yet another “heinous and wreckless” policy today that by its own admission is designed as a “rights break” targetting refugees arriving by small boat to Britain. Sunak’s new policy is aimed at trampling international human rights regulations, and would deny those arriving by small boat the right to claim asylum. Care4Calais states that the new policy will mean that people arriving on small boats will: • Have their asylum claims made automatically ‘inadmissible’ • Be subject to mass detention • Be removed to a third country as soon as practicable • Be permanently banned from returning to the UK’ As Clare Moseley, CEO of refugee rights charity Care4Calais, said: “If Sunak wants to stop small boats he would give safe passage to refugees in Calais. Instead he is persecuting victims of war, torture and human rights abuses while stoking devision in our communities with the use of inflammatory rhetoric.” Weyman Bennett, co convenor of Stand Up To Racism, added “Here we have yet another unthinkably heinous and at the same time wildly wreckless attempt by Sunak, Braverman and co to haul the narrative to the right. “It is wholly about the demonisation and scapegoating of refugees. It is about telling us – during a cost of living crisis and when the government faces growing challenges from hundreds of thousands of workers striking – that the problem is refugees arriving by small boat. This is about a government fighting to break our humanity and solidarity and replace it with the lowest, narrowest attitude to people simply looking to live in safety. This is why it is heinous. “It is wreckless, because they are feverishly whipping up the politics of divide and rule at a moment when the far right and known fascists are making a concerted effort across Britain to poison our communities, directly targetting hotels housing refugees who are forced to exist in circumstances no one should envy. “We reject the politics of hate and welcome refugees. Rather than refugees being to blame, the truth is that over 200 child refugees have gone missing. Refugees are not to be blamed for the cost of living crisis – they do not own the gas companies. Electricity companies have profited by billions while refugees are the destitute fleeing war torn countries. “We must stand up to racism. We must stand in solidarity with the refugees. Our government has used refugees as a human shield. We must fight back together, against all bigotry and racism.” Stand Up To Racism, Care4Calais and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) are mobilising for protests of thousands to take to the streets of London, Glasgow and Cardiff on 18 March to #ResistRacism and have been countering fascist and far right led racist protests the whole length of Britain in recent weeks from Erskine to Dover. Alongside the PCS civil service workers’ union, Care4Calais has launched a policy document supported by Stand Up To Racism, the National Education Union (NEU) and the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and others that puts the case of safe passage visas to provide those exercising their internationally enshrined human right to seek asylum with an alternative to the life threatening and traumatising journey across the Channel on a small boat. ENDS Notes to editor: Stand Up To Racism is organising, alongside Care4Calais and the TUC, to place the issue of opposing the far right and all forms of division and bigotry as a central theme of the major day of international demonstrations for UN Anti Racism Day on 18 March 2023. National demonstrations are set to put thousands on the streets in London, Glasgow and Cardiff, aiming to mobilise the scale of opposition they deem necessary to challenge the racist hostile environment For further information and to request interviews contact national office of SUTR: info@standuptoracism.org.uk |
