Category: In Our Own Words

24 August 2021: International Public Policy Observatory IPPO: Written by Mariko Hayashi, Executive Director of our signatory organisation Southeast and East Asian Centre (SEEAC), and an independent researcher on migration and human rights:

Consultation burnout and a fear of being forgotten. This is what COVID-19 ‘recovery’ feels like for many marginalised communities

One positive outcome of the pandemic should have been a greater commitment to supporting UK communities – including my own – who have been especially vulnerable. But all that many of us feel now is consultation fatigue and growing frustration

COVID-19 has placed a harsh spotlight on the pre-existing inequalities and discrimination faced by some of the UK’s most invisible communities and groups – including those which I belong to and represent: the East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) community and migrants.

It would be heartening to think that a positive outcome of the pandemic would be a greater commitment to supporting communities including my own which have been especially vulnerable. However, with most COVID-19 related restrictions now lifted and things ‘getting back to normal’, I fear that many marginalised communities will be forgotten again.

My London: Rogelio Braga says it feels like his ‘life has been taken away’ from him as he cannot return home to his family

A Filipino playwright has waited almost two years for asylum in the UK after he and his family were sent death threats in his home country.

Rogelio Braga, 41, came to the UK for a short stay to study when he received a call saying he could not return home as he would no longer be safe due to threats of extra-judicial killing.

“It’s a tragedy,” he says. “At my age, I already built a life. Everything is there. And then you have to abandon it. I’m in a limbo.”

“It’s a weird experience,” he explains, “it’s like your life is taken away from you.”

Read more: https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/i-built-life-abandoned-it-21264844

CARAG is a grassroots organisation made up of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants going through the UK asylum and Immigration system. 

“CARAG signed up for the #StatusNow4All campaign because the Hostile Environment is killing our members. We just want the suffering to end NOW” said CARAG chair Loraine Masiya Mponela.

CARAG and Maokwo (another SNN signatory) made this film for #RefugeeWeek2021: Watch it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE-rRoMFYpM
Catch up with latests episodes of CARAG podcast #StillWeRise here https://www.carag.co.uk/podcastFollow T, F and Insta: @caragcoventryW:  https://www.carag.co.uk

7 June 2021: Why do we call for StatusNow4All/Indefinite Leave to Remain: African Global Voices

I am NdabaVictor, of African Global Voices,

We at African Global Voices – UK advocate for people who have  been subjected to injustices in the criminal system.

We are a small grassroots not-for-profit hands-on-the-ground organisation of people who have lived experience of being in the asylum system, and we are based in Liverpool. Our members are all over the UK due to the policies of the Home Office’s long-standing hostile environment, which is built on systematic racial prejudice and discriminatory ideology. 

Our members have multiple problems due to their situations, many have no settled status, others had Refugee Leave taken from them, many have been victims of torture and some have significant medical conditions. We offer them Peer Support Mentoring,  and also refer on to agencies that can help them.  In addition we visit refugees and people seeking asylum who are in detention centres and prisons.

From signatory organisation Migrants Rights Centre Ireland – MRCI: on Vimeo

https://vimeo.com/397858867

From one of our Filipino signatories: one of the reasons for Filipino workers exodus is the tyrannical regime in the Philippines which has killed thousands of Filipinos already. Apologies for more depressing news from us but we have to expose this brutal regime.

13 March 2021: Labour Hub: Bloody Sunday in the Philippines By Mike Phipps

Just under a week ago, at least nine human rights activists were killed in the Philippines, in what is locally being called ‘Bloody Sunday’ – yet there has been barely a word about it in the western media.

2 February 2021  Migrants Organise

This blog was written by Ruth, a member of Migrants Organise, following an organising training session with a number of other Migrants Organise members. 

UK is in a third lockdown. But how is it for undocumented migrants?

Life continues as normal. Everyone is told to stay at home to control the virus and to save the NHS. If you are an Asylum Seeker or an Undocumented migrant you can’t afford to stay at home as you have to survive because you are not entitled to Universal Credit or to be furloughed from your job. If you are displaying symptoms of Covid, you cannot isolate as you have to work to provide for basic essential needs.

We are scared to go to the GP or the hospital because you might be asked to provide ID and to prove your immigration status which can be embarrassing, as you can be turned away from receiving medical help.

I spoke to a friend who is undocumented yesterday, and this is what she told me:

Read more: http://www.migrantsorganise.org/?p=29977