Still We Rise

Episode 30 - Victoria Taylor- Border Criminologies- The Criminalisation of seeking asylum

In this episode, we confront a disturbing reality unfolding, the criminalization of people seeking asylum, Britain of course is still a signatory to the Refugee Convention, a document it once championed. A recent report published by the Centre for Criminology at the No Such Thing As Justice Here lifts the veil on this criminalization law. One key feature of this report is the seminal trial of a Senegalese National, Ibrahima Bah whose age is contested, his birth certificate says he is 17 years old. He stands accused of steering a dinghy boat, in which tragically, four people perish, lost to the unforgiving depths of the sea. Bah, a person seeking asylum,  now finds himself ensnared in a web of injustice. His testimony at Cantebury Crown Court paints a harrowing picture: forced at gunpoint to navigate perilous waters by people traffickers, compelled by circumstances beyond his control. 
And yet, his narrative is not one of solitary suffering. It finds echo in the voices of those who, against all odds, made it to the shores of Dover, bearing witness to the horrors endured on that fateful voyage.
What emerges is a stark indictment of a policy forged in the crucible of fear and intolerance. A policy that casts aside the principles of compassion and humanity, instead wielding the heavy hand of criminalization against those in their most vulnerable hour. And perhaps most chillingly, this policy finds its architects not in the distant halls of power, but in the children of immigrants themselves, Priti Patel, James Cleverly and Rishi Sunak who know all too well the struggle and resilience upon which migrating to this country is built upon. And so we must confront the uncomfortable truths that lie at the intersection of law and morality. For in the story of Ibrahima Bah lies not just a singular injustice, but a reflection of a broader crisis of conscience—one that demands our attention, our empathy, and our collective resolve to set things right.

Episode 29 - Dr Peter Walsh- Migration Observatory - The Illegal Migration Bill

The Illegal Immigration Bill will withdraw the UK from the international refugee framework established after the ravages of the Second World War and the Holocaust. Dr. Peter Walsh is candid and forthright in his analysis, when this Bill becomes law, it amounts to Britain opting out of the Geneva Refugee Convention. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has called the legislation a de facto Asylum Ban and without an international court that can pronounce on the legality of this remarkable step, refugees who arrive through irregular means face the prospect of not having their claims heard, rather they will be detained and deported to either their home country or Rwanda. Dr. Walsh is clear; this legislation is designed for deterrence. Will it work? The Bill is novel, its legality is in question. The Home Secretary has conceded she’s uncertain about the answer. Fantastic insight and analysis.
 
 

Episode 28 - Dr Emilie McDonnell- Human Rights Watch- Offshoring Refugees, the Rwanda Plan

This week we are joined by Dr. Emelie McDonnell, a human rights and refugee advocate, with experience and expertise in human rights, refugee, and international law more broadly. We look at Britain’s diminishing rights record through the lens of Human Rights Watch whose work across the world is well-established and respected. Britain has set itself on an extraordinary path with a raft of domestic legislation that criminalises people seeking asylum who arrive without prior authorization, in breach of its obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention.  Not only that, it plans to outsource the processing of Refugees to Rwanda, a country with a very poor rights record. Domestically plans to repeal and replace the Human Rights Act are afoot. It’s a truly precarious time for would-be Refugees. Emilie McDonnell talks us through the implications, she’s clear, these changes are egregious and a flagrant disregard of international law.  An instructive compelling listen
 
 
 
 

Episode 27 - Nicola Kelly- Journalist- Inside the Home Office

Over the last few months Nicola Kelly, a former Home Office Staffer and now journalist focused on UK immigration and asylum policy and human rights, has been looking at what’s going on at the Home Office and the department its’ become today. She reveals a culture of fear that emanates directly from Priti Patel's office, civil servants who feel morally compromised by strident policy positions, not least the Rwanda Policy. Morale is the lowest it’s ever been. Faced with backlogs of over 100,000 asylum cases, Afghans living in hotels for over a year, Channel Migrants dumped in Napier barracks.  The department is too slow, too bureaucratic, too defensive and too hard-hearted. A compelling Listen.

Episode 26 - Martha Spurrier- Director of Liberty- A Bill of RIghts for Britain?

Bill of Rights SynopsisDominic Raab has set Britain on a course of travel that indulges its worst Brexit excesses.He famously said he didn’t believe in social and economic rights and so it is no surprise that he sought to repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a Bill Of RightsRaab asserts that this Bill will give people more rights to free speech and limit ‘bogus’ human rights claims. Not so says Liberty’s Director Martha Spurrier.This Bill does nothing but limit and restricts people's access to their rights, it pits the British courts which she laments as ‘increasingly conservative’ with the Strasbourg Court and deliberately sets them up for a collision courseMartha gives us a historical masterclass on the vital role that the Human Rights Act has played in securing people's rights and holding public authorities and the Executive accountableA compelling listen.
 
 

Episode 25 - Maya Goodfellow- Hostile Environment- How migrants became scapegoats

A Decade ago, the Former Prime Minister Theresa May introduced the most draconian internal border controls on people who she thought were living in Britain without permission. This onerous policy and accompanying legislation resulted in what we now know as the Windrush Scandal. British citizens, particularly those from former colonies were caught up in papers please checks at GP Practices, DWP Offices, in the NHS and landlords became border guards, mandated to verify documents demonstrating a right to stay in the country. Schools were checking children's documents. It was a horrendous decade of state-directed discrimination which resulted in the deportation of citizens and ultimately the resignation of the then Home Secretary Amber Rudd. Maya Goodfellow an Academic and Author of Hostile Environment- How migrants became scapegoats joins us to provide her analysis and reflections on this architecture of oppression. She is candid and forthright. Her analysis lays bare how discrimination is sewn into Britain's statutory landscape.

Episode 24 - Alba Kapoor- The Runnymede Trust- Deprivation of Citizenship

Clause 9- is the Deprivation of Citizenship. Who is a citizen in Brexit Britain or as we often hear, Global Britain? Well, Priti Patel has shown her hand and through the Nationality and Borders Act has Executive Power to exempt herself from notifying you if she deems that your continued enjoyment of citizenry is not conducive to the public good, that it is not in the public interest. With a stroke of a pen and time-limited appeal rights, anyone deemed to have fallen foul of this broad power can now be stripped of their British Nationality. There is a caveat and an interesting one, so long as you qualify for dual nationality, you’re within her crosshairs. Alba Kapoor from the Race and Equality Think Tank, The Runnymede Trust joins us to explain the implications of the contentious Clause 9.

Episode 23 - Dr Anne Neylon- University of Liverpool- The Rwanda Plan

Over the last six months, many a Guest have lamented the Offshoring proposals in the government's New Immigration Plan. What appeared remote and a figment of either Priti Patel or some home office bureaucrats' fertile imagination has materialised in the form of a memorandum of understanding with the Rwandan Government.
We speak to Dr Anne Neylon, a Law Lecturer at the University of Liverpool whose insight and analysis on the Rwanda Deal came to the fore in her Blog https://criticallegalthinking.com/2022/04/19/the-uk-rwanda-and-the-spectacle-of-deterrence/
So this Bilateral (political) agreement will operate outside Domestic and International law. People who arrive in Britain to claim asylum without prior authorisation face the prospect of screening tests which will determine whether their Asylum Claim is admissible. Should they be found to have no grounds nor protected characteristics, they face a one-way ticket to Rwanda, whom for the princely sum of an initial £120Million will accept this human cargo from Britain. This ‘spectacle of deterrence’ as Anne so succinctly asserts, emulates the precedents set in Guam & Guantanamo Bay by the Americans, Nauru and Papua New Guinea by the Australians. Its Neo-Colonial in its expression and a dangerous assault on the spirit and letter of the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention. Anne’s analysis at this moment is critical, instructive and is a learning opportunity for those who are minded to resist this shift to a bygone era.

Episode 22 - Louise Calvey- Refugee Action- Homes for Ukraine, has Britain finally found compassion for Refugees?

The invasion of Ukraine has caused the largest displacement of people in Europe since the end of World War 2. Britain has responded to this tragic set of circumstances by using its best endeavours and asked its citizens to sponsor a Refugee whom they should house for at least 6 months. 200 000 people have signed up, at the time of recording, under 4000 visas had been processed.This social experiment in Human kindness and openness of heart is fraught with numerous challenges. We speak to Louise Calvey, Refugee Actions Head of Services and Safeguarding. She’s unequivocal, the scheme is poorly designed and a charter for traffickers, malign & unsavoury characters. That they will exploit this scheme is inevitable, the Government's laissez-faire, find me a Refugee on Facebook scheme will create extraordinary challenges for an unprepared kind population. A comprehensive and compelling listen.

Episode 21 - Steve Valdez-Symonds- Amnesty International- Are Ukrainian Refugees being treated differently?

The invasion of Ukraine has caught the UK public's gaze in a way that no other recent war has. Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen’s brutal wars have resulted in the displacement of millions of people, and yet some have had to seek sanctuary by risking their lives, not least on flimsy dinghies on the channel. Not only do they face a hostile welcome, but a Nationality and Borders Bill that seeks to criminalise them but not so for Ukrainian Refugees. They’ve had empathy on a scale Britain hasn’t seen before, the mainstream media has framed their plight with compassion and humanity. We speak to Steve Valdez Symonds from Amnesty International, they have a proud record of advocating for the rights of all Refugees and Migrants. Most of the people they work with have had to endure an inhumane hostile welcome all over Europe.
We ask, what’s changed? So why are Ukrainian Refugees seen as different?