Campaigns

For Nationality and Borders Act, Illegal Immigration Act, Rwanda and Ukraine please see the sub-headings

Local Campaigning

A District of Sanctuary registered with City of Sanctuary nationally was agreed by Craven District Council before the reorganisation of local government in April 2023 and continues as a community group to cover the geographical area of Craven. An introductory informative Zoom session was held on 2 November 22 with many interesting speakers

There is a lot of work to do in publicising & sharing the ideas arising from it. Pledges of support from organisations across Craven are very welcome. Please get in touch if you want to support our values.

There is a website and social media, Twitter and Facebook.

2021

saw two demonstrations, one in Settle and one in Skipton against the Nationality and Borders Bill. See Events for more details of these.

There were three vigils in the area after tragic deaths in the Channel in November – in Grassington, Skipton and Bentham See Events for more details.

A well attended vigil for peace took place in Skipton in March 21 not long after the Ukraine war escalated. The Town Hall had been lit with the colours of the Ukraine flag.

A series of talk on Zoom 2021/22

these were arranged to inform and also with the aim of bringing people together to take action and become more involved in campaigning.

The first presentation was from Stella Perrott titled “Refugees: making sense of the current situation and how you can help” The recorded talk is here

The second talk was titled “Working at the sharp end” and featured Tina Brocklebank speaking about her voluntary work on Chios, Greece and Phil McCarthy speaking about his work with Pendle New Neighbours. The recording is here

A third talk was from Allies for Justice, part of Detention Action, who are a group of people with lived experience campaigning for a fairer asylum system in the UK. There is no recording available of this talk which was titled “Shining a Light”.

Report here by Stella Perrott Report of Zoom on 13 January Allies For Justice

National Campaigns we support

There is increasing concern about homelessness and the housing of asylum seekers in inappropriate conditions such as old camps and ships.

Lift the Ban

is a campaign for the right to work for asylum seekers. Currently they are not allowed to work and live on a small amount of money to spend on essential needs. There is a strong coalition of charities, trade unions, businesses, faith groups and think tanks campaigning to overturn the Government’s ban on people seeking asylum being able to work.

Safe Passage

for children who are often alone in Europe so that they can re-join their families is an important campaign currently

City of Sanctuary

is building a more welcoming UK for people forced to flee their homes. They work with individuals, groups and organisations in every area and in every sector to encourage inclusivity, compassion and solidarity.

Together With Refugees is an umbrella group which is supported by many of the refugee charities and pressure groups. The campaign opposed the Nationality and Borders Bill which sadly went through Parliament on 28th April 2022 (see also under the separate heading for Nationality and Borders Bill). City of Sanctuary also campaigned strongly against the Bill https://bordersbill.cityofsanctuary.org/

In July 2023 another bill passed through Parliament – the Illegal Migrants Bill.

This amounts to an asylum ban.

Extinguishinges the right to seek refugee protection in the UK for those who arrive irregularly.
Breaches the UN Refugee Convention.
Fails to provide the safe routes we need now.
Leave tens of thousands of men, women and children in indefinite limbo, detained and denied a fair hearing.