The systems that are meant to support people seeking safety instead too often disempower, damage and dehumanise. Our campaigning work seeks to change those systems.
Fighting for change
Fight the anti-refugee laws
The asylum system in the UK is unfair and ineffective often leaving vulnerable people homeless and in poverty. In March 2023, the government introduced the Refugee Ban Bill which aims to, in essence, completely ban the right to claim asylum. We are currently witnessing the biggest attack on the UK’s refugee protection system that we have ever seen.
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More than 180,000 people joined our call to give people seeking asylum the right to work
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Our supporters have sent over 20,000 emails to members of parliament, asking for fairer treatment of people seeking safety
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Our campaigning secured £10m extra funding for English language lessons for refugees
How we work
Our campaigning work combines mobilising the public to take action, engaging the media, lobbying Government, undertaking research, and most importantly, campaigning alongside people who are refugees or in the process of claiming asylum . These ‘experts by experience’ shape and inform all of our campaigns, holding Refugee Action to account and ensuring our work is led by those with lived experience.
Want to join us? Take action!
Between March-December 2020 the UK didn’t welcome a single refugee through its resettlement programme – the safest route to escaping war and rebuilding lives. The Government must secure safe routes to safety.
People seeking safety in our country are effectively banned from working. As a result, many are left to live in poverty, struggling to support themselves and their families. It’s time to lift the ban.
People seeking safety in the UK are being dumped in disused army barracks. It is detention in all but name and is putting lives at risk. This must change. Help us fight to #CloseTheBarracks. Email your MP today.
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People seeking asylum are forced to live off less than £40 a week. It has never been fit for purpose. During a pandemic, it makes it impossible to stay safe. People seeking asylum deserve dignity, not destitution.
Refugees who have found safety in the UK want to rebuild their lives and be part of their new communities. Sadly, they have a huge obstacle to restarting their lives, because there aren’t enough English classes.
Refugee Action has campaigned on many different issues that impact refugees and people seeking asylum. Have a look at some of our past campaigning work from 2015 onwards.
A minute’s worth of reasons to Lift the Ban
We think lifting the ban on work for people seeking asylum is common sense. The ban takes the toughest toll on people seeking asylum, but the UK economy also misses out on tax revenue by leaving people frozen in poverty. Catherine, who has personal experience of the asylum system, shares all the reasons for lifting the ban she can fit into 60 seconds.
Here are the answers to some of the most common questions Refugee Action gets asked about refugees and people seeking asylum, and what they experience here in the UK.
Where do people seeking asylum come from? Why do they come to the UK? How is our asylum system changing? The most up to date information we have about the UK’s asylum system in one place.
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