12 Actions to Support Refugees

News from Afghanistan is coming thick and fast, and it is easy to feel overwhelmed and helpless. We have put together twelve simple actions that we can all do to support refugees from our homes.

The government have committed to resettling ‘up to 20,000’ refugees over the coming years. Sign this Change.org petition if you agree that ‘we need 20k places now, not over the next few years.’ The Independent have also created a petition as part of their Our Refugees Welcome campaign asking the government to accept more than 20,000 refugees.

Under the government’s proposed Nationality and Borders Bill, Afghan refugees who arrive to the UK via unsafe and so-called ‘illegal’ routes will be refused the opportunity to claim asylum, housed offshore or in substandard accommodation, or removed to a third country. Sign the Refugee Action petition to demonstrate your opposition to the Anti-Refugee Bill.

Sign this petition to show that we will not allow the government to replace the VPRS scheme with the Afghan resettlement scheme.*

The Conservative Party are currently hosting a short survey on the Borders Bill on their website. Some of the questions are leading, but you will have the opportunity to answer ‘no’ to the question ‘Do you support our Borders Bill?’

Follow our social media account and help to amplify our voice. Consider adding an orange heart next to your screen name on your social media account.

There are several actions we can take to help make Oxfordshire feel like a more welcoming environment for refugees. Consider putting up one of our ‘I Stand With Refugees’ stickers in the window of your car, business or home. You can collect a sticker from our office, or if you are a local group, we can send some over to you. If you can take a picture of the orange heart sticker in your window and send it to advocacy@asylum-welcome.org – even better!

We have already collected over 200 messages of solidarity with refugees through our orange heart postcard project, ‘Have Heart, Take Heart’. If you haven’t already, write a message of solidarity on one of our postcards (available from our office) or through our online form. Read Cherwell’s review of our postcard display at the Old Fire Station here.

Read Gulwali Passarlay’s autobiography The Lightless Sky. Passarlay gives a powerful account of travelling to the UK from Afghanistan as a 12-year-old boy, and it’s a very difficult one to forget.

Write to your MP and encourage them to support the issues that we have mentioned above. Safe Passage has provided a template; it takes two minutes to send the message through their automated system. Alternatively, if you prefer to write a message from scratch, inspiration can be drawn from JCWI’s joint letter. If you send a letter to your MP and receive a reply, please forward this to advocacy@asylum-welcome.org if you are happy to. It would be helpful to see your MPs response.

Sign this petition created by Channel Rescue to oppose the government’s potential plans to begin using pushback tactics in the Channel.  It has been reported that the Home Office is training staff to employ ‘turn-around’ tactics in the Channel. The Government should abandon this policy, and invest in long-term solutions and safe and legal routes for refugees wishing to seek sanctuary in Britain. International maritime law stipulates that ships have a clear duty to assist and save the lives of those in distress. The plans announced by the Home Office are in stark contrast to these obligations.

If you are looking for a bigger commitment, consider registering your interest to become a host with our partner organisation Sanctuary Hosting. If you have a property that you currently rent out, consider renting it to a refugee family. If there is a refugee sponsorship scheme local to you, perhaps you can assist them. If there isn’t a local sponsorship scheme, consider setting one up. We can provide more details on this.

If you would like to contribute to our campaigning work, why not join the advocacy team? Email volunteer@asylum-welcome.org to enquire.

*There are three separate resettlement schemes the government has currently committed to, and we must make sure that they each remain separate. 1) The Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), which was already in place before the fall of Kabul, and is specifically for those who worked alongside the British forces in Afghanistan. 2) The government’s new resettlement commitment for Afghan refugees mentioned above. 3) The Vulnerable Person’s Resettlement Scheme, designed to replace the Syrian Vulnerable Person’s Resettlement Scheme of 2015-2020.