By Hajar Zainuddin, Advocacy Volunteer, and Tamara Kurzova, Ukraine Community Liaison Officer On the 24th of February 2022, Russian forces invaded Kyiv, devastating lives and displacing millions of innocent civilians. The UK responded by setting up the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme. Under this scheme, Ukrainians can live, work and have
Asylum Welcome is supporting a growing number of asylum seekers in temporary hotel accommodation in Oxfordshire. These hotels have been visited by far-right activists, who have filmed asylum seekers, advertised the location of the hotels, and made them feel unwelcome. As Friday's disgraceful attack on asylum accommodation in Knowsley shows, the nature of hotel
Help us reach 1000 signatures! My name is Allan. I am a father, a carer for social services, and a refugee, and in 2014 I was detained at Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre. I am one of the thousands of people who were detained at Campsfield House in Kidlington, Oxfordshire between 1993
By Tiger Hills, Advocacy Volunteer Over the course of a year in which 45,756 people crossed the channel in unsafe vessels, there was rarely a break in coverage of these small boat crossings. The issue has been at the top of the agenda all year, for successive prime ministers and
Content by Nadia Kashoo / Image by Slava Kosteniuk What is the Rwanda Plan? On the 19th of December 2022, the High Court ruled that the UK government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is legal. The Rwanda plan is an immigration policy designed to send those identified as ‘illegal
Content by Tiger Hills / Image by Slava Kosteniuk Reporting by RAMFEL reminds us how our immigration system continues to be ‘hostile’ for migrants even after they gain entry to the UK and begin to re-establish their lives. The UK Home Office introduced its ‘hostile environment’ policy in the 2014
By Iman Hakimi, Comms and Advocacy Volunteer To close Refugee Week 2022, Asylum Welcome partnered with the Oxford Festival of the Arts to host ‘Cultures, Crossings, and Communities’, an All-Day Bazaar at Magdalen College School. Festivities were followed by a panel discussion chaired by BBC political correspondent Rob Watson, with local councillors and
By Iman Hakimi, Comms and Advocacy Volunteer The Oxford Alternative Walking Tour: an informative and convivial event which magnified the interconnectedness of charity, community, and solidarity. To kickstart celebrations for Refugee Week 2022, Asylum Welcome organised an Alternative Walking Tour of Oxford on Saturday 18th June: three guided tours led
In December 2018, Campsfield immigration detention centre in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, was finally closed, 25 years after it opened. As an organisation, Asylum Welcome was born out of the community campaign to close Campsfield, having run a visiting programme for those held in the centre. We have seen first-hand the trauma and harm done by detention
To mark World Refugee Day 2022, watch the interview that Nuha Abdo, our Refugee and Migrant Community Support Coordinator, made with Nadine Kaadan, children’s author and illustrator, who penned the story for Little Amal’s visit to Oxford in October 2021. Kaadan’s story, ‘Amal Meets Alice’, brought the companionship of Amal
