Refugee Studies

[afabos]

Subject: What's so wrong with treating people right?
Date: Wednesday, November 1, 2006 11:10
From: campaigns@refugeecouncil.org.uk
Reply-To: <campaigns@refugeecouncil.org.uk>
To: <a.fabos@uel.ac.uk>
Conversation: What's so wrong with treating people right?

Dear Campaigner,

Today we launch a new campaign which asks a simple question.

What’s so wrong with treating people right?

It’s Just.Fair.

The asylum system is forcing people to live in poverty or even destitution. Partly this is due to how badly it is run but increasingly it is a deliberate act of policy to demoralise people so that they will give up on their claim for protection and leave the UK.

We say that it’s time to re-examine how and why the system is operated. It’s time to reach out to people right across the UK who believe in fairness, and to let them know what is happening in their name.

The campaign will look at different issues which face asylum seekers in the UK and ask the same questions of each: Is this just? And is it fair?

We launch the campaign today, especially looking at government policy to deny asylum seekers whose claims are refused hospital care unless they pay. We have recently produced a report showing the life threatening consequences of this regulation. We are asking the Health Select Committee for an Inquiry, and as part of our campaign, the Refugee Council is running two conferences this week for health professionals on this issue.

Over the next year, we will be focussing again on what is making people hungry and homeless. We’ll be linking our work with other organisations who are fighting the same battles for public awareness of the real facts about the tough situations facing asylum seekers. (For example, we’ll be supporting the reports published next week from Amnesty International and Refugee Action on the extent of destitution across the UK – do look out for these).

And most importantly, we’ll be asking you to take on the Just.Fair campaign in what you are doing to support asylum seekers where you are. We want everyone to feel that Just.Fair. is a campaign you can use yourselves - even downloading the logo and using it on your own material with our permission.

Please go to www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/justfair now to see how you can learn more and do more to help.

Bob Deffee
Campaigns and Public Affairs Manager
Refugee Council