Migration news roundup 6 March 2023

• Stories that inspired us this week
• International news
• UK borders and migration policy
• Specific migrant groups
• Cohesion and integration

Stories that inspired us this week

A new novel tells the story of a woman who was a penpal with a Rwandan girl in the 1990s, until their correspondence ended suddenly during the Rwandan genocide. The story also reflects on the current UK migration context and what it means when you feel ‘not welcome'. (Source: BBC) 

On the centenary of his birth, find out about Harry Leslie Smith from Barnsley, ‘the world’s oldest rebel’. During his life, he tried to achieve a fairer society, learning lessons from the history he had lived through, including speaking up for refugees. (Source: People’s History Museum)

International news

There are currently more than eight million displaced people in the Horn of Africa (Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia) urgently in need of food assistance, due to drought. (Source: UNHCR)

The African Union has criticised Tunisia over ‘racialised hate speech’ against undocumented migrants, following remarks by Tunisia’s President that immigration was a plot to change his country’s demographic make-up and calling for the expulsion of all undocumented migrants. (Source: Reuters)

UK borders and migration policy

Afghan has overtaken Albanian as the nationality with the largest number of arrivals via the Channel. Despite ‘safe and legal routes’ specifically for Afghans, only very small numbers of Afghan refugees are currently being resettled. Meanwhile, a former Home Office civil servant has suggested dealing with increasing numbers of people arriving by small boat by clearing the asylum backlog, improving relations with other countries across Europe and speeding up removals of people who have been refused asylum. (Sources: Independent, Prospect)

There has been a sharp rise in challenges to British citizenship deprivation orders, where the Home Office removes a person’s citizenship. Meanwhile there are growing calls for Shamima Begum to be allowed to return to the UK after she lost her appeal against the Home Office and is currently barred from returning. (Source: the Guardian)

New research highlights the challenges and the impact of the 10-year settlement route on individuals’ lives, including issues with finance, loss of immigration status and a lack of legal advice. (Source: Institute for Public Policy Research)

Specific migrant groups

On asylum:

• A government minister stated additional funding may be offered to local authorities to increase available housing stock to support efforts to move asylum seekers out of hotels
• A report from the International Development Select Committee says a third of the UK’s foreign aid budget has been spent on accommodating asylum seekers and refugees
• Legal challenges against the Home Office’s new streamlined asylum process have started, with a Sudanese asylum seeker arguing it is discriminatory.

(Sources: Telegraph, BBC, the Guardian)

There are further reports of a growing risk of homelessness affecting Ukrainian refugees and concerns regarding barriers to accessing housing. (Sources: Al Jazeera, Byline Times)

Funding has been confirmed for a third year of the Hong Kong Welcome programme, including the regional Hong Kong hubs and local authority funding for English language provision and destitution support. The announcement also includes £2.6 million for voluntary organisations - open for applications until the end of March. (Source: Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

A court case is ongoing regarding EU nationals’ rights to British nationality, related to children born in the UK before October 2000 to EU parents who did not have indefinite leave to remain at the time of their child’s birth. (Source: Free Movement)

It has been reported that 566 people within the National Referral Mechanism (which supports survivors of modern slavery) went missing between 2020 and 2022. Meanwhile, the government has advertised the role of Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, which has been vacant since April 2022. (Sources: the Guardian, Home Office)

On children and young people, Medway Council lost a High Court challenge against the Home Office regarding their unwillingness to participate in the mandatory National Transfer Scheme. The local authority argued they were unable to accept more unaccompanied asylum-seeking children without negatively impacting on their other work, however the judge deemed that staff shortages and budget issues were ‘universal’ amongst local authorities. (Source: BBC) 

Cohesion and integration

A recent report called State of HATE  finds that far-right movements are becoming increasingly active in communities, with rising street protests and an increase in arrests for far-right related terrorism offences. (Source: HOPE not hate)

Access to the countryside for Black, Asian and ethnically diverse people is explored in this article – including the importance of challenging the perception of the British countryside as ‘an exclusive, mainly white, mainly middle‑class club’. (Source: the Guardian)

Whilst looking back, an archive of ‘Race Today’, a magazine that shone a light on the lives of black Britons in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s, has been made available online. (Source: the Guardian)

The intergovernmental Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released a new report on introduction measures for newly-arrived migrants. The report analyses a broad range of issues faced by migrants on arrival including skills assessments, language training and health and housing projects. (Source: OECD)