September 29, 2023
Coalition members, Refugee Council and City of Sanctuary, are collecting the UK’s favourite dad jokes to raise awareness of refugee children who are separated from their dads because of the UK’s unfair family reunion laws. Whether your dad told the worst jokes, or you’re the joker in your family, now is your chance to put…
View ArticleAugust 14, 2023
Enver Solomon and James Needham, the CEOs of the Refugee Council and veterans’ charity Help for Heroes, have jointly written to the Immigration Minister, Robert Jenrick, calling on the Home Office to put in place a system to reunite Afghan families separated during the UK government’s evacuation effort, Operation Pitting. Afghans who were evacuated without…
View ArticleMarch 25, 2023
More than 4000 people have signed the Refugee Council’s alternative Mother’s Day card calling on the government to reunite refugee children with their mums. The cards contain a message from from 14-year-old Dawit*, explaining how being separated from his mum impacts him. The cards call on the government to change the rules so that children…
View ArticleMarch 20, 2023
Children at primary schools in the West Midlands and the North West sent Mother’s Day cards to their MPs this week calling on the government to change the Immigration Rules so that refugee children can safely reunite with their parents in the UK. At St Dunstan’s primary school in Birmingham, more than 150 mums, grandmas…
View ArticleJanuary 17, 2023
More than 100 charities and activists have signed a letter calling on the prime minister to facilitate the resettlement of family members of thousands of Afghans evacuated to the UK. The letter was coordinated by Safe Passage, in partnership with the Families Together coalition and the Refugee Council. Beth Gardiner-Smith, the chief executive of Safe…
View ArticleDecember 30, 2022
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby led a debate in the House of Lords on 9th December on the principles that should underpin our asylum system in the UK. Read our briefing. The Archbishop highlighted the importance of expanding family reunion as a safe route to the UK. His comments were echoed by the Bishops of…
View ArticleAugust 3, 2022
The Government’s Nationality and Borders Act makes significant changes to refugee family reunion. On 6th July, the Families Together coalition brought together more than 50 family reunion practitioners to consider the impact of the changes. The key change introduced by the Act is ‘differential treatment’, where family reunion rights are now linked to the way…
View ArticleJuly 21, 2022
Mimi, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, shares her experience of family separation and reunion. Being apart from my family was like living with an oxygen mask, I was suffocated, unable to live knowing that my family was left behind in an unknown circumstance. Not knowing if there will ever be a chance…
View ArticleJuly 8, 2022
On Friday 8th July, the Family Reunion Bill passed its second reading the House of Lords. If enacted, the Bill would allow refugee children to sponsor their parents and siblings to join them in safety in the UK. It would also allow adult refugees to sponsor a greater range of family members and reintroduce legal…
View ArticleJune 28, 2022
A letter signed by coalition members was published in The Times on Saturday 25th June calling for the government to enable Afghan evacuees to reunite with their family members. The letter was signed by: Enver Solomon, CEO, Refugee Council Mike Adamson, chief executive, British Red Cross Dr Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, chief executive, Oxfam GB Sacha Deshmukh,…
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