January - February What’s been happening in the news?

‘They Haven’t the Foggiest Who We Are’: The Watchdog fighting to protect Britain’s exploited workers

Margeret Beels, the UK’s labour market tsar, has spent over a decade working on behalf of marginalised workers in the UK. Recently, over 50 Indian students working in care homes had wages withheld or underpaid.

Modern slavery is embedded within society. There is a prevalent issue of exploitation in the care sector and among migrant agricultural workers.

The workforce is not being looked after properly by the Government. There has been an attempt to deal with worker shortage with extended international working visa schemes but that can cause other problems.

They haven’t enforced holiday pay or regulated umbrella companies

One solution is better education about workers’ legal rights. At the moment, a lot of workers don’t know where to go for help and advice when being exploited.

Tulia offers legal advice and educates our clients on their rights!

Change can be made through workers’ rights organisations, community groups and unions.

We have information about unions here.

Tear Down These Walls, or Get Used to a World of Fear, Separation, and Division

Simon Tisdall reflects on the Fall of the Berlin wall and the regressive wall-building boom that is occurring in Europe.

In November 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall made generations who had only known fear and separation feel liberation. However, over 30 years on, walls, security barriers, fences and barbed wire have cropped up all around Europe.

The reason is primarily political, stemming from Europe’s “irregular migration” problem.

The EU’s border and coastguard agency shows around 330,000 irregular border crossings last year, which is an increase of 64% from 2021. EU countries that already host 4 million Ukrainian refugees received millions of asylum applications. More than 71,000 people crossed or attempted to cross the channel in 2022, most coming from the Middle East, South Asia and Africa.

Suella Braverman inhumanely speaks of migrants, immigrants and asylum seekers as “enemies” , increasing xenophobic views.

Other countries such as Bulgaria and Greece are aiming to use bigger borders to prevent illegal entries. External border protection must respect EU and international law, as it faces ethical, practical, and political issues.

Palestinians see Israel’s walls as a means of controlling them and stealing their land.

After the Cowardly Attack on Migrants in Knowsley, a Warning to Ministers: Your Words Can Start Fires

 On 10th February, disordered violence occurred outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Knowsley – attempting to harass and intimidate them.

Far-right organisations map out hotels hosting asylum seekers so they can protest there.

Terms such as “invasion” have been embedded into public discourse, spreading the ideology that “asylum seekers are stealing accommodation from homeless British veterans”

Asylum seekers threatened to be sent to Rwanda reflects the government’s inhumane treatment and ideologies within their anti-migrant plans

The Home Office’s backlog means 45,000 people are being hosted in hotel accommodation as they await a decision.

The government needs to cease its anti-asylum seeker rhetoric before we see dire consequences. The government needs to understand that their words start fires as they encourage and fuel xenophobia from the far-right.

Read our Instagram post on challenging xenophobia here.

Modern Slavery Survivors Could Be Retrafficked in UK, Charities Warn

Due to a lack of resources to support modern slavery victims, they are at risk of being re-trafficked in the UK.

Charities such as the Salvation Army are at breaking point with the high number of referrals.

The system is underfunded and therefore understaffed, as first responders are working with a high number of potential victims. Some could slip through the net and miss out on necessary support.  

The government’s national referral mechanism system is currently not meeting people's needs and can increase the risk of re-trafficking.

Court Allows Review of UK Visa Rejections For Ex-BBC Journalists in Afghanistan

Eight former BBC journalists successfully challenged the rationale behind the refusal of their applications to be relocated from Afghanistan to the UK at the high court.

They challenged the decisions made by the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, and the home secretary, Suella Braverman to deny them UK visas.

They are currently in hiding, as they fear their families are at high risk of being killed because of their work which supports the UK government. They were embedded with British military personnel, reported in support of the British mission, and exposed Taliban corruption and abuse.

They are awaiting a reconsideration by the Arap team to be relocated.

There are approximately 300 other people that qualify for the scheme to be returned to the UK.