Asylum Welcome spends most of its time working directly with refugees and asylum seekers and is not primarily a campaign group.

A small advocacy group aims to promote the interests and rights of refugees, asylum seekers and immigration detainees in the Oxfordshire area; and to promote the work of Asylum Welcome as a community-based, charitable organisation. In light of the changing legislation and client requirements it was felt we needed to be more effective in improving the perception of asylum seekers in the local community as well as in lobbying on their behalf against decisions that adversely affect their lives.

The group aims to form, comment and act on policy positions, engage with the media, encourage public speaking and events, make submissions to government and NGO consultations, network and support like-minded small and larger organisations and coalitions, involve high profile individuals in advocacy work and get involved in public events such as Refugee Week. We are now setting up a group to handle letter-writing campaigns.

The group is working across the organisation, building on the different areas of Asylum Welcome’s work, e.g. detention, legal advice work and information, input into the Bicester situation. It is monitoring the implications of the 2004 Asylum & Immigration Act for our clients. The group will further seek to profile the important and positive roles asylum seekers and refugees play in the community, as well as the achievements of the work of Asylum Welcome itself.

We are now keen to involve clients, members, staff and volunteers more widely. For further information, to let us know your views or find out how you can be involved, please contact Dal Warburton.

Asylum Welcome Statement on Developments in Bicester

June 15 2005
Asylum Welcome (AW) welcomes the Government's decision to abandon plans for the accommodation centre at Bicester in Oxfordshire. Our organisation has opposed the centre from the outset, on the grounds that the scheme was misconceived and the process mishandled; and that the centre would not meet the needs and interests of refugees and asylum seekers in the proposed design.

However we are disturbed by the Minister of State for Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality's decision to consider setting up a 'secure removal centre' on the Bicester site, and the implied shift in national asylum policy to further emphasise detention and removals. This statement has been delivered in the same week that the Council of Europe has warned the Government about the human rights implications of detention centres. As as organisation with ten years experience of working with asylum seekers and refugees, AW unequivocally opposes the expansion of the detention and removals estate in Britain. We believe that detention is inherently undesirable, should be used only as a last resort, and should at all time comply with the norms of international law and UNHCR recommnendations. In our experience, the realities of the current detention regime in Britain often fall short of these standards.

Asylum Welcome has already expressed its opposition to the planned expansion of Campsfield House in Kidlington. We foresee that the expansion of Camspfield and the proposed centre at Bicester will lead to more vulnerable people being detained in Oxfordshire in detrimental conditions. We wish to underline that there is no need for another detention centre at Bicester.

The reduction in the number of asylum claims, as noted by the Minister, is hardly an argument in favour of expanding detention and removal facilities. Moreover, it is, in our view, a result of restrictive government policies to deter asylum applications against the interests of refugees. We would maintain that the fall in asylum claims does not reflect any significant changes in the situations that cause people to seek refuge in the first instance.

The immigration and asylum strategy published in February 2005 and the Minister's reference to a 'New Asylum Model', stress further tightening of the system, and more fast tracking, detention and removals. These practices are against the interests of the refugee population and do not address the underlying causes of flight and forced migration. They reduce the possibility for an inclusive and integrated society in Britain that respects the equal rights and cultures of all persons living here.