Tell the UK govt: Help Ukrainian refugees! #HelpUkrainianRefugees

Tell the UK govt: Help Ukrainian refugees! #HelpUkrainianRefugees

Started
24 February 2022
Signatures: 197,207Next Goal: 200,000
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Why this petition matters

Right now, thousands of families are fleeing to find safety after Russia invaded Ukraine. 

Every single person fleeing Ukraine to find safety is someone just like you. A mother. Father. Brother. Sister.

If anyone of us was facing invasion by hostile forces known to practice torture [1], or hearing reports of bombs dropping around the country - we’d do anything it takes to get ourselves to safety.

It's within the UK government’s power to help Ukrainian refugees right now. Boris Johnson promised in Parliament that Britain will receive people fleeing persecution in Ukraine - it's unthinkable that we would not do our bit to support Ukrainians in need.

But this government is currently pushing its anti-refugee Nationality & Borders Bill through Parliament. If passed into law, this bill will make it harder for Ukrainian refugees and other people seeking asylum to find safety here in the UK. 

It will mean that we deny protection to refugees forced to take dangerous journeys to find sanctuary for themselves and their families, simply because of the route they have taken to safety.

It will mean Ukrainians, and other refugees, are unable to be reunited with their families. They will be shipped off to offshore ‘processing facilities’ because of the way they entered the country, and left unable to rebuild their lives as part of our communities. 

There's still time for the UK government to do the right thing. The bill is being voted on in the House of Commons at the end of March.

Together with Freedom From Torture I am calling for the British government to:

  • Develop a comprehensive humanitarian response that matches the scale of the crisis unfolding in Ukraine and in neighbouring states
  • Remove clause 11 of the Nationality & Borders Bill which will severely punish Ukrainian refugees and other people seeking asylum who are forced to take irregular journeys to find safety in the UK 
  • Create a global resettlement programme to help bring a minimum of 10,000 refugees to safety in the UK every year

Watching the news unfold from Ukraine is horrendous. We all need to play our part in ensuring people fleeing are welcome here to the UK. Please sign this petition to help Ukrainian refugees!

[1] https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/UA/32ndReportUkraine-en.pdf

Co-signed by 129 organisations:

Alan Hickman, Town Councillor, Skipton Town of Sanctuary
Aliyah Green, communications co-ordinator, Environmental Funders Network
Alphonsine Kabagabo, director, Women for Refugee Women
Amber Bauer, CEO, forRefugees
Amber Ray, Communications Manager, St. Augustine's Centre Halifax
Amos Schonfield, Director, Our Second Home
Ana Lodge, Operational Manager, Sunrise Diversity
Angie Pedley, Treasurer, Settle Area Refugee Support
Angus Clark. CEO - Herts for Refugees
Ann Chesworth Minister Harrogate Baptist Church
Anne Thickett Harrogate District of Sanctuary
Annie Viswanathan, Director, Bail for Immigration Detainees
Avril Barker, Director, Cognosco Noor Ltd
Barbara Forbes, Secretary, Birmingham City of Sanctuary
Beth Wilson, CEO, Bristol Refugee Rights
Catharine Walston, Chair, Executive Committee, Cambridge Convoy Refugee Action Group
Catharine Walston, Trustee, Cambridge Refugee Resettlement Campaign
Catherine Margham ( Retired ) Harrogate Quaker
Catherine Margham, Harrogate Quaker
Charlie Fraser, Partnerships Director, TERN
Charlotte, Co-director and founder, Timepeace
Christopher Desira, Director, Seraphus
Clare Moseley, CEO Care4Calais
Claudia Holmes, Founder, UKCEN
Co-orindator, Stockton Welcomes Syrians
Councillor Andy Brown, Craven District Council
Dale Kitching, UK Focal Point - Europe Must Act
Dame Sara Llewellin, Chief Executive Barrow Cadbury Trust
David Griffiths, Volunteer, The Launchpad Collective
Dr A MacDonald HSS Play for Progress
Dr Caroline Pepper, paediatric doctor, NHS
Dr Edie Friedman, Executive Director, the Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE)
Dr Kate Brown & Dr Monika Kruesmann, Co-Directors, Reset Communities and Refugees
Dr Rebecca Sinker, Trustee, Institute of International Visual Arts
Dr Rosie Riley, CEO of VITA
Dr Stephanie, Rybak, Vice-Chair, Wycombe Refugee Partnership
Eleanor Brown, Director, CARAS
Ellen Waters, Director of Development, Doctors of the World UK
Emily Crowley, Chief Executive, Student Action for Refugees
Emma Birks, Campaigns Manager, Asylum Matters
Ewan Roberts, Centre Manager, Asylum Link Merseyside
Fizza Qureshi, CEO- Migrants' Rights Network
Gareth Evans
Hannah Barnes, Director, West End Refugee Service
Hannah Hoare, Executive Director, The Blue Thread
Hazel Clark, Trustee, Harrogate District of Sancturay
Helen Burke, Welfare Rights worker , recently retired
Henry Compson, Digital Campaigns Manager, Safe Passage
Hira Aftab, Co-Founder, Our World Too
Indre Lechtimiakyte, Legal and Migrant Support Manager, Samphire
Iris Lightfoote, CEO, The Race Equality Centre
Izzy Hughes, Founder, The Refugee Rights Project
Jacquie Bell - Vice Chair- Liberal democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary
Jacquie Bell- Chair Dunbar and East Linton Area partnership
Jane Lancashire, cofounder, The Launchpad Collective
Jason Hussein, Project Manager of Justice First
Jess Bond, social media volunteer, The Launchpad Collective
Jimmy Zachariah, CEO, Baca
Joanne MacInnes, Director, West London Welcome
John Willott; Lecturer; Leeds Beckett University
Jonas & Jessica Holt, Director,The Haunted Bouncy Castle
Jonny Willis, CEO, Refugee Youth Service
Josie Naughton, CEO, Choose Love
Josie Richardson, Head of Communications , Our Second Home
Julia Rampen, Media Director, IMIX
Karen Howard. Support worker
Kayte Cable, Co-Founder Big Leaf Foundation. Evie Booton, Comms and Campaigns Manager, Big Leaf Foundation
Keira McNulty, Management Assistant Home4U Cardiff
Kerry Smith, CEO, Helen Bamber Foundation/Asylum Aid
Kush Chottera, CEO, Europia
Leila Zadeh, Executive Director, Rainbow Migration
Leon Elliott, Policy and Research Coordinator, NACCOM
Leticia D. Head of Welfare . Nanny Solidarity Network
Lilian Geijsen, Director Ben & Jerry's Europe
Lisa Matthews, Coordinator, Right to Remain
Lizzie Allen Volunteer McKenzie Friends Bradford
Lucia Vinzon, Director, Indoamerican Migrant and Refugee Organisation (IRMO)
Maddie Harris, director, Humans for Rights Network
Mahnoor Hussain, MARKETING COORDINATOR at Mobile Refugee Support
Mark Goldring, Director, Asylum Welcome
Marie Rumsby, UK Country Director, Global Citizen
Matilda James, Executive Producer - Citizens of the World Choir
Maureen Rigg, Chair, Stockton Fairtrade Borough Partnership
Maya Esslemont, Director, After Exploitation
Mel Steel, Director, Voices in Exile
Nadine Daniel, Campaigns & Strategy Lead, UK Welcomes Refugees
Naomi Webb, Executive Director, Good Chance Theatre
Natasha Murphy Afghan Resettlement Complex Needs Worker, YMCA
Nick Beales, Head of Campaigning, RAMFEL
Nick Harborne CEO Reading Refugee Support Group.
Nicole Francis, Chief Executive, The Immigration Law Practitioners' Association
Nikki Walters, Chair, Southampton Action
Paola Vietri. Volunteer, BIASAN, Bradford
Pete Hobson. Chair - Leicester City of Sanctuary
Philippa Westwood, Finance Officer, King's Arms Project
Rebecca Tinsley, Founder, Waging Peace
Riana Rae Brown, Group Communications Manager, Daughters of Charity Services
Richard Hammond, CEO, The Separated Child Foundation
Richard Williams, Chair, Sanctuary on Sea
Ros Ereira, director, Solidarity with Refugees
Ros Holland, Chief Exec, Boaz Trust
Rosie MacPherson - Artistic Director, Stand & Be Counted Theatre
Ruvi Ziegler, Chair, New Europeans UK
Sahida Adam Receptionist/Admin THE RACE EQUALITY CENTER
Sally Daghlian OBE, CEO, Praxis
Sarah Blakey King's Arms Project, Bedford
Sarah Fellows - Kings Arms Project
Sarah Miguel, Head of Wind Down, Campaign Bootcamp
Sarah Teather, Director, Jesuit Refugee Service UK
Sian Summer Rees, Chief Officer, City of Sanctuary UK
Simmone Gardiner, HR manager, ITV
Simon Taylor, Trustee, Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers
Sonja Miley, Co-Executive Director, Waging Peace
Sophie Kloos, Director, Asylos
Stand & Be Counted Theatre
Steve Newman, Chair, FODI, Sunderland
Sunder Katwala, Director, British Future
Suzanne Fletcher, President, Stockton Liberal Democrats
Suzanne Fletcher, Tees Valley of Sanctuary
Tamsin Baxter, Executive Director of External Affairs, Refugee Council
Tanya Trevena, Project lead, Caritas Plymouth
Teresa V Macaulay, retired BT employee
Thomas Martin, Director, City of Sanctuary Sheffield
Tim Naor Hilton, CEO, Refugee Action
Traci Kirkland, Head of Charity, Govan Community Project
Will Sutcliffe. Chair, Bradford City of Sanctuary
William Gomes, Director, The William Gomes Podcast
Yvonne Rendell, Chair, Bromsgrove and Redditch Welcome Refugees
Zarlasht Halaimzai, CEO, Refugee Trauma Initiative

Support now
Signatures: 197,207Next Goal: 200,000
Support now
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