The Refugee Project aims to develop and strengthen links between refugee communities and other organisations. Various groups concerned about how refugee communities are being marginalised and criminalised and how public money is being abused continue to explore how they might work more effectively together.
Afghan Association of London
Suite 1, 84-88 Pinner Road
Harrow
Middlesex HA1 4HZ
Tel: 020 8861 6990
This Association was established in 1995 to work for London's Afghan community. It now offers a variety of services: a drop-in advice service for asylum seekers and refugees; mother tongue classes; after school classes for children; summer holiday schemes for young people; sports and leisure activities; and English as a Second or Other Language (ESOL) classes at all levels. It has a health worker to identify health problems, and can offer work experience to volunteer helpers.
Asylum Rights Campaign
c/o 3 Bondway
London SW8 1SJ
Tel: 020 7820 3067
Asylum Rights Campaign is a consortium of faith and community groups, agencies and human rights organisations working on behalf of asylum seekers and refugees. It now has 53 member organisations. The Campaign has two working party sub groups focusing on specific areas: detention and wider European developments. From time to time, it commissions research reports on aspects of asylum policy and practice.
Baku-Ceyhan Campaign
Box 210
266 Banbury Road
Oxford OX2 7DL
Tel: 01865 200 550
info@bakuceyhan.org.uk
www.bakuceyhan.org.uk
The Baku Ceyhan Campaign aims to raise awareness of the social problems, human rights abuses and environmental damage that would be caused by the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which is planned to run through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. The campaign argues that public money should not be used to subsidise social and environmental problems, purely in the interests of the public sector, but must be conditional on a positive contribution to the economic and social development of people in the region. Copies of the book, Some Common Concerns, detailing the background to the proposed pipeline and the experience of the companies are available from the Campaign, price £11.50.
Banner Theatre
Oaklands Centre
Winleigh Road
Birmingham B20 2HN
Tel: 0845 458 1909
info@bannertheatre.co.uk
www.bannertheatre.co.uk
Banner Theatre, formed in 1973 has come to be
recognised as one of the leading performing companies in England
working culturally with asylum seekers and refugees to challenge the
negative representation of them in
parts of the UK media. Each project begins with interviews with
community members and uses their stories as the core of the resulting
production, informing the lyrics of songs and the structure and
content of the entire piece.
After working with Iranian asylum seekers and
refugees in the West Midlands and with Iraqi Kurdish asylum seekers
and refugees in Greater Manchester in 2002/3, Banner toured its
Migrant Voices production throughout England and Wales during
2003-05. The company’s Wild Geese production is based on the stories
of refugee cleaners in London’s Canary Wharf, Chinese cockle-pickers
in Morecambe Bay, Iranian asylum seekers and Irish, Afro-Caribbean and
South Asian immigrant communities. It has been touring since March
05. Banner is currently working with communities of asylum seekers
and refugees living in Birmingham to make their experience the basis
of a new piece of multimedia theatre – Strangers in Paradise Circus -
that will tour the country from March 2007.
Barbed Wire Britain
www.barbedwirebritain.org.uk
A network to end migrant and refugee detention. Over 1,800 people, nearly all of them asylum seekers, are locked up in detention camps and prisons in Britain, without trial, without time limit and with no automatic right to bail. The government is planning to build new detention centres to hold 4,000 people. The asylum seeking process is arbitrary and punishes innocent refugees in the hope of deterring others from exercising their right under the Geneva Convention to claim asylum in Britain. The Barbed Wire Britain network aims to stop this shame.
Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT)
11 Goodwin Street
Finsbury Park
London N4 3HQ
www.caat.org.uk
enquiries@caat.org.uk
Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC)
www.campacc.org.uk
CAMPACC publicises the effects and implications of the UK's anti-terrorism legislation introduced over the past few years and used against a wide range of groups and individuals. It campaigns against the use of the excessive state powers to criminalise political activity contained in the 2000 Terrorism Act and the 2001 Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act, for the repeal of these Acts and monitors the use of their powers. It is opposed to measures that attempt to criminalise mere association with a political organisation, or that involve detention without charge or restrictions on freedom of speech, association or publication. It works to defend the democratic freedom to dissent and to resist oppression, nationally and internationally. It works in close association with affected communities so as to build the broadest possible alliance for civil liberties, human rights and universal values.
Campaign Against Racism and Fascism (CARF)
BM Box 8784
London WC1N 3XX
Tel: 020 7837 1450
info@carf.demon.co.uk
www.carf.demon.co.uk
CARF, Britain's only independent campaigning anti-racist magazine, documents resistance against racism from black and refugee organisations, monitoring groups, anti-deportation campaigns, football fans, to name but a few. It has consistently reported on suspicious black deaths in custody, followed up racial violence attacks and supported local campaigners. For five years, CARF has researched, collated and analysed the number of black people, undocumented workers and asylum seekers in Europe who have lost their lives because of racism. CARF has documented the racism within the media, which is intrinsic to images and reports on Africa and Asia and which tends to refer to conflicts in these regions as "tribal trouble", thereby reinforcing the superiority of the West over the "Rest". CARF has highlighted the plight of asylum seekers through the dangerous and degrading "human trade" that brings them to Europe and the discriminatory treatment (including incarceration and deportation) they face once here.
Campaign to Close Campsfield
info@closecampsfield.org.uk
www.closecampsfield.org.uk
Campsfield House is an Immigration Detention Centre near Oxford run for private profit by the Group 4 security company as a high-security prison and supervised by Home Office immigration officials. It holds about 200 detainees, most of them political refugees fleeing danger, torture and death from countries such as Nigeria, Algeria, Ghana, Turkey, India and Zaire. They are held without charge, without time limit, without proper reasons given for their detention, and without proper access to legal representation. Amnesty International report that these are breaches of internationally recognised human rights. The aims of the campaign are to close Campsfield, other detention centres and detention wings in prisons; stop immigration detentions and imprisonment; stop racist deportations; and repeal immigration laws that reinforce racism. The campaign believes in peaceful protest and has three priorities: to build up local public support and awareness of the issues; to give detainees moral support and show that they are welcome here; and to work with other organisations nationally to achieve the aims of the campaign.
Colombia Solidarity Campaign
PO Box 8446
London N17 6NZ
Tel: 07743 743041
colombia_sc@hotmail.com
www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk
The Colombia Solidarity Campaign is an anti-imperialist organisation campaigning for a socially just and sustainable peace in Colombia based on respect for the human rights and diversity of the Colombian people. Its specific objectives are to: oppose any US, British or foreign military intervention, believing that this will only escalate problems in Colombia; oppose the policy of chemical fumigation and work for a solution to the coca problem based on the real needs of the people; draw attention to the role played by multinational corporations in violating workers' rights and exploiting the people and the environment of Colombia; draw attention to the horrific human rights situation in Colombia, and to the fact that the overwhelming majority of atrocities can be attributed to the actions of the army, police, Colombian state organisms or paramilitaries, which together constitute a policy of Colombian state terror; and oppose the criminalisation of social protest. It supports the right of Colombian refugees to asylum, and campaigns actively to defend them.
Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers (CDAS)
BCM Box 4289
London WC1N 3XX
Tel: 07941 566 183
info@defend-asylum.org
www.defend-asylum.org
CDAS demands: the right to work for asylum seekers; income support for asylum seekers; abolition of detention centres; no forced dispersal of asylum seekers throughout Britain; full legal rights and representation; no to deportation; and the scrapping of the Asylum and Immigration Act.
The Corner House
Station Road
Sturminster Newton
Dorset DT10 1YJ
Tel: 01258 473795
cornerhouse@gn.apc.org
www.thecornerhouse.org.uk
The Corner House is a UK research and advocacy group focusing on human rights, the environment and development and is one of the founders of the Ilisu Dam Campaign. Since its founding in 1997, it has aimed to support democratic and community movements for environmental and social justice, and aims to pay constant attention to issues of social, economic and political power and practical strategy. As part of its solidarity work, The Corner House carries out analyses, research and advocacy with the aim of linking issues, of stimulating informed discussion and strategic thought on critical environmental and social concerns, and of encouraging broad alliances to tackle them.
Creative Exchange: The Network for Culture and Development
18 Percy Road
London E11 1AJ
Tel: 020 8532 8870
info@creativexchange.org
hotline@creativexchange.org
www.creativexchange.org
All over the world, arts and culture are helping people to overcome hardship, conflict, ill-health and abuse and to build a better future. Creative Exchange is a national and international network connecting people and organisations worldwide who are working with arts and culture to achieve social development and inclusion. It collects, stores and distributes information related to this field; sends out information about training, jobs and funding opportunities; promotes best practice; and runs networking events. Creative Exchange lobbies for appropriate and effective use of arts and culture to achieve social change and promotes better awareness and respect for cultural rights.
Exiled Writers Ink
31 Hallswelle Road
London NW11 0DH
Tel: 020 8458 1910
jennifer@exiledwriters.fsnet.co.uk
www.exiledwriters.co.uk
The organisation facilitates the wider dissemination of work by writers in exile and ensures they have a platform. It aims to raise awareness of their literature by organising seminars, workshops, conferences, interactive performances and festivals, and by facilitating publication of their work, including addressing translation issues. The organisation aims to develop literary creativity in the broadest sense within refugee communities, to work in schools and colleges, and to form links with other literary/arts groups. It also aims to act as a pressure group against racism and the abuse of human rights worldwide, and to develop dialogue through literature.
Friends of the Earth
26-28 Underwood Street
London N1 7JQ
Tel: 020 7490 1555
http://www.foe.co.uk/feedback.html
www.foe.co.uk
www.corporate-responsibility.org
Friends of the Earth is one of the leading environmental pressure groups in the UK. It is a unique network of campaigning groups, comprising local groups working in 250 communities throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and forms part of Friends of the Earth International, which has member groups in over 60 countries. It commissions detailed research and provides extensive information and educational materials. It has contributed towards bans on ozone destroying chemicals, reduced trade in rainforest timber and increased support for cleaner energy technologies. Its campaigns on corporate issues stem from the belief that governments are losing control to huge multinational corporations in a process that is endangering basic human rights and vast areas of the natural world.
Halkevi Community Centre
92-100 Stoke Newington Road
London N16
Tel: 020 7249 6980
halkevi-uk@hotmail.com
The Halkevi Kurdish and Turkish Community Centre provides a "safe haven" for Kurds and Turks of all ages and diverse circumstances in Hackney, one of the most deprived areas of London where many Kurds and Turks now live. It offers a range of support services and activities including training programmes and advice on key issues such as education, housing, drug abuse, asylum and social services, all in its members' and clients' own language. The Halkevi has a lively youth club and organises many sporting and cultural events. It also provides a space for older people to get together and for social gatherings, which are crucial in countering the isolation and depression that many migrants experience, particularly those who have been separated in exile from their families and friends.
Ilisu Dam Campaign
Box 210
266 Banbury Road
Oxford OX2 7DL
Tel: 01865 200 550
ilisu@gn.apc.org
www.ilisu.org.uk
The Ilisu Dam Campaign worked to stop British involvement in the proposed Ilisu dam in south-east Turkey and to highlight the wider implications of Britain's ethical foreign policy, sustainable development and its effect on peace and security in the region. The campaign exists to: raise public awareness of the environmental and human rights issues raised by the proposed construction of the Ilisu dam; conduct research into the implications of the proposed dam; communicate with officials (including government officials and elected representatives) in Britain and abroad about the implications of the proposed dam; expose any double standards on the part of companies involved in the Ilisu dam and press for them to act abroad as they would at home; press for the UK Export Credits Guarantee Department and other national export credit agencies to adopt mandatory environmental and development standards so that similar projects do not receive public support in the future; and to publicise the Ilisu dam's potential to exacerbate existing tensions in Kurdish areas and the threat it poses to peace and security in the region.
King's College London
The Strand
London WC2R 2LS
Tel: 020 7848 2103
icar@kcl.ac.uk
www.icar.org.uk
ICAR is an independent centre set up in 2001 to collect, record, compile and disseminate up-to-date, comprehensive and academically credible information about refugees and asylum seekers in the UK. It aims to raise the level of public debate on asylum and refugees in the UK context; to promote better understanding of the issues based on the best available information; and to help assemble evidence to promote evidence-based policy-making. ICAR is an advocacy organisation only to the extent that it presses for further research, better data, and more comprehensive and illuminating statistics on asylum and refugee issues in order to raise the level of public debate.
Institute of Race Relations
2-6 Leeke Street
London WC1X 9HS
Tel: 020 7837 0041/ 020 7833 2010
info@irr.org.uk
www.irr.org.uk
The Institute of Race Relations was established as an independent educational charity in 1958 to carry out research, publish and collect resources on race relations throughout the world. Since 1972, it has concentrated on responding to the needs of black people and making direct analyses of institutionalised racism in Britain and the rest of Europe. It is at the forefront of the research and analysis informing the struggle for racial justice in Britain and internationally. It seeks to reflect the experience of those who suffer racial oppression and draws its perspectives from the most vulnerable in society. Its investigations have covered racism and the press, police racism, deaths in custody, the plight of asylum seekers and exclusions from school. The IRR conducts research on racism in other European countries, examining the rise of racial violence and fascist parties, asylum and immigration policies, human rights violations, policing and security policies. The IRR news network aims to provide professionals in the voluntary sector, activists, students and interested individuals with a rich and dynamic news and information resource, distributed via the web and through emails, on race and refugee issues in the UK and the rest of Europe. It also aims to provide easy access to related organisations through an online database.
Kurdish Human Rights Project
2 New Burlington Place
London W1S 2HP
Tel: 020 7287 2772
khrp@khrp.demon.co.uk
www.khrp.org
Founded in 1992, KHRP is an independent, non-political human rights organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of the human rights of all persons in the Kurdish regions of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and the former Soviet Union, irrespective of their race, religion, sex, political persuasion, or other belief or opinion. KHRP's supporters include both Kurds and non-Kurds. Its five core projects are: human rights advocacy and training; trial observations and fact-finding missions; research and publications; public awareness; and an environmental project.
Kurdistan Solidarity Committee and Peace in Kurdistan
44 Ainger Road
London NW3 3AT
Tel: 020 7586 5892
knklondon@gn.apc.org
estella24@tiscali.co.uk
Founded more than a decade ago, the Kurdistan Solidarity Committee works for the recognition of the national rights of the Kurdish people through political lobbying, joint campaigns with Kurdish people in the UK and co-operation with sympathetic NGOs. Unfunded and working on a voluntary basis, it acts as a source of information for researchers and journalists; helps co-ordinate delegations to Kurdistan to provide eyewitness reports of human rights violations and to meet Kurdish activists resisting various forms of oppression in their homeland; and publishes regular reports and a magazine, Kurdistan Report. More recently, the Committee has become involved in asylum rights and against anti-terrorism legislation; it is a leading force in the Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC). The Committee publicises and works on individual cases involving Kurdish refugees and more general problems facing the wider Kurdish community. In 1994, the Committee established Peace in Kurdistan in 1994 to press for a political solution to the Kurdish question. This initiative has won distinguished international backing from Noam Chomsky, Arthur Miller, Harold Pinter and Julie Christie.
Mines and Communities Website
41 Thornhill Square
London, N1 1LE
Tel: 020 7700 6189
info@minesandcommunities.org
www.minesandcommunities.org
The Mines and Communities Website is the major communications project of the Mines and Communities network, a group of Indigenous and solidarity NGOs. The website seeks to empower mining-affected communities so that they can struggle successfully against damaging mining proposals and projects. It is acknowledged as the leading website of its kind because of the breadth and depth the information it provides and because its material is presented and selected by a truly international editorship.
National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC)
110 Hamstead Road
(National office)
Handsworth
Birmingham B20 2QS
Tel: 0121-554 6947
ncadc@ncadc.org.uk
www.ncadc.org.uk
Unjust and inhumane deportations tear families apart, force asylum seekers back to countries where they face persecution, and deny gay and lesbian couples the right to their relationship. These facts motivated the formation in June 1995 of the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns. The Coalition provides practical help and advice to people facing deportation. It provides objective and confidential advice on the pros and cons of campaigning, and practical help with doing so. The Coalition provides a network for campaigns throughout the country so they can support each other. It communicates and works constantly with other organisations involved in campaigns for social justice and against immigration injustice and deportation. The Coalition lobbies to amend law and practice which leads to unjust or inhumane deportations, and assists in mounting campaigns against such legislation.
Panjaab Watch
PO Box 968
Slough
East Berkshire SL1 7YP
Tel: 07971 489775
animalspirit2002@yahoo.co.uk
Panjaab is a semi-arid landlocked region in the north-western part of South Asia through which five rivers flow, giving the region its name. This campaign group highlights the injustices perpetrated on the Panjaab and its people, land, natural environment, heritage and culture by the Indian state. It campaigns for Panjaabi national self-determination and home rule. Some of the issues it covers include: human rights atrocities; environmental damage and destruction; Panjaabi cultural freedom and expression; and self-determination.
Refugees and Asylum-seekers and the Media (RAM) Project
c/o PressWise Trust
Unit 38
Easton Business Centre
Felix Road
Bristol BS5 0HE
Tel: 0117 941 5889
ram@presswise.org.uk
www.ramproject.org.uk
The Project promotes best practice in media representation of refugee and asylum issues. It produces regular email bulletins about efforts to improve media coverage of refugee and asylum seeker issues. The PressWise Trust, set up in 1993 by "victims of media abuse", journalists and media lawyers, exists to promote high standards in journalism.
Somali Community Centre
1-2 Lismore Circus
London NW5 4QF
Tel: 0207 267 8897
admin@somalicentre.org
www.somalicentre.org
The Somali Community Centre offers a range of services including an advice line, outreach support to Somali families, housing and welfare benefits support and legal advice, and support to parents with children attending schools in the north London borough of Camden. These services are backed up by interpreting and translation support and weekend activities. The Centre has links with most Camden schools and runs a weekend supplementary school. It organises various events, such as a consultation day when some 300 Somalis participated in workshops to clarify their needs and the difficulties they face.
Tamil Action Committee
11 Keightley Drive
London SE9 2HF
Tel: 020 8859 3600
The Tamil Action Committee is a human rights and ecological foundation established in June 1962. Its main purpose has been to raise international awareness of the plight of the 3.5 million Tamil speaking people of Sri Lanka and to win support for their struggle for self-determination and co-existence with all people in Sri Lanka. The organisation is committed to defending and protecting the rights of Tamil refugees in the UK, particularly those affected by recent legislation. It has also given consistent support to other peoples fighting for self determination, including the Kurds, the Eritreans, and the indigenous peoples of North America and South America, Burma and India, and has helped to expose the atrocities perpetrated against them. The organisation aims to continue to give support to all people struggling for peace and freedom.
War on Want
Fenner Brockway House
37-39 Great Guildford Street
London SE1 0ES
Tel: 020 7620 1111
mailroom@waronwant.org
www.waronwant.org
War on Want fights poverty in developing countries in partnership and solidarity with people across the world. It campaigns for workers' rights to counter the causes of poverty, inequality and injustice. The overriding philosophy of War on Want, founded in 1951, has been to empower communities in the under-developed world to overcome conditions that invariably lead to the creation of economic migrants and refugees. It recognises the need to support organisations working in areas that are experiencing political violence and conflict, conditions that frequently go hand-in-hand with poverty and huge levels of inequality and that create internal displacement and refugees. War on Want's participation in lobbying the UK government on its trade policy is governed by Core Labour Rights: the principle codes laid out by the International Labour Organisation, aimed at achieving safe and sustainable standards of living for workers. In the developing world, these standards have historically not always been recognised. If implemented, these standards could end the current race to the bottom in lowering workers' wages and working conditions, a race that invariably leads to displacement and the search for a viable life.
World Development Movement
25 Beehive Place
London SW9 7QR
Tel: 020 7737 6215
wdm@wdm.org.uk
The World Development Movement tackles the underlying causes of poverty. Founded in 1970, WDM is a democratic movement of individual supporters, campaigners and local groups. It lobbies decision makers to change the policies of governments and companies that keep people poor, and researches and promotes positive alternatives. It mobilises consumers, shareholders and governments to hold multinational companies accountable for abuses of power. It works alongside people in the developing world who are standing up to injustice.
World University Service (UK)/ Education Action International
14 Dufferin Street
London EC1Y 8PD
Tel: 020 7426 5825
hratp@wusuk.org
international@education-action.org
www.wusuk.org
The refugee diaspora in the UK can play an important role in ensuring that the British public becomes better informed about the reasons why people become refugees, and about the responsibilities of the UK (and all governments) to support human rights. Their attempts to do so are often frustrated because of cultural incompatibility, prejudices, and a lack of knowledge and skills for effective advocacy. These often hinder from integrating into their adopted communities and thus they easily become the victims of prejudice. World University Service (UK) has developed a training programme to help refugees overcome some of the many barriers they face in raising awareness of human rights abuses in their home countries and to develop their advocacy skills and capacity. After completing training, over 100 asylum seekers and refugees from 23 countries in Africa and the Middle East have become more involved in a wide range of advocacy work, often within their communities, focusing on economic, social and cultural (as well as civil and political) rights.
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