We were very sad to say goodbye to our first ever Legal Education Officer, Yumna Kamel, whose last day at Right to Remain was 11 April. 

Yumna started working at Right to Remain at the end of February 2022 when the organisation began undergoing a huge transformation. This was also when the threat of the Nationality and Borders Bill (now the Act) was sending shockwaves to already exhausted communities of people seeking asylum, migrants and their supporters. 

Yumna shouldered this enormous responsibility to meet the urgent demands from our communities – demands for clarity and reassurance delivered at speed. And she met that moment with calmness and clarity. As more and more draconian laws and policies came in our way – the Illegal Immigration Act, the Safety of Rwanda Act and a whole host of sudden policy announcements – Yumna continued to provide that much-needed calmness and clarity: vital ingredients for Right to Remain, as the anchor organisation for the migration justice movement to whom many people and groups reach out during the moments of crisis.  

As well as responding with agility to these destabilising, complex and hostile legal and policy developments, ensuring our communities understand their impact on their lives, Yumna was also involved in developing new strands of work and strengthening our practices at Right to Remain. Yumna refined the material that was already in the organisation to produce Knowledge is Power workshops. She also developed our Toolkit Ambassador material. And all this while reviewing, updating and producing new material for our ever popular Toolkit and of course writing a number of legal update blogs. 

Yumna’s warmth and energy was always appreciated by the Right to Remain team. It was a real pleasure to work with her, and we are more than sure that this sentiment is shared by many. She was of course excellent at delivering public legal education – and she was an excellent colleague too. 

We wish Yumna all the best in her future endeavours!

Right to Remain team