New staff members

We are delighted to welcome Tigist Estifanos to our team as our part-time Finance and Operations Assistant. Tigist holds an undergraduate degree in Accounting and Finance, and brings a dedicated focus on financial health to the migration justice sector. On 1 May, Louise Watts will join us as our Legal Education Officer, based in Birmingham. She will be working closely with Ally Swadling, our Lead Legal Education Officer, and we will introduce her properly when she starts.

April workshops and meetings

We have another busy month ahead, working with you to build our community’s knowledge and our capacity to act collectively.

• 9 April – Knowledge is Power: the asylum system
• 16 April – Knowledge is Power: detention and enforcement
• 23 April – Introduction to the Right to Remain Toolkit
• 29 April – Radical Solidarity Hub – asylum appeals

In addition, These Walls Must Fall and Right to Remain will be co-delivering a solidarity session with one of our regional partner organisations to share our experience and learning on solidarity building and resisting immigration enforcement. We will report back after the session.

A huge response to our communications survey!

Between 13 February and 8 March, we conducted a brief survey to understand how you find our communications. We were pleasantly surprised that 165 of you responded – a far greater number than we anticipated! Thank you. The survey results show that our email newsletter and website remain important communication channels for us. We will be analysing the results further to improve the impact of our communications this year.

Good news for the City of Sanctuary – a big relief for all of us

Right to Remain sends solidarity to everyone at City of Sanctuary! Earlier this week, the Charity Commission rejected a complaint against the charity by a Conservative Party MP, which was based on an online misinformation campaign. It is more important than ever that charities, groups, and individuals can confidently stand up for the rights and dignity of people seeking asylum and migrants. You can read the Charity Commission statement issued on 7 April here. More information about the case is available on the City of Sanctuary webpage here.

Finally… practicing hope. 

Right to Remain was featured as one of the groups that practices ‘hope’ by Natasha Adams’ thinking, doing, changing blog. It feels good to be featured alongside others who are doing challenging but necessary work of movement building. We are sure there are so many others out there who are doing the same work differently, in different areas. If you were fired up after the big Together march in London a few weekends ago, why not get together with others who want to build a dignified society? You can sign up to be part of ARM (Anti-Racist Movement) here. Solidarity is a verb. Take action today. 

Right to Remain Team