Eiri Ohtani
Director
Eiri joined Right to Remain in April 2022 to take up a newly created post of Director. Eiri has over twenty years experience in the refugee and migration sector, covering a wide-range of roles at the national, European and international levels. In the UK, she previously set up and ran the charity Asylum Support Appeals Project and the coalition, the Detention Forum. She also works as a consultant specialising in strategy, theory of change, advocacy and organisational development and regularly provides advice to foundations. Here is a bit more about her, in her own words.
Maggy Moyo
Organiser, North West
Maggy is the Organiser for Manchester and Liverpool These Walls Must Fall (TWMF) campaign. She is passionate about advocating for human rights including the rights of migrants, marginalised groups and those of vulnerable women, children, the disabled and the elderly. She fights against social injustice and advocates for equality. She is involved with a few organisations in Manchester that are fighting for the same cause, including LISG Manchester, Manchester Rape Crisis, Restoration of Human Rights Zimbabwe and is in the Executive Committee of the North Branch UK. She is also involved in initiatives promoting the welfare and education of girls and young women in Southern Africa.
Esther Doherty
Engagement Officer
Esther joined Right to Remain in February 2023 as Engagement Officer. Day to day, her role centres on connecting with new and existing allies in the sector, strengthening our goal of radical solidarity. She is responsible for the logistics and planning of all workshops, events and training sessions. Esther also manages the internal organisational systems and processes in an effort to streamline the operations of Right to Remain. Prior to joining the team, Esther worked at West London Welcome, a community centre for migrants in Hammersmith, and completed an MA in Migration and Diaspora Studies at SOAS.
Ally Swadling
Lead Legal Education Officer
Ally worked as a young person’s caseworker at PAFRAS for 7 years, with a particular focus on age disputes, post-refusal cases and enforced destitution. She is also an experienced trainer and a co-founder of the Stand Up! Speak Out! training series, which she organised with Migrants Organise and Social Workers Without Borders. With over 10 years’ experience in the charity sector and a long background in community organising, including as a founding member of Leeds Anti-Raids Action, she joined Right to Remain as Legal Education Officer in July 2025 and is based in Leeds. Outside of work, she is a UK-ranked Muay Thai fighter, bringing the calm under pressure, embodied resilience and sense of collective care she has developed through the sport into activist and community spaces.
Louise Watts
Legal Education Officer
Louise joins Right to Remain as a Legal Education Officer in May 2026. She has been working across the Midlands in the charity sector for a decade, supporting migrants at various stages of their journeys to settling in the UK. Louise began as a caseworker and advocate with resettled Syrian refugees whilst working to achieve IAA Level 3 and completing a Masters in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration. She passionately campaigned with the Windrush community in Wolverhampton, and in more recent years in her role at Hope Projects, she has advocated for asylum seekers in the West Midlands who have been made destitute by the immigration system. Louise loves art, coffee and the ocean, all of which led her to her second home in Zanzibar where she learnt to speak Swahili fluently.
Tigist Estifanos
Finance and Operations Assistant
Tigist joined Right to Remain in March 2026 as Finance and Operations Assistant. Her role centres on ensuring the smooth running of the organisation’s financial and internal systems, from tracking income and expenditure to assisting with budget preparation. Tigist is responsible for the logistics of financial reporting, HR administration, and streamlining office processes to support the wider team’s mission. Alongside this role, Tigist serves as a Finance Assistant at Migrant Voice and holds an undergraduate degree in Accounting and Finance, bringing a dedicated focus on financial health to the migration justice sector.