International Migrants Day 2023

Briefing at the United Nations Global Compact UK network: Modern slavery working group.

 From prevention to identification, prosecution and recovery, States, corporate and NGOs led-anti-modern slavery policies and strategies create and exacerbate vulnerability to homegrown slavery in the UK. While some remain deeply invested in the idea that forced labour has nothing to do with structural inequalities or that in this context, race and gender matter little, there is an abundance of research that demonstrates that poverty and labour exploitation disproportionately impact women, lower castes, and non-white and indigenous people.  In the Uk, the conflict between migration and labour laws creates discrimination,which is the power that fuels homegrown slavery.  Modern slavery made in the UK is rooted in race and immigration status discrimination. unfortunately, the link between discrimination and modern slavery is not well understood.

Labour migration law event

Hosted by Refugee Action 

Webinar: GLAA Labour User/Labour Provider

23 November 2021 

Rising global peace forum 21

States responsibility to Prevent Homegrown slavery

Prevention: Educate and inform migrant and employers

We educate and inform our communities in a safe community environment about our employment/ immigration/ and human rights in our own language to identify the signs of labour exploitation and challenges abusive practices where we work.

EEA citizens

EU Citizens of Colour, the EUSS + the post-Brexit Immigration Journey 

14 July 2022 @ 6-7:30 Pm -In  partnership with Migrants' Rights Net work

About this event

The Law Centres Network demonstrated in a *report published last year, that a significant proportion of their clients (44.3%) were Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) with complex EUSS (EU Settlement Scheme) cases. However, this is not the most worrying issue. They also found that 83.8% of third country nationals were accessing support in comparison to 11.4% of white applicants.

We already know the EUSS fails to monitor and report on ethnicity, so official government figures do not exist on how EU citizens of colour are navigating the EUSS.

Brexit was always going to bring additional hurdles to those who moved or are moving to the UK. But for people of colour who are EU citizens, or their family members, navigating the EUSS has been a journey of administrative burden, loss + misery. EU citizens of colour have been left in limbo, with difficulties accessing work, benefits or housing, + in some cases they have also been left at risk of destitution.

A scheme that disproportionately and negatively affects people of colour is by design discriminatory.

We invite people affected by the scheme to come + share their stories together, + to collectively discuss how we can increase visibility + representation, + bring resolution to these struggles.

Speakers

Chair- Fizza Qureshi (CEO of Migrants' Rights Network).

Aké Achi (Founder + Director of Migrants at Work)- who will be sharing his experience of trying to engage the EU to look at this as an issue before the EUSS started.

Abdulgadir Ali (CEO of Ileys Community Association)- who works with EU citizens of Somali heritage.

Dina Mendes (nurse + human rights activist).

Latin American House- who will be sharing their experience of supporting people of colour with the EUSS.

Attendees with lived experience of the EUSS.

10 June 2021 - EU Citizens and the Right to Work - 

Organiser by Citizens Advice Liverpool

  The UK has now left the European Union and the transition period has come to an end, this means that the right to free movement no longer applies in the UK and the way in which EU / EEA nationals can show that they have the right to work in the UK is going through a series of changes.

At Citizens Advice Liverpool we have become aware that there is still much confusion, both for workers and employers about how to check the right to work for those individuals. We understand how critical it is to have accurate information and so with this in mind, we have secured funding from the Home Office to commission the services of Migrants at Work who will provide FREE information sessions online on this subject.

Registration

22 April 2021 - EU Citizens and the Right to Work- 

Organiser by Citizens Advice Liverpool

This session will focus in detail on the rights and responsibilities of employers. 

Since the UK has now left the European Union and the transition period has come to an end, the right to free movement no longer applies in the UK and the way in which EU citizens resident in the UK can prove that they have the right to work in the UK is now going through a series of changes.

At Citizens Advice Liverpool we have noticed that there is much confusion, both for workers and employers about how to check for the right to work and how to prove it and having recognised a need for accurate information, we have secured funding from the Home Office to provide FREE information sessions online via Microsoft Teams.

Raising awareness in Liverpool

Non -EEA citizens

18th February 2021, Votre droit de connaitre- Session all in French

Community organising in the BAME and migrant community

Increasing diversity in the housing sector 

WED, 8 SEPTEMBER 2021 10:00 - 12:00 BST Organised by the Housing Policy Group, for the Social Policy Association

This workshop will be led by Grace Manyika, Vikki McCall and Andrew Wallace.

The workshop will focus on different social groups, such as ethnic minorities, but also social classes and different communities to explore the varied pathways into both social policy and housing practice and research. The output of the workshop will be a map of different career journeys, highlighting key 'support points' for teachers, researchers and housing organisations where they can instigate change that supports more diverse groups of people into learning, researching and working in the housing sector.

5th May 2021 - SolidariTEE 's event

17th February 2021- LEX - Lived Experience

We have a long history of migrant and refugee leaders leading positive change in the UK. Today, there are many of us leading/supporting services, campaigns and much more for our communities. Let's connect and uplift our collective work. Join us for a relaxed cup of tea in an informal gathering - a LEx- led community space for us to come together, connect, and share. (LEX)

Community Connections: Elevating our Leadership, Voice, and Unique Expertise. For more information about the Lived Experience community.  Join the Lived Experience leaders community

Registration for the event

Asylum seekers

23 January- 3rd February - 13 February, No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF), Building Resilience 

4th February 2021

EDUCATE AND INFORM EMPLOYERS

Upskilling employers to prevent labour exploitation

18th February 2021

EDUCATE AND INFORM FRONTLINE MIGRANT SUPPORT ORGANISATIONS

16 February 2021 

 International migrants' day:

 Immigration status discrimination:

The future our labour rights post Brexit: The UK's responsibility for labour exploiation

 Book now

Event's Details:

Date: 18th December 2020

Time: 11:00-13:00

Location: online

Agenda

• 11:00 to 12:30 - Speakers:

  • Employer concerns over the recruitment of migrants - survey results presented by Sinead Ouillon of Coventry University
  • Challenges for migrants and frontline support organisations - by Bonnie, Programme Manager of Ignite Integration Programme Job Shop, Coventry City Council
  • Legal advice for migrants: The gap - by Jennifer Mirdamadi, Specialist Adviser Citizens Advice Liverpool
  • Experts by Experience - Two migrant victims of flawed right to work checks speak out
  • What happens to survivors after exploitation? - by Maya Esslemont, Founder and Director , After Exploitation
  • EU citizens and Brexit - by Chris Benn of Seraphus
  • The Responsibility to prevent (R2Pr) campaign - briefing by Migrants at Work Founder, Aké Achi

  12:30 to 13:00 - Q&A

  To book the event, follow this link

Sinead Ouillon, Coventry University, CTPSR

Presentation: What our employers think 

Report launch

The Impact of Covid-19 on POC & Migrant Frontline Workers

The physical, mental and emotional impact of Covid-19 on people of colour and migrant front-line workers.

About this Event

Join Nadia Whittome MP and our other esteemed speakers to discuss how communities of colour have coped during this pandemic.

The Covid-19 crisis in the UK has demonstrated the importance of workers from the low-waged sectors, in particular, social care, healthcare settings, and those on the front-line in construction or security industries. We are now finally appreciating those long standing workers who have been on the front-line for decades caring for those in need, providing essential services, and keeping the UK economy alive.

Many of these front-line workers are from a migrant, EU citizen or Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic background (BAME), who may lack awareness of their worker and welfare rights and entitlements, and may be continuing work, or having to return to work to avoid destitution, or due to their immigration conditions. The added factor of immigration conditions or precarious immigration status including lack of status presents a greater vulnerability and an increased likelihood of being taken advantage of by unscrupulous employers, especially where they do not have recourse to public funds. Unfortunately, it is also these workers, who are at greater risk of being infected and suffering with severe symptoms of Covid-19 because of their BAME and socio-economic backgrounds.

And now, with an easing of lockdown measures, and a real lack of clarity on who can and should go back to work (bar those specifically mentioned in the Prime Minister's speech), "We now need to stress that anyone who can't work from home, for instance those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work." there is a risk that some migrant workers and those from a BAME background will be forced to return to work without adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), risk assessments and proper shielding being carried out, which could in turn intensify the number of people infected by COVID-19 from these groups. This is in spite of the furlough scheme being extended, although we are aware that this does not, and will not protect all vulnerable workers.

Panel

Chaired by: Danielle Manson, Garden Court Chambers - Danielle has a wealth of experience across the general crime spectrum, having represented defendants charged with serious violence, the supply and production of drugs and firearms offences and has already undertaken work beyond her call. She is an advocate who can be relied upon completely and always delivers in an outstanding and detailed way.

Speakers:

Front-line worker with lived experience

Nadia Whittome MP - Nadia Edith Whittome is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Nottingham East since the 2019 general election.

Rogelio Braga - Project Manager of Kanlungan Filipino Consortium and the Co-Chair of Status Now Network, a coalition of almost a hundred organisations calling for the regularisation of all undocumented migrants and those in the legal process living in the UK. They is an exiled human rights activist and writer from the Philippines.

Ake Achi - Aké is a former child labourer. He has worked as a trade union regional organiser in the UK for a number of years. He is currently the Deputy General Secretary of the National Trade Union of the Security Officers of Cote d'Ivoire. Aké holds a BSc in International Relations and French and a Master's degree in international human rights law. He is training to become an employment and immigration lawyer. He set up Migrants At Work Ltd because he realised that migrant and British workers from BAME backgrounds are not getting the support they need in the labour market as workers because they are being organised as migrant or BAME workers, instead of workers. As a result, these groups of workers are exploited by employers and excluded by Unions. In particular, those who are subject to immigration control are receiving no representation at work because of their immigration statuses.

Dr Alexandra Bulat - Alexandra is a migration researcher and an EU migrants' rights campaigner. She has a PhD in Migration Studies from University College London and has worked in a variety of academic and non-academic projects on migrants' rights, particularly with Romanian migrants. Currently, Alexandra co-chairs the Young Europeans Network at the3million, a group of young migrants campaigning on access to citizenship, political rights and other issues relevant to EU citizens in the UK. She also works as an OISC Level 1 (EUSS) immigration adviser for UK Butterflies and coordinates a project in collaboration with Polish Migrants Organise for Change (POMOC) focussing on outreach in Polish, Romanian and Roma communities in London. Alexandra regularly comments on immigration policy in the British and international media and is very active on Twitter @alexandrabulat.

Our contribution to this event organised by JCWI

Work It Out - protecting migrant workers' rights

A spotlight has been shone on the workers who keep this country going, like never before. Millions of carers, nurses, doctors, supermarket workers, delivery drivers and more are on the frontlines of this crisis. British and migrant workers, shoulder to shoulder.

People have come from all over the world to make this their home. They deserve the right to work and live safely. They deserve to be seen as so much more than a visa, a passport or a number. And they deserve more than the hostile rhetoric and short-sighted policies that have robbed them of the safety and security we all need.

We can and must take action to better serve the people to whom we owe so much. To find out what needs to change and how, join us for the launch of our new campaign, Work It Out.

Download the Work It Out manifesto

Work It Out campaign launch

Friday 11 December, 5 - 6.30pm

We are delighted to be joined by these incredible speakers:

Chair: Nadia Whittome MP

Nadia Whittome became Member of Parliament for Nottingham East at the 2019 general election. Prior to her election she worked as a hate crime project worker and as a carer, a role she continued part time when covid-19 struck. In April she spoke out publicly about the lack of PPE available for care home workers, and was fired from her care work role for doing so. In Parliament she has campaigned for migrants' and workers' rights as well as for a Green New Deal.

Lucila Granada, CEO, Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX)

CEO of FLEX since July 2019, Lucila Granada was formerly director of the Latin American Women's Rights Service (LAWRS) which is a frontline feminist organisation run by and for Latin American women working with 5,000 women each year to provide them with support services and achieve advocacy aims. Prior to this, Lucila founded and led CLAUK, a campaign coalition of Latin American organisations campaigning for ethnic recognition and improved access to health and labour rights. Lucila was Chair of the Labour Exploitation Advisory Group and a trustee at FLEX. She also holds a PhD on migration, language and ethnic identity from Aston University.

Aké Achi, Founder and Director, Migrants at Work

Aké is a former child labourer. He has worked as a trade union regional organiser in the UK for a number of years. He is currently the Deputy General Secretary of the National Trade Union of the Security Officers of Cote d'Ivoire. Aké holds a BSc in International Relations and French and a Master's degree in international human rights law. He is training to become an employment and immigration lawyer. He set up Migrants At Work Ltd because he realised that migrant and British workers from BAME backgrounds are not getting the support they need in the labour market as workers because they are being organised as migrant or BAME workers, instead of workers.

Wilson Ayala, Chair of the Cleaners and Facilities Branch, Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB). Translation by Laura Barroso, IWGB

Wilson Ayala, chair of the cleaners and facilities branch. Wilson has overseen many successful campaigns at the cleaners and facilities branch and has been supporting hundreds of workers through the pandemic helping many be furloughed when employers have tried to cynically cut jobs and save money.

The event will be hosted and introduced by Satbir Singh, Chief Executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.