Liberal Democrats, as a party, have a proud record of standing up for the way our country views and treats with compassion and humanity those who seek sanctuary in our country. This culminated in the ending of the detention of children in the notorious Yarlswood, and the opening of the new pre departure accommodation at Cedars, for those families with children who were sadly being returned to their country of origin.
As well as actions as a party though, there are very many individuals who are both concerned about, and working with and for, asylum seekers in their locality. This ranges from signing petitions to being part of committees and action groups, and supporting individuals in many ways.
We are proposing to form a group of such supporters, “Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary”, to co-ordinate our work, share ideas and experiences, be a point of reference for our decision makers, and work to formulate new policy.
If you are interested, then please contact one of us as follows :
Suzanne Fletcher. [email protected], 01642 786456
Janet King. [email protected]
Philip Latham. [email protected]
* Suzanne Fletcher was a councillor for nearly 30 years and a voluntary advice worker with the CAB for 40 years. Now retired, she is active as a campaigner in the community both as a Lib Dem and with local organisations. She is Liberal Democrat Seekers of Sanctuary's parliamentary and external relations officer.
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4 Comments
What a really excellent initiative –I’ll be in touch and would be delighted to help in any way that I can.
Hope all goes well.Please count on my support.
excellent – anyone else ?
Roger and Paul,
Thank you both for contacting us and joining our SOS group (Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctusry). It is great to have a supporter in the Lords, Roger.There is much to do as I am sure you are aware if you follow the campaigns of groups like NCADC, Unity Centre, RAPAR and London Detainees Support group amongst others. We are hoping to use the experience of all these groups as well as that of our own Lib Dem colleagues to shape party policy in the area of asylum matters. We hope to make Government policy fairer,less inhumane and more efficient, Liberal Democrats led by Nick Clegg succeeded in reducing child detention to 72 days ( 1 week with HO permission) so now it is time to look again at adult detention for immigration purposes and ask why so many innocent people are detained(sometimes for years), why the method of arrest and detention is giving cause for concern and why UKBA’s decision making is in question.Charter flight teturns to countries declared unsafe by the UN and ECHR are also on the agenda and by 2015 we expect to have a party policy fit to take confidently to the electorate. Your help is needed and appreciated.