How our voice is heard
WAST campaigns for the rights of women seeking asylum. We self-organise and campaign to make changes to the policies that affect women seeking asylum. We do this through lobbying MPs, taking direct action, building coalitions, speaking out and supporting one another.
Campaign against the Nationality and Borders Bill
Before the Nationality and Borders Bill was given Royal Assent we campaigned against this cruel legislation that will cause harm to those seeking asylum in the UK.
What we achieved:
A submission to the Government consultation on the Nationality and Borders Bill
Joined the Refugees Welcome Rally in London
Took part in the Stop the NABB and Kill the Bill protests in Manchester
Protested with Amnesty International to stop the Rwanda Flights in Manchester
End Hassockfield
We joined Women for Women Refugees to fight for the closure of the new Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) for women in County Durham.
Abolish Reporting and Detention
Anyone who is waiting for a final decision on their application to live in the UK can be required to regularly travel to “sign on” at an Immigration Reporting Centre. Every appointment carries the risk of being randomly taken to a detention centre. These conditions amount to unfair, unjust and unnecessary harassment, and it has to stop!
When our members go to sign at Dallas Court we have a phone tree and so we can ring another as we go in and out of signing to reduce the stress and to support any woman who is detained.
We also actively campaign for the end of reporting conditions for all migrants. We believe that migrants should not be criminalised and forced to sign/ report.
When members have been detained we support them to keep contact with their solicitors or provide them with information on how to get immigration advice inside. We make sure someone looks after their flat/ room and belongings. We do collections for their mobile and help keep their spirits up with regular phone calls.
Our coalitions
FIRM Charter
The Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) unites a call for humane immigration and inclusion policies that can truly reflect our society’s democratic values, and that draws on a distinguished history in Britain of standing for the dignity and justice of all.
The Charter emerged as a result of conversations with those who face the sharp end of current policies: with their family and friends, campaigners, politicians, journalists, case workers, volunteers, and many others who support everyone who has been affected by the increasingly brutal immigration policies in Britain
Sisters Not Strangers Coalition
Sisters Not Strangers is a UK-based coalition of groups that support asylum-seeking and refugee women. We came together to campaign against destitution and other inhumane policies that affect women who are seeking safety in the UK.
We dream of a world where all women who seek asylum are seen as women, as neighbours, as mothers, as colleagues, as activists - as sisters, not strangers.
These Walls Must Fall
These Walls Must Fall is a network of refugee and migrant campaigners working with allies and supporters for radical change.
We are already living under a hostile environment. Now, the Borders Bill is a threat to the Refugee Convention, the Policing Bill seeks to criminalise protest and the Human Rights Act is under attack.
#TellPritiPatel
We joined over 70 other organisations to #TellPritiPatel that her new immigration plan will harm women.
Vaccines for All
The #VaccinesForAll campaign was a national campaign to call on the Department of Health to ensure that everyone has access to the coronavirus vaccine, regardless of immigration status, ID or proof of address. It is also part of a wider #PatientsNotPassports campaign to end all NHS charging for migrants.
Shut down Yarls Wood
Over the past 5 years WAST has been part of the nationwide campaign to SHUT DOWN YARLS WOOD detention centre where the Home Office detains asylum seeker women indefinitely. On February 21st 2018, 120 women in this “immigration prison” went on hunger strike to highlight the dehumanising conditions and to call for an end to detention. Many WAST women have experienced detention, and so as a symbol of our solidarity with the hunger strikers, WAST women wore purple armbands. The armbands helped raise awareness and support for our sisters on strike and were sold across Manchester and at The Safety4sisters conference on Migrant Women’s Rights at The Pankhurst centre. The strike ended on March 21st 2018 but the campaign goes on.
