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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡

@helenbamber.org
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We are a human rights charity. We give survivors of trafficking and torture the strength to move on.

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Reposted by Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡
Asylum Matters @asylummatters.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
What this headline doesn't make obvious is that the reason police are concerned is the cost of policing the extremists who gather to harass and threaten people forced to live in asylum camps. Yet another reason why all people seeking sanctuary should be able to live in communities, not camps.
bbc.co.uk
Police resources warning over Linton-on-Ouse asylum centre plan
The Home Office is considering using RAF Linton-on-Ouse to house asylum seekers.
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 24/09/2026
In 2025, our data showed that at least 755 children were wrongly placed in adult accommodation with strangers or immigration detention. We need urgent action to end flawed age assessments at the border & ensure every child seeking safety is properly safeguarded. www.helenbamber.org/resources/la...
helenbamber.org
First-ever Home Office data reveals hundreds of child refugees wrongly treated as adults, despite expert warnings | Helen Bamber
After years of campaigning, the Home Office has for the first time published its own data confirming that hundreds of child refugees arriving in UK alone are being wrongly treated as adults, with deva...
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 24/09/2026
23% of children seeking asylum initially assessed as adults were later found to be children. This is the Home Office's own data, shared by the Children's Commissioner for England. We've warned for years that flawed age assessments put hundreds of children at risk. www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...
mirror.co.uk
'I shudder to think about wrongly assessed kids forced to sleep next to adults'
EXCLUSIVE: Urgent action is needed to stop child asylum seekers being wrongly assessed as adults, Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza will say today
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 23/09/2026
These are mums, dads and children. Families just like ours. They deserve the chance to live with dignity, stability and hope. Our clients speak to @thetimes.com about the realities of life for families living in asylum hotels. 🗞️ Read here: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 21/09/2026
These are individuals and families who have fled war, persecution, violence and profound trauma. Many have already lost their homes, livelihoods, communities and the people they love. Having reached a place of safety, they deserve the opportunity to recover, rebuild and feel that they belong.
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 21/09/2026
Where you live matters. It can determine whether you can recover, access support, build relationships and begin to rebuild your life. Large, remote sites can isolate people from the communities around them. They risk reinforcing the damaging idea that they should be kept apart from society.
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 21/09/2026
We've repeatedly documented the harm caused by large isolated accommodation sites. Our clinical research at RAF Wethersfield found that its remote location, lack of adequate facilities, isolation and prison-like environment were contributing to significant distress, including self-harm.
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 21/09/2026
People seeking asylum deserve somewhere safe and suitable to live while their claims are being considered. They should not be placed in accommodation where accessing the surrounding community, essential services and support depends on navigating unsafe, unlit or unsuitable roads.
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 21/09/2026
Providing high vis jackets as ‘safety measure’ risks making people seeking asylum more vulnerable to hostility, while raising a much more basic question: why're they being housed in isolated sites where ordinary access to communities & services is so difficult? www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/2656063...
oxfordmail.co.uk
Migrants to be given free high vis jackets in village
Migrants will be given free hi-vis jackets if they move next to a rural village.
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Reposted by Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡
Asylum Aid @asylumaid.org.uk · 17/09/2026
We are one of the only charities in the UK providing free legal representation to stateless people. This work is often complex and challenging, and we need your support to continue. Help us provide vital legal support to some of the most vulnerable people in the UK: www.asylumaid.org.uk/support-us
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 15/09/2026
Today, the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner told the House of Commons why measures in the Immigration & Asylum Bill on disclosure and the credibility of trafficking survivors are so harmful — and why they should be scrapped. Read our new briefing for more: www.helenbamber.org/resources/re...
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 15/09/2026
A new briefing from the Helen Bamber Foundation examines how trauma, fear and gaps in the asylum and trafficking systems can affect survivors’ ability to disclose their experiences. Read here: www.helenbamber.org/resources/re...
helenbamber.org
“You cannot switch off trauma on demand”: barriers to disclosure for trafficking survivors | Helen Bamber
A new briefing from the Helen Bamber Foundation examines how trauma, fear and gaps in the asylum and trafficking systems can affect survivors’ ability to disclose their experiences and why proposed ch...
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 15/09/2026
The system can make this even harder. Survivors may be asked about trafficking, exploitation or other traumatic experiences very early in their contact with UK authorities, sometimes even before they have legal support.
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 15/09/2026
And remembering isn’t the same as being ready to talk. Fear, shame and the desire to avoid painful memories can also affect what someone is able or willing to disclose. Our clinical work with survivors shows that people need to feel safe enough to speak. They often need time and trust.
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 15/09/2026
Traumatic memories do not always exist as a clear, chronological narrative. Survivors experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may experience memories as fragmented images, sounds or physical sensations. They may struggle to recall events in sequence or have gaps in their memory.
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 15/09/2026
Under proposed changes in the Immigration and Asylum Bill 2026, delays, missing information or inconsistencies in what a survivor of human trafficking says could count against their credibility. But trauma can make remembering and talking about what happened much more complicated. 🧵
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Reposted by Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡
Amnesty International UK @amnestyuk.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
150+ organisations are raising the alarm on the horrifying escalation in racist violence and intimidation. We must come together to demand the government takes serious action.
Racial violence is escalating. 150+ organisations have RAISED the alarm and demand the government acts.
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Reposted by Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡
Women for Refugee Women @4refugeewomen.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
🚨Racial violence is escalating. Racist violence, intimidation and hatred is becoming a weekly occurence. Yet the Government response remains woefully inadequate. This is not in our name. It is time for urgent action. Read more below. Thank you @amnestyuk.bsky.social for coordinating. 1/3
amnesty.org.uk
Statement on the escalation in racist violence
Amnesty International UK are raising the alarm on the horrifying escalation in racist violence and intimidation, and we are calling on the UK government to act immediately.
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 02/09/2026
This data is alarming but not surprising. For years, we've warned about children, including those whose ages are disputed, being placed in unsuitable accommodation, such as hotels. Without the right support, they're at risk of going missing, exploited or trafficked. inews.co.uk/news/350-chi...
inews.co.uk
350 child asylum seekers have gone missing in the UK
The figure represents a 'profound safeguarding failure', say campaigners
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 01/09/2026
£9.95 a week. That’s all some people seeking safety in the UK receive to meet their basic needs. At the end of 2025, 4,419 children were living on less than £10 a week. No child should grow up in poverty because their family is seeking protection. 📝 more: www.helenbamber.org/resources/la...
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 26/08/2026
One young man, supported by leaving care services for 2 years, was assessed as 23. The next day, he was moved from his home to a hotel away from his community. Weeks later, he was found collapsed in a field. An overdose was suspected. Getting age wrong can have tragic consequences.
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 26/08/2026
A new report shows profound isolation contributed to the deaths of 100+ care leavers in England in 2025 — 11 of whom were children seeking asylum. It also exposes the devastating impact of wrongly assessing young people seeking asylum as adults. 🧵 www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
‘Immense drop-off’ in support contributing to care leaver deaths in England, review says
Death rate three to four times higher than among general population blamed on isolation of those leaving care
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Reposted by Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡
Asylum Aid @asylumaid.org.uk · 25/08/2026
🚨 Breaking news: Our legal challenge is going ahead. 🚨 We’ve received permission from the court to proceed with our legal challenge to the government’s decision to reduce refugee protection from 5 years to 2.5 years. We’ve also requested a hearing asap. 🧵 www.asylumaid.org.uk/what-we-do/e...
asylumaid.org.uk
We are challenging the reduction of refugee protection in the UK from five years to two and a half years  | Asylum Aid
In March 2026, the Home Secretary announced the biggest change in refugee protection in decades. Instead of being able to apply for settlement after five years, refugees are now forced to renew their ...
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Reposted by Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡
Women for Refugee Women @4refugeewomen.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Yesterday, the Government released guidance on how people seeking asylum in the UK should behave. The Guide: ❌Reinforces anti-migrant rhetoric ❌Distorts the reality of violence against women and girls ❌Distracts from its root causes ❌Impedes access to support and justice for survivors 1/2
refugeewomen.co.uk
Women for Refugee Women - Women for Refugee Women’s statement on the Home Office's "Understanding behaviours and expectations in the UK" guide
Our statement on the harmful "Understanding behaviours and expectations in the UK" guide released by the Home Office on 19 August 2026.
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 19/08/2026
“Secure residence provides the stability necessary for genuine healing.” That is the message from new international guidance on trafficking survivors. As the UK govt tries to weaken protections, this guidance shows why secure status is so vital. 📑 Read more: www.helenbamber.org/resources/la...
helenbamber.org
“Stability necessary for genuine healing”: what new international guidance means for trafficking survivors | Helen Bamber
For ma
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Reposted by Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡
Asylum Aid @asylumaid.org.uk · 18/08/2026
Andy Burnham has acknowledged that Labour “didn’t get it right” on Gaza and that the party needs to “do better”. He has called for a stronger UK response and more pressure on the Israeli government. Those words need action. 🧵 www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Home Office blocking evacuation of dozens of women and children from Gaza
Refugee family reunions in limbo, despite Foreign Office saying it is ready to get people out of war-torn territory
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 13/08/2026
People seeking asylum need safe accommodation in communities where they can rebuild their lives, look to the future & live with dignity. But the for-profit asylum housing model is failing them & causing irreparable harm. We’ve joined 50+ organisations calling on the new government to act.
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 13/08/2026
“You cannot switch off trauma on demand” Chris*, a trafficking survivor supported by us, speaks about proposed changes to the asylum interview process. Survivors often need time, support & legal advice to disclose experiences of torture, trafficking & persecution. www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...
mirror.co.uk
Trafficking survivor pleads with Shabana Mahmood to pause 'devastating' change
EXCLUSIVE: Charities warn that a new streamlined interview process - which means asylum cases with little chance of success can be dismissed faster - will mean torture survivors are at greater risk of...
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Reposted by Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡
Sile Reynolds @silereynolds.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
We're waiting to see guidance that will implement changes to Immigration Rules which, in our view, represent a substantial shift in asylum procedure & one which should have been subject to consultation & parliamentary scrutiny @freedomfromtorture.bsky.social @helenbamber.org tinyurl.com/2m6mjxj8
ein.org.uk
Lords committee draws latest immigration rule changes to House’s attention over ‘minor’ asylum interview reforms
Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee says Home Office failed to adequately explain new 'merged registration' interview
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 29/07/2026
AI cannot account for how trauma, malnutrition & exhaustion affect young people fleeing conflict. AI can replicate human errors & racial bias. The result? Children can be placed in adult accommodation, detention or prison. They need protection, not more harm. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
theguardian.com
AI tool will lead to more child refugees being treated as adults, charity warns
‘Racist bias’ overestimating ages in Home Office’s facial-recognition software will lead to solo children being housed with adults, says Human Rights Network
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Reposted by Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency @unhcr.org · 24/07/2026
75 years after the Refugee Convention was opened for signature on 28 July 1951, it remains the foundation of the international refugee protection system and one of the most consequential international legal instruments ever adopted.
75 years on, the Refugee Convention remains a lifeline for millions
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Reposted by Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡
Sile Reynolds @silereynolds.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
It shouldn't require legal action to establish the democratic value of consultation but our recent High Court victory, concerning allocation of asylum accommodation, has done just that @freedomfromtorture.bsky.social @helenbamber.org www.civilsociety.co.uk/voices/our-h...
civilsociety.co.uk
‘Our High Court victory shows the Civil Society Covenant must be more than words’
Freedom from Torture and the Helen Bamber Foundation reflect on a recent ruling, which found the Home Office did not sufficiently consult them on policy changes…
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 23/07/2026
Our recent High Court victory sends a clear message that consultation with civil society is fundamental to good policymaking. The new government must work with experts & people with lived experience to build lawful, evidence-based policies. Our joint op-ed with @freedomfromtorture.bsky.social 👇
civilsociety.co.uk
‘Our High Court victory shows the Civil Society Covenant must be more than words’
Freedom from Torture and the Helen Bamber Foundation reflect on a recent ruling, which found the Home Office did not sufficiently consult them on policy changes…
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Reposted by Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡
Asylum Aid @asylumaid.org.uk · 21/07/2026
It's right that ending homelessness is a priority. But that commitment must extend to migrants, including people seeking safety, who are too often pushed into homelessness by asylum & immigration systems. We see this daily through our work. It's time for change. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
Burnham pledges to end rough sleeping in England in first speech as prime minister
Additional £340m over three years allocated to get people off the streets ‘at the earliest opportunity’
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 20/07/2026
For too long, divisive politics & dehumanising policies have shaped the debate on asylum, unfairly blaming refugees for wider challenges. Together with 200+ charities, we're calling on the new Prime Minister to reject division & instead uphold dignity, humanity and hope for people seeking safety.
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 14/07/2026
Failing to do so would leave human trafficking survivors without support & at risk of further exploitation. This Bill is another step away from the evidence-based and survivor-centred approach needed to tackle trafficking & modern slavery. It fails survivors and will only benefit traffickers.
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 14/07/2026
The new Immigration & Asylum Bill will significantly weaken the UK's response to trafficking & modern slavery. As John McDonnell MP (@johnmcdonnellmp.bsky.social) explained in yesterday's debate, it will punish survivors by forcing them to disclose traumatic experiences within arbitrary deadlines.
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 13/07/2026
We spoke to @mirror.co.uk 👇 "A system that punishes survivors does not tackle trafficking. It makes it easier for traffickers to exploit vulnerable people and harder to bring them to justice." www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...
mirror.co.uk
Asylum change 'risks punishing trafficking victims' warning ahead of crunch vote
EXCLUSIVE: Charities have called on MPs to reject changes to settlement rules for trafficking victims as the government's Immigration and Asylum Bill is put in front of the Commons on Monday
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 13/07/2026
MPs will debate this Bill for the first time in Parliament today. We urge them to reject it and push for asylum and trafficking systems built on evidence, fairness and protection, not hostility and punishment. 📖 Read our briefings: www.helenbamber.org/resources/re...
helenbamber.org
Immigration and Asylum Bill | Helen Bamber
Over the past decade, the UK has introduced new immigration or asylum legislation almost every year. Yet people seeking safety are still left waiting years for final asylum decisions, forced into pove...
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 13/07/2026
The UK has introduced immigration or asylum legislation almost every year over the past decade. Yet people still wait years for asylum decisions, poor outcomes are routinely overturned on appeal & too many trafficking survivors aren't identified or supported. Today MPs will debate YET another bill 🧵
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Reposted by Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡
Doctors of the World @dotwuk.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
🔴 Mass asylum camps are a healthcare violation. For a year we ran a clinic at Wethersfield ex-military site, treating men seeking safety. 68% were survivors of violence. 62% had severe mental distress. 30% suicidal. The Home Office MUST #CloseTheCamps & scrap ALL plans to open more.
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 09/07/2026
These are challenging & increasingly hostile times for charities supporting people seeking safety. It doesn't have to be this way. Your generosity helps us stand alongside survivors of trafficking, torture & persecution. To help, visit our website to find out how. news.sky.com/story/staff-...
news.sky.com
Staff at 'thousands of charities' threatened and intimidated for 'doing their jobs'
The Charity Commission surveyed nearly 3,000 charity trustees, and over a quarter said they had been affected by a "challenging social environment"
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Reposted by Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡
Asylum Matters @asylummatters.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Shutting people seeking sanctuary in ex-military barracks is dangerous, traumatising and cruel. And every night in barracks costs over FIVE TIMES more than a night in a home in a community. So can anyone explain why the Government wants to open MORE camps?
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 02/07/2026
You cannot address human trafficking without supporting & protecting survivors. The government's new Immigration & Asylum Bill does the opposite. A system that punishes survivors doesn't fight trafficking but enables it. We will keep fighting this. 📑 more: www.helenbamber.org/resources/la...
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 30/06/2026
If the government is serious about cutting costs and supporting integration, it should fix the delays that leave people trapped in the asylum system - not punish refugees for needing protection in the first place.
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 30/06/2026
During that time, many also face intimidation and violent protests outside the places they are housed. Burdening people with debt just as they begin rebuilding their lives is grossly unjust and entirely self-defeating.
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 30/06/2026
Charging refugees around £10,000 once they finally find work is the opposite of integration. These are people who have fled persecution and extreme violence, often arriving with nothing, before spending months or years in overcrowded, dilapidated accommodation.
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 30/06/2026
This proposal is simply more performative cruelty from the government. Once again, we have an announcement without the detail or a credible plan to tackle chronic delays in the asylum system - the real reason people spend years in asylum accommodation. 🧵 www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Asylum seekers to pay £10,000 towards living costs under new UK law
Means-tested scheme included in immigration and asylum bill condemned by charities for placing tax on refugees
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 26/06/2026
We're appalled. For YEARS, our clinical evidence has shown that ex-military asylum sites like RAF Wethersfield cause serious and long-lasting harm. Yet, the government plans to open even more. People seeking protection deserve safety, not further trauma. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
independent.co.uk
Home Office eyes up three more military sites to house thousands of asylum seekers
Former military bases, Bicester, Barnham and Linton-on-Ouse, singled out for asylum seeker housing
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Helen Bamber Foundation 🧡 @helenbamber.org · 23/06/2026
We are witnessing the biggest attack on refugee protection in decades. Asylum Aid is fighting back in court but they need your support to challenge these harmful changes & defend refugees' rights. Donate and stand with refugees: www.crowdjustice.com/case/fight-t...
crowdjustice.com
Fight the attacks on refugee protection
Asylum Aid protects people fleeing persecution by delivering life-saving legal advice and representation built on trust and dignity with our team of highly qualified caseworkers and lawyers.
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