Campaign Victory! Government officially withdraws pushback of small boats policy . Thank you

 Campaign Victory! Government officially withdraws pushback of small boats policy . Thank you

https://actionstorm.org/petitions/stop-the-government-turning-away-small-boats-of-migrants-6148cb336d5cf#updates

Dear Supporter 

I am very pleased to let you know that we have a victory in this campaign and our  campaigning has resulted in the government doing a u-turn on their inhumane and  illegal push-back of small boats of refugees  into the English Channel sea.

It is through  collective action and joint working against this horrendous racist  policy  that we succeeded. Thanks to everyone  for signing this petition, the legal challenges and for taking part in campaigning activities. 

The policy on push-back of small boats was withdrawn days before a judicial review  court hearing was scheduled to take place in the High Court.

The Royal Navy has been given responsibility for Channel operations and the Ministry of Defence has confirmed  in a letter that it has no jurisdiction to push back boats of refugees. This is what we pointed out when we started this petition last Autumn, that it was in breach of International laws. 

Whilst this is a clear victory for all of us who campaigned and kept up pressure on the government to reverse this wicked policy we cannot afford to he complacent in relation to the attack on refugee and migrant communities  as the  racist and draconian  Nationality and Borders bill which we have also been campaigning  against and which has twice been rejected in the House of Lords reaches its final stage.  Also the government  has recently announced a deal to offshore processing of asylum seekers to Rwanda, another inhumane policy, contradicting the Refugee Convention.

 https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/25/uk-refugee-pushback-policy-withdrawn-judicial-review-priti-patel

https://www.pcs.org.uk/news-events/news/home-office-backs-down-refugee-pushbacks-policy-face-legal-case

So as we celebrate this victory on small boats , the campaign against racist immigration policies continues. 

Thank you for your part in the success of this campaign which has been achieved through people power and collective actions and campaigning. 

Solidarity and Thanks.

Zita Holbourne 

National Chair  and Co-founder BARAC UK