Refugee Action is an independent national charity founded in 1981 that provides advice and support to

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

s and

asylum seeker An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country and applies for asylum (i.e., international protection) in that other country. An asylum seeker is an immigrant who has been forcibly displaced and m ...

s in the UK and campaigns for a fairer asylum system. It is governed by a board of trustees chaired by Penny Lawrence. Its chief executive is

Stephen Hale Stephen Hale OBE is the Chief Architect oClimate Catalyst a new organisation established in March 2021 to accelerate action on climate change through building diverse coalitions of businesses, investors, civil society groups and other champio ...

OBE who joined the charity in February 2014. Each year Refugee Action provides advice and practical support to over 10,000 vulnerable asylum seekers and refugees from dozens of countries, and offers a range of specialist services. Until the end of 2015 it ran the UK's assisted

voluntary return Voluntary return or voluntary repatriation is usually the return of an illegal immigrant or over-stayer, a rejected asylum seeker, a refugee or displaced person, or an unaccompanied minor; sometimes it is the emigration of a second-generation i ...

(AVR) programme. Refugee Action has a head office in London and offices in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Bristol.

Refugee resettlement

The group's work has included the resettlement of refugees from

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

and

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Eur ...

, as well as evacuees from Montserrat after the

Soufrière Hills volcano Soufrière may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places Towns and villages *Soufrière, Dominica, a village on the southwest coast of Dominica in the Caribbean * Petit Soufrière, Dominica, a village on the east coast of Dominica *Soufrière, Saint Lucia, a town ...

eruption in 1995.

Gateway Resettlement Programme

Refugee Action operates the largest part of the

UNHCR The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

Gateway Resettlement Programme The Gateway Protection Programme was a refugee resettlement scheme operated by the Government of the United Kingdom in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and co-funded by the European Union (EU), offering a ...

in the UK, which resettles 750 refugees every year. The main countries of origin of current service users include Somalia, Sudan, Iraq, Ethiopia and Congo.

Syrian Vulnerable Person Resettlement Scheme

The Syrian Vulnerable Person Resettlement Scheme is also delivered by Refugee Action in some areas of the UK. The scheme intends to resettle up to 20,000 Syrians in the UK.

Support for asylum seekers

Refugee Action helps asylum seekers making claims for asylum and offers support throughout the asylum process. Prevention of asylum homelessness is part of that work.

Campaigning

Current Refugee Action priorities include ''Let Refugees Learn'', which calls for more ESOL provision for refugees, and highlighting problems in the asylum support system. Past campaigns include ''Right to Volunteer'' and ''Bring back Dignity''.

Co-operation

Refugee Action works in association with other refugee and human rights organisations, such as the

Refugee Council The Refugee Council is a UK based organisation which works with refugees and asylum seekers. The organisation provides support and advice to refugees and asylum seekers, as well as support for other refugee and asylum seeker organisations. The R ...

and Amnesty International. It was among the groups that campaigned against section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, later overturned in the courts, which denied financial and housing support to asylum seekers who failed to claim asylum within three days of arrival. Refugee Action is a member of The Detention Forum, a network of organisations working together to challenge the UK's use of detention, and has published research on the adverse effects of detention on the mental and physical health of detained asylum seekers. Refugee Action is also a member organisation of the

European Council on Refugees and Exiles Established in 1974, ECRE is a European network of 105 NGOs in 39 European countries. In 2011, the council raised concerns regarding planned repatriations of Afghan asylum children. In 2014, the council was critical of EU cutbacks of migrant r ...

and the Asylum Support Partnership along with the

Scottish Refugee Council The Scottish Refugee Council is a registered charity that provides advice and services to asylum seekers and refugees. The objective of the organisation is ‘building a better future with refugees in Scotland’. The charity was formed in Edin ...

Welsh Refugee Council The Welsh Refugee Council is a sister organisation to the Refugee Council and Scottish Refugee Council, and works to help asylum seekers and refugees in Wales. About The Welsh Refugee Council (WRC) is a Wales-based charity committed to pro ...

, North of England Refugee Service and Northern Refugee Centre.

References

External links

Refugee Action
official website {{Authority control Organisations based in the City of Westminster Refugee aid organisations in the United Kingdom