Catholic charities launch campaign urging government to restore right to asylum

A new campaign urging the government to defend the right to asylum and uphold the dignity of people seeking sanctuary has been launched by three Catholic charities in response to the ‘growing hostility towards refugees’.

Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) UK, Caritas Social Action Network (Csan) and the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) are asking the government to restore the right to asylum, place dignity and protection at the heart of the asylum system, and end immigration detention.

The charities warned that an increase in “restrictive laws and policies” is making it increasingly difficult for refugees to access the protection they need, and that many face “exclusion and hostility in the communities where they are trying to rebuild their lives”.

The campaign comes soon after Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally criticised home secretary Shabana Mahmood’s asylum crackdown, which makes refugees’ status temporary and subject to a review every 30 months, and doubles to ten years the amount of time most must wait to receive unlimited leave to remain in the country.

The charities’ campaign references Catholic social teaching and the gospel call to welcome the stranger, as well as Pope Leo XIV’s call to Christians to recognise refugees as sisters and brothers.

Sophie Cartwright, policy officer at JRS UK, said Christians must “speak out against the attack on refugee rights” because the “Gospel calls on us to stand in solidarity with people seeking safety and to defend their human dignity”.

“And this means challenging the laws and policies that deny them sanctuary, marginalise them, and make them suffer. Welcoming refugees and upholding the right to asylum are fundamental expressions of Christianity.”

The campaign encourages Christian communities and parishes to take actions such as showing “visible solidarity” through posters in churches and community spaces, writing to the prime minister, and holding prayers and public witness including vigils and educational events.

The charities warned that when people fleeing war, persecution and violence arrive in the UK seeking protection, many encounter further harm.

This is often caused by the barriers that prevent them from having their asylum claims heard fairly, policies that punish them for how they travelled into the country even when no safe routes exist, a system that forces them to “live in limbo” unable to work or plan for the future, as well as detention and homelessness.

“This is not inevitable: it is the result of political choices, and political choices can change,” the charities said.

In a speech to the House of Lords following the King’s Speech on 18 May, Archbishop Mullally urged the government to address the pressures people and communities face while ensuring that systems for new arrivals are “fair”.

“The work of integration has never been more urgent,” she told the Lords. “This becomes far more difficult if those refugees for whom we hold responsibility lack clarity about whether or when they may be required to return to their country of origin. 

“We embed insecurity rather than stability when those seeking British citizenship are put through a decade-long game of immigration snakes and ladders.”

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