Letter to end ‘hostile environment’
Quakers join other faiths in calling for an end to the 'hostile environment' against immigrants
Paul Parker, recording clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting, has joined twenty faith representatives in signing a letter calling on the UK government to end the ‘hostile environment’ against immigrants.
The open letter to Sajid Javid, the home secretary, says: ‘The injustices of the hostile environment alarm us. It deliberately prevents people who cannot provide the right documentation – for whatever reason – from getting work, renting a home or accessing the kinds of services we all need to live.’
The ‘hostile environment’ is defined by Britain Yearly Meeting on its website as ‘the web of government policies designed to make life so difficult for people who cannot prove they have the right to live in the UK that they will choose to leave’.
The letter refers to a recent report from the Baptist Union, the Church of Scotland, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church, Destitution, Discrimination and Distrust: the web of the hostile environment.
The report suggests that the ‘hostile environment’ is leading to poverty, homelessness and avoidable suffering.
The letter also mentions ‘the mounting evidence’ that the measures are causing ‘racist discrimination’.
It says: ‘People who do not look or sound “British” are now facing increased difficulty in finding homes and employment, because landlords and employers are being asked to play the role of border guards.’
The signatories include Jonathan Clark, bishop of Croydon and chair of the Churches’ Refugee Network, and Kathy Mohan, CEO of Housing Justice.
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