#safepassage 

Rasul (35), Shiva (35), Anita (9), Armin (6), Artin (1), a Kurdish family of five from Iran attempted to cross the Channel last Tuesday. Like 7400 others before them this year they braved the cold waters in search of safety and dignity. They did not make it.

This tragic loss of life leaves us saddened and angry. The fate of this desperate family was not decided by the cold waters or their unseaworthy boat. Their fate was sealed by the insistence of European leaders to hold on to flawed and heartless policies that aim to deter refugees from seeking asylum in Europe at all costs.

The lack of safe and legal routes to seeking asylum in European countries means asylum seekers and refugees are forced to undertake life-threatening journeys where they face violence, abuse and sometimes death. This has been observed from the Aegean to the Channel, the Mediterranean to the Balkans.

 

It doesn’t have to be this way. 

Viable and compassionate solutions that provide safe and legal passage to refugees exist: community sponsorship initiatives, family reunification, opportunities for skilled migration, labour mobility and education.

From 8pm on October 31st to 8pm on November 3rd we call for a vigil to remember all victims of the systematic violence along Europe’s borders and to send a clear message to European leaders that enough is enough. Now is the time to stop looking away. Now is the time to take responsibility.