Friday, February 17, 2012
STAR Action Week is back February 20 – 26th
Join 5,000 STAR students and take action in support of asylum seekers with 40 STARtastic events!
5,000 STAR students across the country are staging a national week of action against the poverty and destitution of asylum seekers this week! We want all asylum seekers in the UK to be able to work to support themselves or be given enough to live on.
Students will be living on asylum support rates for the week, sleeping rough for the night and quizzing the public for STAR’s first ever national survey on public attitudes to asylum!
See what the students are up to this week and how you can get involved by downloading our Action Week Programme STAR_Action_Week_table_of_events
Read what UNHCR say about Action Week here.
The Campaign
Tens of thousands of asylum seekers are destitute in this country. Some are supported by the government, but simply do not receive enough to meet their basic needs, and others have been refused asylum and receive no support at all.
In April 2012, a decision will be taken on whether to increase asylum support rates in line with inflation, and we need to make sure that the issue of destitution is high up the agenda so that they make the support system fairer for refugees!
STAR is teaming up with Still Human Still Here for Action Week 2012 and asking the Government to ensure that:
- Asylum seekers who are not allowed to work are given at least 70% of Income Support, paid in cash. That’s around £45 a week – just enough to meet their essential living costs!
- Asylum support rates for lone parents are increased to 70% of Income Support immediately.
- Asylum seekers are given permission to work after 6 months if they are still waiting for a decision on their case or if they have been refused asylum but cannot be removed through no fault of their own.
- Increases to asylum support rates are linked to annual increases to Income Support in line with inflation.
Support STAR here
Posted by STAR team on 17/02/2012 at 06:39 PM
