Join us. The Churches’ Refugee Network(CRN) Annual Meeting will be an opportunity to hear more about the CRN’s work over the last year, as well as its planned activities over the coming one. Be informed. The meeting will: Explore the ‘new’ British Government’s approach to asylum and immigration, and whether we have ‘turned the page’ […]
Asylum and Refugees
Photo: UK Home Office
Asylum detention in the UK
The UK has 12 immigration detention centres. Figures suggest that roughly half of those who claim asylum will be detained at some point during, or at the end of, the asylum process. During 2012, 13,161 asylum seekers entered detention and 13,361 left detention [Refugee Council, April 2013].
A significant percentage of asylum detainees are bereaved, tortured, traumatised – even suicidal. Legal Aid for asylum has been severely curtailed and so many detainees now get perfunctory legal representation, with neither time nor resources to prepare evidence or expert reports for the courts.
Churches’ Refugee Network
The Churches’ Refugee Network (CRN) aims to provide a collective and ecumenical voice on issues of asylum and immigration.
Resources
Here you’ll find a range of resources that we hope will be helpful in your work. We’d also like to hear from you about your work, your concerns and your achievements.
Conference
Each year the CRN also hosts a conference looking at current issues relating to refugees and asylum. Details of future conferences will be posted here.
CRN Briefing: Challenges to Society and Church from August 2024 riots
Message from CRN Chair The riots that broke out across different parts of the UK in August 2024 tragically underlined the importance of many of the themes we have been working on in the Churches’ Refugee Network in recent years: the scapegoating of migrants, refugees, people seeking asylum and other vulnerable communities in response to […]
Report: Church of Sanctuary Conference – 8 June 2024
Report from this conference exploring how churches are responding to the call to offer sanctuary.
How six churches in Lichfield became Faith Places of Sanctuary
By Rev Warren Bardsley, Supernumerary Presbyter, Tamworth and Lichfield Circuit. Lichfield is a Cathedral city in South Staffordshire with a growing population. Lichfield District City of Sanctuary came into being following a meeting in March 2019 attended by some fifty people at which the speaker was the Rev Dr Inderjit Bhogal, founder of […]
Discover how Chester Cathedral became a Cathedral of Sanctuary
By Rev Dr Jane Brooke, former Canon Missioner and Vice Dean, Chester Cathedral. I was appointed as Canon Chancellor and Canon Librarian at Chester Cathedral with a responsibility for education in 2010 and then from 2019 as Canon Missioner and Vice Dean with a responsibility for outreach in the community. I consider hospitality and ‘welcoming […]
Sanctuary Sunday 23 June 2024
Take part in Sanctuary Sunday to help build cultures of welcome, hospitality and safety in our churches.
Comment: Immigration is not a crime – Rev Dr Inderjit Bhogal
Revd Dr Inderjit Bhogal will be presenting a workshop at the Church of Sanctuary Conference on Saturday 8 June 2024, in Birmingham. In advance of the event, he provides a comment on social justice in immigration. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has recorded that over 100 million people have fled their homes because of […]
Church of Sanctuary in action
The Brighton & Hove Methodist Circuit Refugee Project, was set up in January 2022. It is an integral part of living out our faith. Jesus said, ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me’ [Matthew 25:35]. Three of our members, in liaison with our Circuit Meeting, were inspired to set up the project after seeing […]
The Rwanda bill, April 2024
The so-called Rwanda bill is unethical. It aims to scare already traumatised refugees away from the shores of the UK. It reflects a callous mindset. It brushes aside the UK Supreme Court which ruled it to be unlawful and defies international commitments to human rights and protecting refugees, including the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees […]
London Churches Refugee Fund speaker meeting – 4 June 2024
Speakers at the London Churches Refugee Fund speaker meeting, on 4 June 2024 at 6.30pm, include Revd Dr Inderjit Bhogal. Inderjit is a former President of the British Methodist Conference, and Founder of the City of Sanctuary network and movement. He is working with Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) to develop and promote […]
