RMJ want to see three changes to the UK’s asylum and immigration system:

• Fairer decisions, with proper legal representation;

• More humane treatment of asylum seekers and migrants going through the system;

• Protection for vulnerable people who currently ‘fall through the net.’

We will campaign for these by: making the facts and human stories central in thinking about asylum and immigration; through research and campaigns; by taking key test cases; through partnership working.

To find out more about our campaigning priorities and recent research:

Justice at Risk: quality and value for money in asylum legal aid
June 2010
This report, part of a research project looking at the costs of providing quality legal representation, outlines new findings that show the present legal aid system acts to disincentivise quality.

This report draws together original research, including interviews with stakeholders and refugees, a preliminary analysis of a file review exercise, together with a review of existing evidence. To read the report click here.

This research was carried out as part of a wider programme of research called Cost of Quality. Click on these links to download the Executive Summary, Interviews with key stakeholders and the Cost of Quality report in full.

Safe at Last?
March 2010
Children on the front line of UK Border Control.
Every week at British ports, vulnerable children are found crammed in the boots of cars, hidden in lorries and found hanging underneath trucks. Many have travelled for months, alone, under the control of abusive smugglers. They arrive exhausted, traumatised, hungry and often sick or injured. Many have not slept or eaten properly for days.

When they arrive, the children believe they are safe at last. Their treatment by the UK Border Agency undermines that belief.

An RMJ report into the problems faced by unaccompanied asylum seeking children on arrival in the UK. Read the report here.

Time Well Spent
November 2009
A report by the Council on Social Action, with contributions from RMJ, on the importance of the one to one relationship between advice workers and their clients. Read the full report here

 Campaigning for Change

On 10 March 2009, Refugee  and Migrant Justice published a document “Campaigning for Change: fairer decisions, more humane treatment, wider protection.” To read about RMJ’s campaigning priorities, read the report here.

Does every child matter? Children seeking asylum in Britain

RMJ published this research document on 10 March 2009,  the first ever comprehensive review of practice in the light of the new Home Office Code for safeguarding children. It shows that there is a significant gap between the Goverment’s commitment that every child matters and the reality, with children seeking asylum without basic protections available to others in the UK.
Read the executive summary here.
Read the full report here.
For coverage of RMJ’s reports in the media, please click here.
If you would like more information, feel free to contact us on 020 7780 3200, or email Deri Hughes-Roberts (dhroberts@rmj.org.uk) or Kathleen Commons (kcommons@rmj.org.uk).

Read our briefings on asylum and immigration law here.