UK party leaders have been urged to end the “pernicious and insidious currents” of racism and hatred that have fuelled anti-migrant protests.
More than 200 refugee organisations, charities, and trade unions have signed an open letter in response to weeks of protests outside asylum seeker hotels in locations across the UK.
The letter, coordinated by the campaign coalition Together With Refugees, has been signed by organisations like Amnesty International, Oxfam and Refugee Action, and calls on all the leaders of UK parties to end “divisive politics, racist rhetoric and demonising language”.
It comes as a surge of protests have taken place in the wake of misinformation spread by senior politicians, including the Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, and Conservative Robert Jenrick, along with the increasing use of inflammatory language.
On Monday, Reform UK claimed migrants from Muslim countries posed a threat to women’s safety in Britain, with the party’s only female MP, Sarah Pochin, claiming asylum seekers hold “medieval views”.
Jenrick also prompted anger over the weekend after he claimed mass migration was putting women and children at risk.
The senior Tory MP repeated the claim that 40% of sexual assaults committed in London last year were carried out by foreign nationals – an allegation which has been debunked and disputed along with several other assertions about immigration in recent days.
The charities’ open letter, sent to the main UK party leaders on Monday, said: “Anti-refugee protests across the country have been distressing to witness, with echoes of last summer’s riots making them all the more alarming.
“The pernicious and insidious currents of racism and hatred underlying these protests are glaring evidence of a failing system. The responsibility to end the divisive politics, racist rhetoric and demonising language of the past is yours. Only then will you bring unity instead of division and cohesion rather than hate.”
The letter concluded: “For those who need our compassion to be confronted with further torment here in the UK is shocking. But the outpouring of support from communities condemning the hatred is a powerful reminder that these views do not represent the vast majority.
“Today we stand in solidarity with those targeted, because this is what represents our country, this is who we are.”
Sonya Sceats, the chief executive at Freedom from Torture, one of the organisations which signed the letter, said that hate against refugees has been “whipped up” by politicians and has called for a more compassionate approach.
She said: “No matter who we are or where we come from, we all have the right to feel safe. We know from our clinical work that many men, women and children in these hotels came here seeking protection after being tortured in countries like Afghanistan and Iran.
“To meet with hate on the streets of Britain, whipped up by politicians for their own ends, makes survivors feel hunted again and adds to their trauma. This isn’t who we are as a country.
“It is down to the millions of us who want a more compassionate approach to stand together with refugees and for an end to the torture and repression which drives people across borders in the first place.”
