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The Nationality and Borders Bill, which makes arriving in the UK without permission a criminal offence, will be the topic of a public meeting in Stroud on December 8.

The audience will hear how the Bill overturns 70 years of UK adherence to the 1952 Refugee Convention and curtails the rights of refugees.

The meeting is the latest in Stroud District Green Party’s regular Cloud Café debates. Organiser Elizabeth Lee said: “Many of us believe that not welcoming homeless, destitute and exhausted people to our country should be a criminal offence, and that our government is acting uncharitably and inhumanely.

“The Bill is now at the Committee stage following its second reading. There is an opportunity for changes to be made to the wording or for new clauses to be added. It’s vitally important to understand what is being proposed so that people can have their say about this heartless Bill.”

Joining us to speak knowledgeably about the subject will be:

JUDITH LARGE

Judith Large has spent much of her adult life working on crisis response and recovery both in war zones and during post conflict transition, both settings frequently involving mass population displacement and resettlement needs. She has worked at local level in support of refugee reception centres in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990's, moving later to policy and agency response as per contracted assignments for the Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Currently she advises on a Forced Migration project at the Conflict Analysis Research Centre, University of Kent, where she is a Senior Fellow.

Close proximity in Kent has led to her active engagement with Napier Barracks for the past two years, from support to asylum seekers detained there to advocacy and lobbying for Napier's closure. Judith is actively campaigning against the Nationalisation and Borders Bill which overturns 70 years of UK adherence to the 1952 Refugee Convention and curtails the rights of refugees. She sees this as a test case on many fronts; the rejection of international treaties; a disregard for human rights law and conventions; the securitisation of citizenship; the creation of deliberate inequalities, and another step towards a Britain which functions as a gated, garrison state.

CAROLINE BEATTY

Caroline Beatty is the founder and manager of Hill House Retreats in Amberley, which offers 'sanctuary breaks’ for refugees, asylum seekers and others seeking sanctuary it the UK . She is Co-Chair of Bristol City of Sanctuary since 2017.

And former manager of Bristol Refugee Rights - providing the first social and welcome centre for refugees in Bristol.  Her background is in Race Equality community and training work in Rochdale, Manchester and Swindon.

HELEN KIDAN

Helen Kidan, left Eritrea as a child with her family, and has long experience of working with women in Eritrea, and now with the community of people seeking sanctuary in Bristol from many countries. She is an experienced speaker and has a particular interest in the way that the climate emergency is driving conflict and migration in many parts of the world.

Virtual doors open at 7.15pm - Cloud Cafés are public events so please tell a friend and neighbour!