Back in December 2022 Waltham Forest Labour passed a Council motion, with the support of the whole Council, declaring our ambition to become a Borough of Sanctuary. You can read more about the motion here.

We held events to mark this year’s Refugee Week (19 – 25 June) at the Town Hall in line with our Borough of Sanctuary commitments, with the theme of compassion.  Our Leader, Grace Williams,  spoke at an event hosted in Fellowship Square on Tuesday to mark World Refugee Day, where we held a minute’s silence for those refugees who lost their lives in Greece only last week.

The theme of World Refugee Day 2023 is ‘hope away from home’ and Cllr Williams made clear in her remarks that refugees and all migrants are always welcome here in Waltham Forest. The event was an opportunity to celebrate all those who have come to our borough, but also offer support services and advice for all migrants and refugees who may need some extra help.

Despite the support work we are doing, we are still forced to raise concerns with the Home Office about their treatment of refugees. On 22nd June Cllr Williams wrote to the Home Office again to raise concerns about plans to increase the number of refugees at the hotels housing refugees in our borough. The Council has made a number of safeguarding visits to the hotels and found serious breaches, and yet again we fear the Home Office does not have sufficient regard for the safety and wellbeing of the refugees being housed there. We first wrote to the Home Office in November 2022 and we have not yet received confirmation that the Home Office is changing its behaviour or providing extra support in light of concerns raised. We will continue to advocate for these refugees and do everything we can to ensure their safety and wellbeing.