"We did win some battles at Women for Refugee Women – we helped to end the immigration detention of children, and we won a time limit on the detention of pregnant women, for instance. But overall it’s horrible to see how governments have used migrants and refugees as a scapegoat for wider failures in society. It’s very hard right now to build empathy around what women who cross borders are going through. But change is urgently needed – we really need to build a transparent asylum process in which women who seek safety here can get a fair hearing. Right now one of the key issues for refugee women – and for many other people – is also the lack of decent affordable housing, so that even if they do get their refugee status women and children are so often struggling with homelessness or insecure housing. So this links into wider issues around getting our society working for everyone. I truly wish we could see more leadership from the current Labour government on fairness in society, as well as empathy towards those who cross borders."
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Novelists from EnglandActivists from EnglandWomen authors from EnglandHuman rights activistsFeminists from England
Original Language: English
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Natasha Walter on legacy, humanism, and the fight for a fairer world Humanists UK (March 10, 2025).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Natasha_Walter
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Natasha Walter
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