‘I was left homeless after the Home Office claimed I wasn’t a child – here’s why AI age checks are dangerous for migrants like me’ - The Independent

We have supported children to get a correct age assessment after they were wrongly assessed as adults by the Home Office. These are not decisions for AI systems. Age assessments must be human and expert-led. No child should be stripped of the protections they need.

Rule number one of age assessment best practice is to never ever base an assessment on physical appearance alone, so obviously the Home Office introduces a flawed AI system to estimate age based on physical appearance alone.

AI facial recognition with sexist and racist biases baked in? A cynic might argue that's perfect for the UK Home Office.

NEW: The Home Office is ploughing ahead with using AI to conduct asylum seeker age assessments despite knowing it's wildly inaccurate Its own internal report & our audit of public data find the tech often predicts kids to be adults, & performs worst on the top nationalities arriving on small boats

ICYMI: We published Iain Halliday's analysis of a significant Court of Session ruling on age assessments in Scotland, highlighting how the legal approach now diverges from England and Wales. Essential reading for anyone navigating this area of law across UK jurisdictions.

🚨 Despite being prohibited here, French police have been authorised to use water cannons against people seeking asylum - under a £660million deal with the UK. This is a gross display of state sanctioned violence against people seeking safety. Shameful. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Housing is a human right, not a conditional commodity, and it should never put us at risk. Read the full report, ‘Homes, not harm’ on our website:

Courage is all around us. In the people rebuilding their lives. In the people who offer welcome. In the communities that come together and make room for one another. Watch, share, and tell us: what does courage mean to you? #refugeeweek #withrefugees #togetherwithrefugees #courage 🧡

The Home Office's own evaluation of the 56-day move-on pilot found that giving newly recognised refugees longer before asylum support ends meant fewer crisis interventions, fewer safeguarding concerns and fewer judicial reviews. And yet they still haven't made it permanent. All this and more in…

Politco suggests the Home Secretary is finally going to concede/retreat on the central plank of the settlement reforms - as a "sop" to the left - to try to stay in her post. This sop is not making it impossible for a few hundred thousand legal migrants to retain legal status in the UK after 2028

Long thread alert 🧵 1. What are the legal duties to rescue refugees at sea? We've published a comprehensive briefing on the international conventions, human rights law, and recent litigation that define states' obligations in this critical area.

This #RefugeeWeek we stand with people seeking protection in the UK🧡 The theme this year is 'courage' and at Helen Bamber Foundation, we will keep fighting for the rights of refugees, people seeking asylum, survivors of trafficking and torture. #Courage

Long thread alert 🧵 1. We've just launched the Free Movement Toolkit: four new tools designed to make immigration law research faster and more practical for lawyers, caseworkers, and anyone working in the sector.

This #RefugeeWeek, we stand #WithRefugees 🧡 This Refugee Week, we’re proud to be a part of some incredible events across the UK. We’ll also be sharing some of the stories about our courageous guests and hosts, and the difference that Refugees at Home has made in their lives. Join us. #Courage

This Refugee Week the theme is Courage 💛 Not just big moments, but everyday resilience: showing up, starting again, supporting others. 🎥 Watch our CEO Karen's message below #RefugeeWeek #Courage #SimpleActs

Refugee Week starts today. It is the world’s largest arts and culture festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary. See what's happening near you⬇️ refugeeweek.org

Refugee Week is here🧡 This week is a reminder a more welcoming world isn’t just possible - people are already building it every single day. #refugeeweek #refugeeweek2026 #togetherwithrefugees

Today is the first day of Refugee Week. This week and every week, we stand alongside refugee women - championing their strength, amplifying their voices, and keeping their lived experiences at the heart of everything we do. Today and every day: Refugees welcome! 💜🧡

Thousands gather at a peaceful anti-racism rally in Belfast as the crowd chants, "Refugees are welcome here”🙏

That is how division takes hold. That is how innocent people become targets. And, quite literally this week, that is how communities are set on fire. Everyone deserves to feel safe in their home and community. There is no place for racism or anti-refugee hate.

Sorry but this is just flat out racism. One of the main things which Refugee Week activities do is break down barriers in communities to help reduce tensions, that's good for everyone. Cancelling funding for Refugee Week doesn't "put British people first" in any way. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

International borders are not human rights-free zones. Yet reports increasingly document widespread abuses at EU borders, including unlawful profiling, torture, gender-based violence and arbitrary detention

Show your solidarity this Refugee Week and get tickets to our Stand Up For Refugees comedy night! link.dice.fm/standupforrefugees2026 Let’s get together, have a laugh, and build a UK where refugees are welcome.

No tragedy should be exploited to justify racist violence. Everyone deserves to feel safe in their home and neighbourhood. Our thoughts are with everyone affected by Monday's horrific stabbing, and with the migrant, refugee and minoritised communities targeted by the subsequent violence in Belfast.

🧵 1. The asylum appeal backlog has risen to 87,450 cases, according to the latest quarterly tribunal statistics. Appeals lodged actually fell, but with fewer than 7,000 decided per quarter, the queue keeps growing. Waiting times are now around three years.

@fullfact.org ‬found that since 2018, there have been 12 days on which at least 1,000 migrants were recorded as arriving by small boats. The average daily number of arrivals is considerably lower — the average since Labour took office is around 100 migrants a day.

Our Executive Director, Lavanya Pallapi: "This violence against racialised people, particularly Muslims and migrants, has been fanned by government, media and the state, funded by corporate actors and billionaires." 1/ jcwi.org.uk/updates/9-ju...

New: Job ad: Public Lawyer (Maternity cover), ATLEU

Record low levels of legal representation in detention Bail for Immigration Detainees has published their latest Legal Advice Survey. It finds the lowest levels of legal representation in immigration...

Our asylum system is broken. And if cruelty and hostility were the solution, then trust us, it wouldn't be broken. A system that works better for all of us is possible. But only if we stop repeating the same mistakes. Refugees need protection, not punishment. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

New research shows the dire state of access to legal advice for people in immigration detention. Only 27% of respondents had a lawyer; 53% had to work on their own cases; 87% knew of free legal advice but struggled to access it; record low levels of legal representation www.biduk.org/articles/new...

Join our event and hear directly from people with experience about the visa rules that leave overseas domestic workers vulnerable to exploitation and servitude. Chaired by the UK's Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner Friday, June 12 3 pm UK (10 am ET) Zoom Register: us02web.zoom.us/webi...

Modern slavery survivors in the UK are begging MPs for something basic i.e, safe housing, mental health care, and legal support. But the new rules has made it even harder to be believed. A system that doubts traumatized survivors protects traffickers, not people.

We're alarmed by the government’s proposed asylum support reforms & their impact on stateless people, who are already disproportionately trapped in destitution & legal limbo. Read our joint statement w/ @jrsuk.bsky.social @enstatelessness.bsky.social & others: www.asylumaid.org.uk/resources/jo...

The Public Accounts Committee report today confirms what we see every day: the UK asylum system is inefficient, costly & is failing the people it is meant to protect. The findings confirm a system characterised by poor decision-making, chronic delays and a lack of coherent strategy for reform. 🧵

Estimates suggest that 550-1,360 children remain separated from their families for every single month the suspension continues. These families have already survived war, persecution + unimaginable loss, and now face an additional, entirely policy-made barrier to reuniting with their loved ones.

New: Briefing: invalid immigration applications — by Alex Piletska

Ending multi-billion-pound contracts with companies that provide squalid homes to people fleeing war? Sounds like common sense. This government absolutely should rip up these agreements. But... www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

According to media reports, lone children were held in UK short-term holding facilities in France 284 times last year. Now the UK Government is planning to develop its detention estate in France. The lack of accountability and failure to use established procedures must be addressed urgently.

It's #VolunteersWeek! A week to recognise, celebrate and shout out all of our amazing volunteers. 🌟💜 Each week, our volunteers welcome refugee women to our creative and educational activities, creating spaces of joy, community and friendship. 1/2

Long thread alert 🧵 1. For a UK immigration application to be considered at all, it must be valid. Validity is like oxygen: invisible when present, but if it is absent, the consequences can be severe. We have published a detailed briefing on how validity works and what to do when things go wrong.

In a 2025 survey 80% of adults said they trust their local media. But as @imixuk.bsky.social comments, when coverage contains factual inaccuracies and generates comment sections filled with dehumanising language that goes unmoderated, the harm is real.

Our thoughts are with Henry Nowak’s family following the tragic loss of his life. In a desperate and dangerous move, Nigel Farage is using the fatal stabbing of Henry Nowak to incite race riots in the UK.

Unfortunately, nobody in the migrants rights or race equality sector has capacity to respond effectively to "white lives matter" because we have absolutely 0 money, time, capacity or interest from the media or politicians.

Lone children held at UK-run detention centres in France The Detention Forum has long been concerned about the operation of the UK Government’s short-term holding facilities in Northern France as being...

Since "one in, one out" started, JRS UK and @humansforrights.bsky.social have found that at least 141 age-disputed young people have been detained under the scheme. At least 64 of these either have subsequently been found to be children by local authorities or are pending further inquiries

🚨 High court rules room-sharing for survivors of torture is unlawful. For years, we've flagged the harm caused by room-sharing in large sites. Our doctors have repeatedly seen patients retraumatised. It's time the UK Government took medical advice seriously. #CommunitiesNotCamps

Proposed use of force on families facing enforced deportation The Home Office has been consulting on proposed changes to Family Returns: Reforming Asylum Support and Enforcing Family Returns, with...

New: Legal aid for immigration cases: what is in scope and how to apply — by Shilpa Caute