The Government has announced that plans to implement increases of up to 500% in court fees for immigration and asylum cases will go ahead, despite all but five of 147 responses from the Government consultation opposing the move.
René Cassin submitted evidence raising serious concerns around access to justice.
Mia Hasenson-Gross, Director of René Cassin, responded to the news by stating that:
“René Cassin is disappointed that despite almost blanket opposition the Government are going ahead with plans to increase court fees by 500% for the immigration and asylum tribunal. This will result in justice being delayed and denied to some of the most vulnerable people in our society. This decision lacks a basic sense of fairness on which the British legal system prides itself.
Whilst we welcome the Government’s announcement of its intention to exempt some of the most vulnerable people from the cost hikes there is still understandable consternation from within faith communities. As such, we will be following up with the Ministry of Justice to ensure this is implemented appropriately.”
Today, 10th December, is International Human Rights Day – the 76th anniversary of the signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.
The Declaration was a reaction to the horrors of the Holocaust. So, for Jews, today has a particuar significance.
Although rooted in response to atrocity, the Declaration was forward-looking and optimistic. It spoke for the majority of people who knew a better world was possible. The fact that it’s co-author , the French-Jewish lawyer Monsieur Rene Cassin, could draft such a hopeful document so soon after 26 members of his family were murdered by the Nazis is a testament to his humanity and the power of human rights in general.
Today, as the organisation that works in Cassin’s name, we are determined to ensure his Declaration’s vision of human rights for all is fully realised. Central to that work is a focus on so called ‘socio-economic rights’ – rights to everyday essentials like food, housing and health. This vision was best articulated in Article 25 of the Declaration:
‘Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control’.
Bolstering these rights would ensure everybody has access to the foundations on which to build a dignified, prosperous and meaningful life. They have been neglected for too long.
