Blog by Evie Cawte, René Cassin Alumni
At the beginning of the month, Keir Starmer delivered a message on how the UK has become an “island of strangers” due to increased rates of migration and refugee intakes. The timing of this message, a month before Refugee Week 2025, which is themed on “Community as a Superpower”, only furthers the disappointment with the former international human rights lawyer’s approach to immigration.
When assuming the role of PM, I felt assured that someone who actively participated in the upholding of human rights in the UK would stand against the propaganda demonising refugees. Unfortunately, instead, it seems like the opposite.
As a committed human rights activist, I have actively volunteered and advocated for refugee rights since I was old enough to vote. So, for a little dose of hope, I wanted to challenge the “island of strangers” viewpoint from my own experience and perspective.
Refugee Camp
Volunteering at the Grande-Synthe Refugee Camp in Dunkirk, France, in 2022, my eyes were opened to both the inhumane conditions people are being forced into and also the power the community can have. While working under Utopia56, my days varied from hospital runs to coast guard calls to locating the next of kin for those who perished, all of which informed my first-hand understanding of the refugee crisis.
The refugee camp functioned as an ecosystem, where people found comfort in each other, particularly if they were from the same region. This wasn’t always perfect, but the sense of community was a strong tie within the camp.
Unfortunately, I didn’t see the same from the outside world. Some locals extended an olive branch, providing food, water and supplies for those in the camps. But most locals viewed the refugees as a nuisance and were not afraid to express that view to them. What was most upsetting is that the hostile locals never seemed to actually seek to understand the refugee reality, abandoning empathy and reason in favour of bias and prejudice. These were families trying to find safety, often at risk to their own lives,
When I met families who had been trafficked and spoke to the adults and children held at gunpoint, there was a genuine fear of staying too long in Northern France due to the prejudice they faced. Settling in France was seen as a last resort, and only when the risk of crossing the Channel became too high. As a white European with fluency in French, I was treated with dignity and respect by the locals. It is a shame that this didn’t extend to the refugees who needed it the most.
Visitors’ Group
Currently, I live in Northern Ireland, where there is the Larne House Short Term Holding Facility, a holding centre for individuals being sent to bigger immigration removal centres elsewhere in the UK. I recently joined a Visitor’s Group that visits this facility twice a week to monitor detainees’ well-being, offer solidarity and support. On my first visit, I was introduced to the facility and detainees, which the centre rebranded as ‘residents’. Although the place was clean and well-resourced – there was even an ironically placed mural of Northern Ireland in the garden – the place had an anxious energy that couldn’t be missed.
Detainees can be from a variety of nations, age ranges and backgrounds; the facility takes both men and women. Detainees are held for reasons of visa discrepancies, while others are human trafficking survivors. What is surprising is that some detainees aren’t new to Northern Ireland, but in fact, people who have been in the region for decades.
The importance of these visits is to remind those detained that they are not alone, and that, however isolated they may feel, there is a community here that supports them. So many refugees feel alone in these detention centres, feel that their very existence is criminalised. These Visitors’ Groups offer some fight against this, as long as the government continues its hostile approach to immigration with no signs of change.
The Northern Irish Community
In Northern Ireland, the sense of ‘community’ is paramount to how you experience the region. Historically, it has been a source of tension and division, but in more recent times, it has become a source of solidarity and empowerment, particularly in the context of refugee activism.
Stemming from the traumatic experience of the Troubles, cross-community work receives considerable attention with an emphasis on reaching beyond one’s own community with understanding and empathy. In the last year, this was most evident with migrant communities, when riots took place across the UK last summer, the Belfast community banded together to stop rioters from reaching the Islamic Community Centre and started fundraisers for migrant-owned businesses that were attacked. Every month, when anti-migrant protesters descend on the steps of Belfast City Hall, there is a counter-protest; often with a higher turnout, I may add.
The Jewish Community
The Jewish Community views community (kehillah) as an important mitzvah (good deed), whereby our identity and responsibility are shared with all Jews. We are expected to act according to “gemilut hasadim” (acts of loving-kindness), providing kindness and support to our community members. Community is the beating heart of Judaism, and throughout history, we have relied on our Jewish community to be a source of strength and support in times of persecution.
In my view, this solidarity with the community extends beyond just those who are Jewish, but to whoever is in need. When the Talmud instructs “Kol Yisrael arevim zeh la-zeh”(“All of Israel are responsible for one another”), I see it further than just Am Yisrael. We are a people of refugees, every tribe having escaped or fled across the historical timeline, from Egypt to Poland. We are refugee people and therefore should feel responsible for other refugee people.
Living by the law that human dignity is not only a right but an obligation imposed on us, the responsibility to protect those in need falls onto all Jewish people, regardless of whether they are Jewish or not. Our origins implore us to act, and this is commanded to us; thus, it cannot be ignored.
Expanding Communities
Social justice begins at home and in our communities, not just the Jewish communities, but beyond them. Refugee rights are under attack in our nation and our neighbourhoods. Humanity must stand up for humanity in whichever way they can. Whether that involves online activism or volunteering with refugee groups, we cannot sit idly by when we can act.
We are only an ‘island of strangers’ if we refuse to become a community, and this stands as our greatest weapon against policies isolating and criminalising refugee and migrant rights. Community has always been a superpower; now it is time for us to use it when it is needed most.
Read our Refugee Week statement on community as a superpower here.
