In this episode, the EbE podcast, in collaboration with Kalayaan, dives into the ongoing campaign advocating for the Right to Work (RTW) for all survivors in the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), with a focus on migrant domestic workers (MDWs). The conversation begins by unpacking the NRM, highlighting the unequal RTW provisions for MDW survivors, and exploring the background of most domestic workers in the UK, who often face immense financial pressure to support families overseas. Sophie Levack, the Immigration Lawyer and Policy Officer at Kalayaan, hosts this episode alongside the panel: Rebecca Hirst, the Community Engagement Lead at Kalayyan, the lived experience campaigners Evelyn, Myline and Tope, who share their personal experiences of exploitation and the challenges they have faced as domestic workers. Their testimonies highlight the urgent need for stronger protections and recognition of domestic workers’ rights.

The panel discusses the profound human and welfare costs of denying the RTW to survivors, the Kalyaan campaign, and its connection to Refugee Action’s Lift the Ban campaign, which similarly advocates for the RTW for asylum seekers and draws attention to broader labour rights issues for vulnerable populations. For more information, visit the Kalayaan website at www.kalayaan.org.uk. For the latest updates, follow them on X (formerly Twitter) @Kalayaan.

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Aamna Mohdin, a celebrated journalist and author, serves as the Guardian’s Community Affairs Correspondent, where she delves into issues of race and inequality.

In this episode, the host, Azadeh Hosseini, talks with Aamna about her compelling new book, Scattered: The Making and Unmaking of a Refugee.

In 2015, Aamna travelled to Calais to report from the heart of the refugee crisis. Upon returning to London, a casual conversation with her parents reminded her that Aamna had once been a refugee.

Scattered is a breathtaking and genuine narrative of displacement and its profound costs and far-reaching consequences. With Aamna’s unique perspective, this powerful story transforms into an epic tale of resilience and hope.

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Refugees and people seeking asylum regularly face multiple layered barriers while settling in the U.K., often preventing them from flourishing in their potential and fully regaining their confidence in our society.

The barriers manifest themselves on personal, social, cultural, financial and political levels.

We often hear about asylum seekers and refugees 'unwillingness' to integrate and contribute to society but less about the barriers they face from the moment they arrive in the U.K., which renders the integration relatively complex.

These barriers are the product of racism embedded within the U.K. immigration system that demonises migrants, particularly vulnerable people, seeking safety in this country. People are banned from seeking employment and have limited access to essential services because of their immigration status and, on top of all, harmful and toxic rhetoric politicians, media and policymakers perpetuate.

In this episode, the panellists delve into Removing Barriers to Power and dismantle existing barriers' main roots.

Azadeh Hosseini hosts this episode with the Refugee Action CEO, Tim Naor Hilton, alongside Mo Omar, the Refugee Action Head of EbE and Partnership, Mery, an EbE and a member of the Pathway to Work program and Halyma Begum, Global Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging, Equity and Culture Membership Manager at DIAL Global and one of the Refugee Action's trustees.

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