Why Civil Society Must Step Up to Welcome Hong Kongers
From the end of January 2021, 5.4 million Hong Kong residents will have the right to live and work in the UK, under a new UK government scheme that will be available to all who have claimed British National (Overseas) (BNO) status. It is estimated that up to 300,000 people could take up the scheme, to build better lives and hold on to the freedoms they feel are under threat in Hong Kong. But starting a new life in the UK will bring plenty of challenges, and civil society will play a key role in ensuring that they find a welcoming home in the UK.
On 11 February 2021, UK Welcomes Refugees and Hong Kong Watch co-hosted a webinar to discuss the question “what role should civil society play in building a welcoming country for Hong Kongers?”
The webinar featured an excellent panel including:-
Neil Jameson CBE (Chair) - Founder and Executive Director of Citizens UK from 1988 to 2018. He has been a consultant and supporter of Hong Kong Citizens and visited in 2017. Neil is an active member of two Community Sponsorship groups in London: West End Welcomes Refugees and Whitechapel Welcomes Refugees. He understands the importance of organised community to making new migrants feel welcome.
Benedict Rogers - Human rights activist and writer, he is also Co-Founder and Chief Executive of Hong Kong Watch. He lived and worked in Hong Kong from 1997-2002, and has written extensively on Hong Kong in major international media. He also serves as a founding trustee of Hong Kong ARC and an advisor to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC).
Bekele Woyecha - Director of UK Welcomes Refugees, an organisation set up to strengthen the Community Sponsorship movement. Bekele is working with his local group to build a Community Sponsorship group and welcome a family through the scheme. Bekele is a former refugee from Ethiopia.
Debbie Weekes-Bernard - London Deputy Mayor for Social Integration, Social Mobility, Community Engagement. Debbie works to improve Londoners’ life chances and to boost social integration and community voice across the Mayor’s programmes. She leads the promotion of equalities and active citizenship across London and makes sure City Hall actively seeks to tackle poverty for Londoners across all groups.
Danny Kruger MBE MP – has been the Conservative MP for Devizes in Somerset since 2019. Prior to entering Parliament he set up and worked for the youth crime prevention charity, ‘Only Connect’. He was also Senior Fellow at the Legatum Institute, David Cameron’s Speech Writer, adviser to the Dept for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and in 2019 became Political Secretary to the Prime Minister. In 2020 he completed the formative ‘Levelling Up our Communities Report’ commissioned by Boris Johnson, commending Community Sponsorship of Refugees.
Stephen Kinnock MP – has been Labour MP for Aberavon since 2015, and is Shadow Minster for Asia and the Pacific. He leads on the issue of Hong Kong for the Labour party in Parliament.
Dr Krish Kandiah – Founding Director of ‘Home for Good’ a pioneering fostering and adoption agency and now Chairs the Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board at Department of Education; he is also a Baptist Minister and very recently launched the Hong Kong Welcome Churches movement to welcome HK BNO passport holders and others who have the right to come to the UK from 1 February.
Fred Wong – Operations Team, Hong Kong Assistance and Resettlement Community (HK ARC) to welcome and advise Hong Kongers seeking a home and sanctuary in the UK.
Winston Marshall - Founder and organiser of Hong Kong Link Up. He is also an award-winning British musician, bajoist of rock band Mumford and Sons.