City of Sanctuary UK hosts the advocacy and campaigns project, Asylum Matters. Asylum Matters is a project that works in partnership locally, regionally and nationally across the UK to improve the lives of people seeking sanctuary through social and political change. It incorporates and builds on the work of the Still Human Still Here coalition and the Regional Asylum Activism (RAA) Project. It provides opportunities to increase collective impact. Whilst Asylum Matters is independent in setting its objectives and remit, City of Sanctuary UK is responsible for its delivery and, through the project, demonstrates its commitment to movement building.
The mandate of the project is to drive forward and secure the eight goals identified at the Sanctuary Summit in November 2014, which were endorsed by more than 320 organisations as part of the Birmingham Declaration.
The project works very closely with the City of Sanctuary network, as well as working across the UK on a collaborative basis. Through engagement with Asylum Matters staff, City of Sanctuary groups can access additional opportunities to engage in advocacy activities. The kinds of initiatives groups can take part in vary depending on the influencing opportunity and can include things like collecting case studies and evidence to inform policy-making, lobbying MP’s, AM’s and local councillors on our issues, or supporting people seeking sanctuary to ensure their voices are heard on a range of public platforms.