Dear friends,

Please see below the urgent call from the national City of Sanctuary network.

The City of Sanctuary movement and partners are holding a second Sanctuary in Parliament on 1st December 2015 in Committee Room 14 at the Houses of Parliament Westminster from 12.30 to 3.30pm.

 Last year we held a very successful Sanctuary in Parliament event which was attended by 36 MPs of all parties who sat and listened to refugees telling their stories of struggle and sanctuary. Many refugees left the event with a fresh empowerment and many MPs were impacted by the breadth of the movement we represented on that day. This year we want to reach many more MPs and are relying on our network to invite MPs from across the country. 

 Since then we have seen the Sanctuary Summit, the national  conference in Bristol on Ending Asylum Destitution, and a recent dramatic increase in the number of local groups and organisations joining the movement for sanctuary.

This year we are returning to Parliament at the invitation of the newly formed APPG, led by Thangam Debbonaire (Lab, Bristol West) and Caroline Lucas (Green, Brighton Pavilion). We will be building on the momentum of these extraordinary times where refugee support and refugee needs are greater than ever, and our theme ‘Sanctuary – Providing Safe and Legal Routes to welcome in the UK’ will reflect the growing strength of the voice demanding fairness and compassion for all refugees. We will especially be highlighting these issues:

• Detention
• Destitution
• The need for Safe and Legal routes (with testimony on hazardous journeys and resettlement) 

Please let Bristol City of Sanctuary know when you have contacted your MP by emailing us on bristol a_t cityofsanctuary d_o_t org.