Read Jean's statement for Refugee week 2005
Asylum was a key topic discussed at the Green Party Spring Conference. Find out more
In 2004 Jean joined a mass sleep out in Trafalgar Square to highlight the human cost of the Government's Asylum and Immigration Bill. Press release
Selected Speeches:
"I believe that we need to be clear that the asylum system in Europe should not be about deterrence, sufferance and an attitude of “you’re lucky to be here, be grateful for what you’re given”. We need to link our asylum policy not only to fair treatment and justice but development"
From keynote speech at EQUAL ASSET/ Refugee Council Conference in March 2005
"The Commission's dual approach – to aim for a universally high standard of application of the current directives within the EU and to improve the conditions for the vast majority of refugees within the region they are fleeing – is a reasonable and indeed ambitious programme"
From speech on the eve of Jean's Asylum Report vote in Parliament, December 2004
"Refugees are not born, as we may be born black or white, male or female, but are made. Every refugee is the creation of human agency. If we can create refugees, by changing our activities we can stop creating them."
From speech at the national launch of the Refugee Project, House of Commons, June 2004
Asylum Policy in 2003 - what was on
the table?
Article for the Parliament magazine
"The EU must examine its policies and practices to see what
we do that acts as a push factor for migration"
On immigration: "We have to remember
that we are talking about human beings, not cogs in an economic wheel"
Green
Party of England and Wales Refugees policy
Link
to the 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees
"The
individual right to seek asylum is a very precious one and should not be removed
.... under any circumstances"
European
Council for Refugees and Exiles (ECRE)
"We still
fail to realise that Europe, and in particular the European Union countries, receive
only a very small proportion of those seeking asylum."
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