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 wit​h​ 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 do write to your MP and get your family and friends to do so too. MPs need to know that we, supporters of sanctuary across our nations, are many! See this Template Letter for MPs which you can adapt to write to your MP. You can also write to your MP very easily by going to https://www . writetothem . com/ Click here for information on how to contact your MP. The more invitations an MP receives, the more likely they will attend and learn from key witnesses. Please also invite your Bishop who can attend in their role in the House of Lords. You can also write to anyone in the House of Lords and ask them to attend.
THANKÂ YOU
—
Tiffy Allen, Network Co-ordinator, City of Sanctuary
Tel (UK)
+447875694070
Tel (Ireland) +35315159216 (landline)
            +353851953170 (mobile)
Skype: Tiffy Allen
www . cityofsanctuary . org
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. Charles Dickens
