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Blogs by Jan Brulc

"Home Office plans are too harsh" - Letter to the editor
Jan Brulc May 16, 2012 3 Comment(s)
Ahead of an All-Party Parliamentary meeting 10 leading charities signed a letter to the Editor of the Times calling on the Home Secretary to abandon proposed rule changes on family migration.

The letter was printed in today's Times. As we couldn't find an online copy to share the link here's the original text:

Dear Sir,

Current Home Office proposals to introduce new restrictions on British citizens and settled persons who wish to sponsor their non-EU family members to join them in the UK are a blunt and disproportionate policy instrument.  These proposed changes would keep families apart and would further marginalise those who already face disadvantages in society.
Migrants are not 'health tourists'
Jan Brulc April 12, 2012 2 Comment(s)
MRN and leading health charities speak out against suggestions in the media that migrants are 'health tourists'.

Following a news article reporting that Mayor of London was accused of encouraging "health tourism" for producing an easy-to-access information leaflet on how to access medical help in London for migrants, MRN along with 5 leading healthcare charities put together a letter to the editor clarifying some of the facts about migrants and healthcare and calling on the GLA to keep information about access to healthcare available online. MRN, alongside other groups, was involved in the development of the booklet, which was produced by the Greater London Authority and has been endorsed by the Royal College of GPs.
How it all comes together
Jan Brulc March 19, 2012
Following a busy week marked by our third Annual Summit, we are happy to announce that our 5 year review publication called "Progress: 2006-2011" is now available to view online.

The last five years have been eventful for MRN. We have grown from a small project to a fully-fledged organisation with a broad programme of activities and seven members of staff. This report highlights key events and milestones in our journey so far, from advocacy and project work to growth in the team and our network. Although MRN’s story is just beginning, we are proud to showcase our work and impact over the last five years in this report.
International Women's Day - reasons to celebrate and worry
Jan Brulc March 8, 2012 2 Comment(s)
The International Women's Day, marked on 8 March, is among other things a day to celebrate women's economic, political and social achievements. When it comes to women migrants, MRCF will be doing this tonight at the first Migrant & Refugee Woman of the Year Award ceremony. Sadly this year's celebration will happen at a time when overseas domestic workers (mostly women) have lost the protection from exploitation in the UK in the form of a special visa.

It's time to say thank you

International Women's DayLet's first of all focus on the celebrations. MRCF in partnership with other organisations will be hosting a ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall tonight from 6pm to celebrate migrant women activists.

The idea is simple and powerful. Migrating to a new country brings many challenges and it is often women who step forward and find solutions on behalf of a wider group and help more vulnerable members of the community. They fight for equality, challenge prejudice and come up with innovative, practical and strategic solutions for those in need and all while working, studying and raising families.
Why the Government should drop the net migration target
Jan Brulc February 23, 2012 6 Comment(s)
This morning’s migration quarterly figures from the Office for National Statistics indicate that the net migration has remained fairly steady at the 250,000 mark in the 12 months up to June 2011. The failure to bring about a significant downward shift in these numbers suggests that there is less and less scope for the Government to hit their target of reducing net migration to “tens of thousands”by 2015.

While the immigration minister might think that "reforms are starting to take effect” it is difficult to see this reflected in the net migration numbers. These figures are proving extremely resilient to any drop. The principal reason is that the emigration number – people leaving the country - is running low. In fact emigration has declined from a peak of 427,000 in 2008 to 336,000 in 2011, while the number of people coming into the country stayed roughly the same.