2023

Freedom from Torture was horrified by the UK government’s plans announced in April 2022 to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda to have their asylum claims processed, especially as survivors of torture were among those being threatened with removal. The charity wants to see safe, legal routes reinstated for refugees to come to the UK, and a fair asylum process in place.

The winner of the 2023 Daniel Phelan Award for Outstanding Achievement is Dr Hany El-Banna, the architect and driving force behind Islamic Relief Worldwide. Tania Mason went to Birmingham to meet him.

CPRE, the countryside charity, has campaigned for hedgerow protection since the 1970s. The UK’s hedgerow network is its largest nature reserve, yet it has halved in size over the last eight decades because of changes in farming practices and development, among other things.

Seenaryo works in Jordan and Lebanon, two countries that host the highest number of refugees per capita in the world and where rates of youth unemployment are 46% and nearly 30% respectively.

Freedom from Torture was horrified by the UK government’s plans announced in April 2022 to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda to have their asylum claims processed, especially as survivors of torture were among those being threatened with removal. The charity wants to see safe, legal routes reinstated for refugees to come to the UK, and a fair asylum process in place.

In the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020 and amid the gathering momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement, the Sister System charity was troubled by the conversations it was having with its service users – care-affected girls and young women, the majority of whom are Black and Brown.

Disabled people are 50% more likely than others to face barriers in accessing online and digital services, according to research – largely due to inaccessible websites and resources. However, there are also issues around the affordability of devices. For example, the 2021 NHS Digital report found that only 5.1% of people with a learning disability are in paid employment.

South West Grid for Learning (SWGfL) has worked for over 20 years to improve online safety awareness, advising schools, public bodies and technology industries on correct practices and policies for keeping children and young people safe online.

Many refugees who come to the UK are qualified doctors, teachers or other professionals. But they are usually unable to practice here until they have gained an equivalent UK qualification, and the cost of re-accreditation can be prohibitively expensive.

Commercial fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations in the world, with UK fatality rates 100 times higher than the general workforce

In May 2021 Our Sansar was told by local social workers in southern Nepal that children as young as six were working full-time in hazardous conditions at brick factories.

In 2017, Refuge analysed its data and identified from case workers’ records that women were increasingly seeking help as survivors of domestic abuse perpetrated through technology. Tech abuse takes multiple forms, including stalking via mobile phone trackers and online harassment. It can be distressing and relentless, and outside agencies often lack the skills and knowledge to help.