Saagarika Dadu

Researcher on humanitarian and development issues, with a focus on forced displacement.

[Saagarika Dadu @semtokha]

hey @VirginAtlantic - not able to book tickets on your website and on a never-ending hold on your customer care number.

[Mark Kieran - Democracy Activist @MarkKieranUK]

WARNING: THREAD CONTAINS GRAPHIC LANGUAGE

🧵 What a morally vacuous, embarrassingly incompetent monster Suella Braverman is.

Having worked at the Home Office deciding asylum applications, I know the 1951 Refugee Convention's terms are far clearer than her pernicious propaganda would suggest.

She says many asylum seekers base their claims on “feeling” discriminated against in their home countries. But the scope of the Convention is limited to people who believe they have a “well-founded fear of persecution” for some specific reasons. Those reasons are race, nationality, religion, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. Mere feelings of discrimination would not meet that rigorous test, and any application made on those grounds would (rightly) be fast-tracked for refusal.

She suggests that persecution, by definition, must involve a threat to life. Not true. Persecution often DOES involve a threat to life, but other things can qualify as persecution (arbitrary detention, unjustified confiscation of assets, withdrawal of state protection from crime). Braverman knows this, but the boneheads whose votes she is soliciting do not, so hey, why not spin the line?

In my time at the Home Office, I refused many asylum applications which, on the evidence presented, clearly did not meet the test of a well-founded fear of persecution on Convention grounds. The majority of those applications were made by people (mostly young men) who appeared to be seeking better economic futures for themselves and their families. That's completely understandable, and I never blamed them for trying, but it's not grounds for asylum, so neither did I feel any guilt in refusing them…that's not the purpose of the asylum system.

But I did grant asylum to a number of people who had clearly faced unimaginable horror in their own countries before escaping to the UK, where they felt safe and where they believed they would be able to live the rest of their lives in peace.

There was the Sikh activist who had a kettle of boiling water poured over him during a police interrogation. There was the woman from a minority Muslim sect who, when her husband died, and her neighbours started throwing stones through her windows at night, sought the protection of the local police only to be publicly ridiculed and then gang-raped by six officers in front of her three young children. There were the young Tamil men forced to inhale the fumes of burnt chilli powder by Sri Lankan police. Others hung upside-down and beaten for days until they confessed to crimes they played no part in. And many, many more with genuine, provable experiences just as gruesome.

Nearly thirty years on, I can still recall the faces of those people as they recounted their experiences to me during interviews and the tears in the eyes of the interpreters as they translated words no one should ever have to hear.

Since my days in the Home Office, I can’t recall a single Home Secretary who hasn’t had to wrestle one way or another with the asylum system. But neither can I recall one who has approached the task with as little humanity in their heart as Braverman. Truly, she is in a league of her own.

I simply don’t believe the majority of people in this country support the cruel policies that Braverman embraces so enthusiastically. As I listen to her today, my sincerest hope is that when Open Britain and our partners finally deliver a functional democracy in this country, monsters like her will never again be able to game their way into high office and abuse the power they find there.

This is our fight.

If you've read this far, please consider giving this a retweet and following me, @OpenBritainHQ and @StopTheRot_UK so you can be part of this positive change. Thank you.

[Chris Packham @ChrisGPackham]

We’re here outside DEFRA HQ in London until 2pm today . . . 1 in 6 species at risk of extinction in the UK is simply not acceptable – join us !

@MeganMcCubbin | #RestoreNatureNow

[Saagarika Dadu @semtokha]

Stripe, Shopify, H&M spend $7 million on carbon removal from a dozen new companies including @Airhive2050 https://t.co/02AxBsyPek

[Saagarika Dadu @semtokha]

Yes @Airhive2050 !

[Joanna Klitzke @joannaklitzke]

Meet the latest round of companies who are joining Frontier’s portfolio!

Together, @stripe, @Shopify and @hm group are buying $7M of carbon removal.

https://t.co/FPQOR9DCWN

[Saagarika Dadu @semtokha]

@ShearerAnn34947 @Ryanair Have you heard anything from them? They’re refusing us a refund because according to them just because we didn’t get an email, the flight must have taken off. Even though we were denied entry by the police because of the fire.

[Saagarika Dadu @semtokha]

https://t.co/gbtNWdj7gv #SeeSawcharity ⁦@SeeSawCharity⁩ #uk #sussex

[Saagarika Dadu @semtokha]

Diana's 70-Day Challenge! Fund my amazing aunt as she raises money for two charities! https://t.co/OnAgsuQYMZ

[Airhive @Airhive2050]

Thrilled to be the latest member of @DACCoalition!

[Ireland at the Council of Europe @IrishRepCoE]

The Irish at the Council 🇮🇪

As part of Ireland's Presidency of the @coe, we are introducing Irish staff members contributing to the Council's work across various divisions.

This week, focus on @jamiebealebrown, Administrator in the Counter Terrorism Division @CoE_HRightsRLaw ⚖️

[Saagarika Dadu @semtokha]

Watch @JamesFenna absolutely smash it for @Airhive2050 presenting at the #MayorsEntrepreneurs competition in London @mayorsfund @Mayors2022 @UCL_Energy @rbrownclimate #Pathways2Progress #carbonremoval #ClimateEmergency #ClimateAction

[Julieta Ose @JulietaOse]

At City Hall this afternoon for the #MayorsEntrepreneur finals ✌🏼 Good luck to everyone pitching!

[UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources @UCL_ISR]

Congratulations @rbrownclimate and @JamesFenna from our EPEE MSc for making it to the final of the Mayor's Entrepreneur Competition. You can find out more about their idea here: https://t.co/S4cvYwYcLV

[UCL Careers @uclcareers]

A huge congratulations to the members of CarbonNET Ltd and MindLink who are finalists in this year's Mayor's Entrepreneur Competition!

#MayorsEntrepreneur #Pathways2Progress

[Saagarika Dadu @semtokha]

@rbrownclimate @JamesFenna @Airhive2050 #pathways2progress #MayorsEnterpreneur

[UCL Innovation and Enterprise @UCLEnterprise]

Congratulations to the @UCL founders behind CarbonNET and MindLink who are finalists in this year's Mayor's Entrepreneur Competition!

#MayorsEntrepreneur #Pathways2Progress

https://t.co/5VUcBSoPpP

[Saagarika Dadu @semtokha]

Yes!@rbrownclimate @JamesFenna @Airhive2050

[UCL Innovation and Enterprise @UCLEnterprise]

Best of luck to the @UCL finalists from CarbonNET and MindLink in the Mayor's Entrepreneur Competition tomorrow! 🤞

#MayorsEntrepreneur #Pathways2Progress

[Saagarika Dadu @semtokha]

Good luck to @Airhive2050 from @UCL_Energy - finalists (!!) for the Mayors Entrepreneur Award 2022 @Mayors2022 @mayorsfund @rbrownclimate @JamesFenna #pathways2progress #mayorsenterpreneurcompetition #carbonremoval #climatechange #ClimateActionNow #ClimateAction

[UCL Energy Institute @UCL_Energy]

👏Congratulations to @rbrownclimate and @JamesFenna from our Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment MSc who have made it to the final of the prestigious Mayor’s Entrepreneur Competition 2022 for their Carbon Dioxide air capture idea: https://t.co/2NZK8DPXRn