I came to the UK on a small boat to escape torture - now I have an MBE. Blocking refugees from citizenship is a dark moment

12 February 2025, 14:40 | Updated: 14 February 2025, 16:26

If the Government follows through with blocking refugees from being recognised as British citizens, we will be taking a huge step backwards.

This breaches the Refugee Convention by punishing refugees for the way they reach safety, and by denying them citizenship it will take away a key element of long-term stability and protection.

Ever since the Second World War, the UK has been a signatory to international laws that have positioned us as a country that champions human rights. But by imposing this policy change, the Government is cherry picking who is allowed to take part as equal members of society, and who will be excluded from ever really belonging. And as a refugee and British citizen myself, this truly appalls me.

I was tortured in my home country and came to the UK by a small boat. My first few years here were hard, but in the end, I was welcomed and made to feel at home. I made new friends; I had a job and started a family. I applied for citizenship as soon as I was able and it has always been a source of great pride for me, second only to the MBE that I received from the late Queen in recognition of my services to human rights and the anti-torture movement. But if this policy had applied when I first came here, I wouldn’t be telling you this same story.

All refugees deserve to have the chance to become British citizens so they can fully integrate and flourish in their new communities. I know many people like me who want to belong to British society because they recognise their own values, hopes and dreams in our shared national identity. But blocking them from this is effectively telling them that they are not wanted, that they will never belong. We are creating a more divided society by condemning thousands of people to a life on the margins.

This isn’t just about refugees, but also a deeper conversation about the kind of society we want to create. Only last summer we saw just how dangerous it is to house refugees in cramped hotels, isolating and warehousing a vulnerable community, making them easy targets for the far right. By creating a sharp distinction between 'us’ and 'them’, the Government is just stoking the flames of division.

This latest decision is profoundly disappointing and deeply damaging to the moral and cultural fabric of this country. And what’s more, it won’t even work on the Government’s own terms: it won’t deter refugees from risking their lives in small boats to reach safety in the UK, and it won’t guarantee Labour a victory at the next election.

If we have anything to learn from the previous government’s anti-refugee agenda, it’s that it’s a losing track: you can’t out-Reform Reform. British people want refugees to be able to become citizens regardless of how they arrived in the UK.

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Kolbassia Haoussou is Director of Survivor Leadership & Influencing at Freedom from Torture.

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