Several celebrities, among them AJ Tracey, Craig David and Annie Lennox, have recently joined a campaign calling for “swift and comprehensive” compensation for the victims of the Windrush scandal.
According to #Justice4Windrush campaigners, over 40 Windrush victims have since died while awaiting compensation. The discontinuation of the Windrush Transformation Team by the Home Office in June 2023 has, as per campaigners, intensified the distress among affected families and individuals of the Windrush scandal.
In an open letter issued to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer, the group, which is made up of various leading charities and campaigners, highlight how the Home Office continues to inflict suffering towards almost 15,000 people by failing to give them the compensation they are entitled to. However, the Home Office has denied legal aid to applicants, further complicating the journey to justice. Additionally, only £73.58 million of the allocated £200-500 million has been granted to victims.
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Speaking on her involvement in the project, pop icon Annie Lennox said: “With #Justice4Windrush, we want to put the issue of Windrush front and centre, to ensure that the Windrush Generation are seen, heard and healed. Bigotry, hatred and racism have pervaded the British establishment for too long. We need to put an immediate stop to the tragic injustice of this Home Office scandal. Windrush victims deserve nothing less.”
Actor and campaigner Colin McFarlane added: “The Home Office scandal that impacted the Windrush Generation is not over. Yet 90% of the country think it is. In 2022, a leaked internal report* commissioned by the Home Office revealed that, ‘during the period 1950-1981, every single piece of immigration or citizenship legislation was designed at least in part to reduce the number of people with black or brown skin who were permitted to live and work in the UK.
“2012’s hostile environment policy has exacerbated this institutional racism, resulting in over 15,000 victims and rising. The woeful 2019 compensation scheme has added insult to injury and merely prolonged the trauma and is yet another illustration of decades long discrimination by the Home Office against migrants of colour. We need justice for the Windrush Generation. Now!”
Check out the full #Justice4Windrush video camapign above.
