Alicia Edmund
Alicia joined the Evangelical Alliance as head of public policy in August 2021. Since then, she has worked on a range of issues from asylum resettlement, refugee integration, poverty relief and religious freedom in the UK and overseas.
Alicia leads the advocacy team’s parliament and Whitehall engagement and is focusing all legislative engagement this year on three core themes: identity, freedom and justice.
Open Doors International: Forced migration and faith is poorly understood
20 July 2022In the UK, we live in such a secularised society that popular culture and policymakers can often forget and sadly disregard how important religion is to cultural, political, and social relationships for millions of people living in the global south. On 5-6 July, at the freedom of religious of belief ministerial, UK parliamentarians and policymakers were reminded of the fundamental freedom to believe, choose, and practise one’s religion or belief. Survivors of religious persecution also took…
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Learn more about the FoRB fringe
1 June 2022The culture of any nation is strengthened by civil society groups active in public life. This is especially true in promoting religious freedom or belief. Different faith-based organisations, community groups, and not-for-profit organisations working in this policy area hold local leaders and nation governments to account on commitments made, they provide relief and aid when human rights abuse occurs, and they advocate on behalf of the most vulnerable and forgotten in society. At the freedom of…
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Persecution survivors deserve to see progress at religious freedom summit
27 May 2022So much has changed in three years. A global pandemic, Brexit and now war breaking out in Eastern Europe. And yet for millions of Christians around the world, little has changed; in fact life is getting worse. Open Doors note that in 2021 more than 360 million Christians around the world suffered significant persecution for their faith. Afghanistan took the number one position this year following the takeover by the Taliban, and the situation in countries such as Malaysia continues to…
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The Nationality and Borders Act: Now a harsh reality
27 May 2022We at the Evangelical Alliance were engaged from the very beginning, producing a written submission to the consultation and select committees, through to meeting with MPs and Peers as the bill passed through parliament. Read our consultation submission here.
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"Taking back control of our borders", but at what cost?
14 April 2022Journalists were briefed late last night of a possible scheme where asylum seekers who arrive in the UK would be sent 6,000 miles to Rwanda to be processed. The home secretary Priti Patel later tweeted a picture of her stepping off the plane in Kigali, Rwanda, writing, “...a significant moment for the New Plan for Immigration” Such plans have been met with strong criticism across the Twitter-sphere and morning breakfast programmes, described as “cruel”, “inhumane”, “unworkable”, “shameful” and…
Read more... VAWG series: Here's what you need to know about the Domestic Abuse Plan
6 April 2022For the first time in UK history, the Act produced a legal definition of domestic abuse informed by the survivors’ experiences. The law criminalises physical and sexual violence alongside emotional economic manipulation and coercive and controlling behaviour within marriage, civil partnerships and/or family relationships. In addition, the Act recognised children as victims should they “see, hear or experience the effects of abuse in the home”. This recognition sets in motion increased…
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VAWG series: We need more than policy to resolve this problem
1 March 2022The answer to that question depends on who is answering it... Conservative MPs or supporters argue that under successive Conservative-led governments VAWG remains a top policy priority. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 was a landmark success, expanding powers to the police and crown prosecution service to better prosecute, investigate and support victims. There has also been considerable investment to improve support services for victims and survivors of abuse. On the other side of the debate, the…
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Government minister: faith communities vital to pandemic recovery
12 January 2022Meetings and particularly events on Zoom can add to pandemic fatigue – but not yesterday. It was great to hear so many church leaders and organisations (including some Evangelical Alliance members) on the call share examples of the different ways they supported the most vulnerable in society to access medical, emotional and practical care during the pandemic. It was also great to see that government advisers from the Department of Education, Number 10, the Departments for Levelling Up, Housing…
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Two-tier asylum system could soon become law
15 December 2021On Tuesday, 7 and Wednesday, 8 December, MPs gave final speeches and contributions to the bill. Listening to the debates, what was clear was a cross-party effort to raise different concerns and propose amendments that would significantly improve the bill and its treatment to those most in need and seeking refuge in the UK. Below are a few examples: New clause 18 proposed by Bell Riberiro-Addy MP (Labour) asked the government to reduce immigration fees from child dependents and to cease payment…
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Protecting asylum seekers and refugees: If not you, then who?
15 November 2021The most contentious principle in the bill is the differential treatment of asylum seekers based on how they entered the UK. The fall of Afghanistan and the resettlement response best exemplifies the failings in this policy. Men, women and children received indefinite leave to remain and the statutory support that goes along with it, as part of the government’s 'Afghan Relocation and Assistance policy' resettlement scheme. But if the bill goes through in its current form, we are gravely…
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