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Petition

Reverse the UK’s student visa ‘brake’ now

3 people have signed. Help us get to 5,000

Call on the Home Secretary to reverse the student visa ‘brake' for Afghanistan, Sudan, Myanmar and Cameroon.

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Women from Afghanistan, as well as Sudan, Myanmar and Cameroon, who have worked tirelessly to achieve offers to UK universities are now being denied the opportunity to study under the UK government’s new visa ‘brake’ policy.

Right now, women and girls in Afghanistan’s rights are under horrific and systemic attack. They have been denied the right to an education first by the Taliban and now effectively by the UK government with their new student visa ‘brake’.

Students from Sudan, Myanmar and Cameroon, all countries experiencing significant conflict and human rights abuses, have similarly had their ability to continue their education in the UK ripped away by this policy.

Education is not a privilege. It is a human right recognised in international law, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

This ‘emergency visa brake’ will not stop those in danger from seeking their right to safety and asylum; it is designed to stop people in danger from accessing their right to asylum. This policy is therefore not only cruel and ineffective but undermines the UK’s obligations under international human rights law.

Call on the Home Secretary to immediately reverse the decision to put a brake on student visas from Afghanistan, Sudan, Myanmar and Cameroon.