When people move countries, their personal data and the devices they communicate with become even more important, especially when circumstances force them to leave their family and friends behind.

Migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum have particular digital rights needs to ensure they are safe, secure and free, both online and offline. The security of their data can be central to their physical security and safety as well as helping them prove who they are, and their right to be here.

Migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum face digital rights challenges that most people never encounter.

We campaign for digital sanctuary to ensure that they are:

ONE
Protected from surveillance and interference from outside the UK.

TWO
Able to communicate freely with family and friends who may live in hostile and authoritarian states.

THREE
Treated fairly and have the same data protection, privacy and free speech rights as everyone else in the UK.

FOUR
No data protection discrimination based on their legal status.

Migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum in the UK have weaker data protection rights than other people. The government uses immigration as a reason to collect and share their data. Migrants are also used as guinea pigs to trial schemes that are then rolled out to others, such as the eVisa scheme and the use of AI in asylum cases.

We want the UK government to ensure that people seeking asylum, migrants and refugees have digital sanctuary in the UK.

Digital sanctuary means recognising the specific needs that migrants have when it comes data protection and privacy are essential for migrants’ dignity, security and safety, and ensuring that there are policies in place to protect migrants’ data and privacy the importance of data security and privacy and ensuring that there are policies in place to protect them.