The trustees of a local charity helping people seeking sanctuary are proud to announce that Alf Dubs, Baron Dubs, has become the first patron of Refugees Welcome in Richmond (RWinR).
Lord Dubs said: “I am delighted to accept the invitation to become a patron for this charity. I endorse their work and will be pleased to support it in any way I can.”
RWinR volunteers provide befriending in support of adults and families fleeing crises in their home countries who arrive in the local area. Working alongside Richmond Council’s Resettlement Team, our partners help clients who urgently need rental accommodation by offering commercial benefits for landlords.
Baron Dubs is a politician and leading refugee rights advocate. Former MP for Battersea, Lord Dubs became a Labour life peer in 1994, and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office in 1997.
In 2016, Lord Dubs sponsored an amendment to the Immigration Act 2016 to offer unaccompanied asylum-seeking children safe passage to Britain, having himself arrived here as a six-year-old refugee fleeing Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia on the Kindertransport in 1939.
Formerly chair of Liberty, Lord Dubs has also served as a trustee of ActionAid and the Immigration Advisory Service, as well as a patron and former director of the Refugee Council.