City of Sanctuary

City of Sanctuary National News

'Region of Sanctuary' conference - Yorkshire & Humber

Building on the fantastic response to the City of Sanctuary movement in towns and cities across the Yorkshire & Humber region, we are holding a regional conference in Bradford on Thursday 25th February.

City of Sanctuary - the film: watch it here

City of Sanctuary is a movement to make our towns and cities welcoming places for people seeking sanctuary in the UK.

This new short film tells the story of City of Sanctuary so far, and shows some of the local groups that are helping to build a culture of welcome and hospitality.

City of Sanctuary Handbook

'Becoming a City of Sanctuary: a practical guide with inspiring examples'

Since Sheffield became the UK's first ‘City of Sanctuary' in 2007, City of Sanctuary initiatives have grown up in towns and cities across Britain. This handbook tells the story of the movement so far, and explains how local groups can build a successful City of Sanctuary initiative in their own town or city.

It also describes the experiences of groups which have found creative and inspiring ways of welcoming people seeking sanctuary in their local communities.

Described by Donna Covey, Chief Executive of the Refugee Council, as a 'once in a generation opportunity', the movement aims to create a network of towns and cities that are proud to be places of safety for people escaping war and persecution.

'Becoming a City of Sanctuary' is available to order by contacting us, at £9.50 per copy (including p&p), or £5 each for 5 or more copies.

Or send a cheque made payable to 'City of Sanctuary' to:

City of Sanctuary, Victoria Hall,  Norfolk Street, Sheffield S1 2JB

Dancer at Swansea City of Sanctuary celebration
Discover how communities across the UK are becoming Towns and Cities of Sanctuary and share your experience of working to build a culture of hospitality for people seeking sanctuary. This year’s national conference will feature inspiring...
This June sees three celebratory launch events for City of Sanctuary movements in Huddersfield, Wakefield and Hull. Groups of volunteers in all three places have been organising for some time, and are now to ready to invite people from...
Swansea has become the UK’s 2nd official ‘City of Sanctuary’, meeting all of the criteria set by the national City of Sanctuary network for this prestigious status. Over the last two years Swansea’s City of...
We have been working on a ‘vision statement’ for what a ‘Sanctuary in Yorkshire & Humber’ initiative might look like. This is what we have come up with so far. The next step will be to meet up with potential...
Oxford City of Sanctuary recently held a wonderful evening for invited guests and ‘opinion formers’ in the city. They filled the Ultimate Picture Palace for a screening of the documentary ‘Moving to Mars’.
At the recent 'Region of Sanctuary' conference in Bradford a wide range of organisations gave enthusiastic support to the aim of becoming the first region to make a commitment to being a place of safety and welcome.
Members of Parliament Chris Mullin and Peter Bottomley are co-sponsoring an Early Day Motion, calling on the Government to end the detention of asylum-seeking children. The Westminster motion from respected MPs on opposite sides of the...
On Monday 30th November, City of Sanctuary held a public meeting at Glasgow City Chambers to explore the idea of Glasgow as a City of Sanctuary.
Dr Vicki Squire from the Open University has recently published a research paper on the City of Sanctuary movement and Strangers into Citizens campaign. "Showing how the solidaristic relations that are forged through each movement...
There are now City of Sanctuary initiatives in 16 towns and cities around the country, in Sheffield, Leicester, Bradford, Coventry, Nottingham, Oxford, Swansea, Bristol, London, Ipswich, Hull, Chester, Wakefield, Huddersfield, Derby and...
The custodians of the Peace Garden at Greenham Common want to work with us to become a ‘Garden of Sanctuary', involving people seeking sanctuary in peace education at the former nuclear missile site. They are keen to make contacts with...
A new documentary film, ‘Moving to Mars’, tells the story of two families who came to Sheffield as refugees from Burma, through the UN Gateway Protection programme. The film will have its world premiere at the international...
City of Sanctuary groups across the country celebrated Refugee Week in style this year. Here is a brief round-up of just some of their activities. Asylum Dialogues National Tour Asylum Dialogues is a documentary play about real-life...
The newly formed London City of Sanctuary group have been showing that refugees are important and valued citizens of the capital by unfurling a ‘Refugees Welcome Here' banner at 50 iconic sites on Saturday June 20th as part of Refugee...
JULIET STEVENSON, PETER TATCHELL AND NEIL GERRARD MP to be honoured. A London City of Sanctuary group was formed in early 2009, the latest place in the UK to join a growing network of cities and towns dedicated to promoting a greater...
Our 2nd national conference in Sheffield was a fascinating sharing of achievements, ideas and enthusiasm between City of Sanctuary activists from all over the country. We had a mixture of presentations, discussions and training...
Looking for new ideas in integration? Sheffield City of Sanctuary has been singled out by an international initiative that promotes integration. It will be featured during Refugee Week (June 15-21) on the ‘Cities of ‘Migration' website....
  The Simple Acts campaign is about inspiring people to use small, everyday actions to change perceptions of refugees. It consists of 20 actions that can be done by anyone and that encourage us to learn and do more with...
This Refugee Week (June 13-21), iceandfire is bringing Asylum Dialogues to seven cities across the UK in collaboration with pioneering movement, City of Sanctuary. Help us to promote a culture of hospitality for those seeking...
On 24th March Bradford Council passed the following motion, supporting Bradford's bid to become a recognized 'City of Sanctuary' "This Council notes that: City of Sanctuary is a national movement to build a culture of hospitality...