Kalayaan exists to fight for justice for marginalised clients from ethnic minority groups who experience a range of forms of discrimination. Since our charity started in the 1980s, anti-racism and anti-discrimination have been central to our work and ethos as well as being enshrined in our articles of association.
We want to be part of creating a future where all individuals are treated with equal respect and can uphold their rights and dignity regardless of their differences. Kalayaan’s work is driven by and delivered with migrant domestic workers whose lived experience shapes our strategy, our service design and our ethos. We believe in actively including diverse perspectives, as well as working shoulder to shoulder with those who have experienced exploitation at first hand. We believe this is the best way to succeed as an organisation. Kalayaan has found that a rich culture and diverse workforce increases our ability to deliver justice for our clients. We believe diversity promotes success, and that actively including and welcoming a wide range of characteristics and perspectives in our team makes us more creative, responsive, open minded, empathic, productive and therefore able to succeed in our objective: to seek justice for migrant domestic workers.
We are opposed to all forms of unfair discrimination and we are against racism. At a time when anti-migrant sentiment is increasingly visible in the UK there is an elevated risk of migrant workers facing discrimination and racism. The impact of this change is real, violence and hatred against migrants is rising, from vicious words to firebombs, the discrimination which often hides just below the surface is emerging. Kalayaan will continue to collaborate with our partners in the migrant rights sector to prevent this dangerous change in any ways possible.