The Asylum Reform Initiative Governance Group
The Asylum Reform Initiative is the alliance that set up and supports the Together With Refugees coalition. Its Governance Group brings together senior leaders from the alliance organisations to shape its overall strategy, including supporting Together With Refugees by providing overall strategic direction, leading work to secure and manage the resources it needs, and ensure sound oversight, governance and accountability.
Mubeen Bhutta, British Red Cross
Mubeen is Director of Policy, Research and Advocacy at the British Red Cross, leading the organisation’s government relations and influencing work including on migration and displacement. Mubeen has worked in the UK voluntary sector for 20 years, working in a number of policy and communications roles and successfully advocating for change. She has worked for both large, household name charities and small, newly established organisations. She is passionate about connecting people's real experiences to those in power.
Eleanor Harrison OBE, Chair
With over 20 years working in the charity sector, Eleanor brings a wealth of experience in social justice, advocacy, and refugee rights, including in her current position as CEO of the Fairtrade Foundation. Since beginning her career supporting refugees and asylum seekers at the Refugee Council, Eleanor has held leadership roles in several organisations advocating for refugee rights, including Safe Passage International as Interim CEO and Refugee Rights Europe as a trustee. She has worked extensively in international development, holding chief executive positions at GlobalGiving UK and Impetus and was awarded an OBE in 2016 for this work. Her commitment to championing fairness and equality aligns closely with ARI’s mission to create deep, long-term reform in the UK’s asylum system.
Angela McLeary, One Strong Voice
Angela is a dedicated human rights activist whose work centres on amplifying the voices of marginalised communities and fostering systemic change. She brings a unique blend of practical support and strategic advocacy to her work. Angela's focus areas include immigration rights, racial justice, and statelessness. Her approach is rooted in the belief that those most impacted by injustice must be at the forefront of creating solutions. She engages with various coalitions and corporations, appreciating the potential of joint action to bring about positive change through innovative projects. Beyond her direct advocacy, Angela is a skilled facilitator, project manager and a software developer. Angela is a member of One Strong Voice, a lived experience collective focusing on immigration rights in the UK and an Alumni of the Ambassadors for Change at the Helen Bamber Foundation which focuses on the rights of survivors of trafficking and torture.
Tim Naor Hilton, Refugee Action
Tim has worked at Refugee Action since 2002, starting as a frontline development worker in Manchester, before progressing to Area Manager in Greater Manchester and then Head of Asylum. He became Refugee Action’s Chief Executive in April 2021, saying: “I start this role with a commitment to ramping up our plans to shift power to people with lived experience. This means not only ensuring refugees are at the heart of our movement but creating employment opportunities for them at Refugee Action and the wider sector.”
Representative, Citizens UK
Citizens UK is the UK’s biggest, most diverse, and most effective people-powered alliance, bringing together everyday people and local organisations to build a better, fairer society. Their work includes building a powerful movement to welcome and campaign for refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, to build a safer and more just country for everyone.
Kolbassia Haoussou, Freedom from Torture
Kolbassia Haoussou MBE is a torture survivor who came to the UK in 2005 after fleeing persecution in central Africa. His career began with campaigning and advocating when he co-founded the Survivors Speak OUT (SSO) network in 2006, a network led by survivors, campaigning for survivors. He has worked at Freedom from Torture since 2009 where he has been instrumental in building Freedom from Torture’s survivor activism and making sure survivors eare centred in all aspects of the organisation. Since launching SSO, Kolbassia has represented the network at the UN Human Rights Council, at meetings with the Special Rapporteur on Torture and at the Global Summit on Sexual Violence in London. Alongside ambassadors Angelina Jolie and William Hague, Kolbassia called for improved international frameworks to eradicate torture. In 2019, he became a survivor champion for the UK government's Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative and in 2020 received an MBE for his work with survivors.
Representative, Refugee Council
Refugee Council came into existence after World War II. Hence, it has more than seven decades of experience supporting refugees in rebuilding their lives here in Britain. Together with community groups, partners and volunteers, Refugee Council helps refugees find safety, integrate and play a part in their new communities. Refugee Council is one of the founders of the Asylum Reform Initiative
Bridget Young, NACCOM
Bridget is the Director of NACCOM, a membership organisation of 140 charities and community groups across the UK supporting people facing homelessness and destitution in the asylum and immigration system. Bridget has worked in housing and homelessness for 20 years. Before taking on the role as Director of The No Accommodation Network (NACCOM) Bridget was at the Nationwide Foundation, where she managed the Transforming the Private Rented Sector programme. This included co-founding the Renters’ Reform Coalition, which brought together organisations representing renters to positively and proactively influence the Renters’ Reform Bill. Originally from South Africa, Bridget’s background is in human rights, social justice and homelessness. Soon after moving to the UK, Bridget joined Crisis and spent 10 formative years in the housing team working with charities and local authorities across the UK to fund, establish and deliver housing services.
Leila Zadeh, Rainbow Migration
Leila is the Executive Director of Rainbow Migration. She previously worked in policy and campaigning roles at Frontline AIDS, Oxfam and ActionAid, much of which was as part of coalitions. Leila came to the UK as part of a refugee family when she was 13 months old.
Sabir Zazai OBE, Scottish Refugee Council
Sabir has been CEO of Scottish Refugee Council since 2017 and was previously CEO of Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre. Sabir arrived in the UK from Afghanistan in 1999, and his work draws from his own experiences and expertise in community integration and cohesion and refugee rights. Sabir graduated from Coventry University with a Masters in Community Cohesion Management and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Glasgow and the Lord Provost award for human rights. Sabir is Honorary President of City of Sanctuary and a Visiting Practice Fellow at the Centre for Trust Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University. In 2022, Sabir was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and received an OBE.
