A charity that supports survivors of torture is “haemorrhaging money” into security measures, with some employees “scared to come to work”, its chief executive has said.
Sonya Sceats told Civil Society that Freedom from Torture has had to divert “a five-figure sum to strengthen physical and cyber security to protect our clients and staff in response to anti-refugee sentiment stoked by politicians and far-right agitators”.
Freedom from Torture is one of the charities that have been targeted by some groups in recent years due to its campaigning on immigration policies.
Sceats’ comments come as some charities’ employees, volunteers and beneficiaries have reported feeling unsafe in recent months due to rising social and political division in the UK.
A report published by sector umbrella body NCVO in December found that some charities were operating in a “pervasive climate of fear”, while facing “operational disruption”.
Speaking to representatives from 46 voluntary organisations, NCVO found that charities had faced “direct targeting and abuse” and “increasing internal tensions”.
In August last year, the Charity Commission took the rare step of removing the names of trustees from several refugee charities listed on its register due to a potential safety risk.
The regulator then published guidance for charities in December on how to respond to the current “hostile environment”.
‘Staff too scared to come to work’
Sceats said Freedom from Torture has come under fire in the current political climate, especially for the leading role it played in campaigning against the previous government’s Rwanda asylum scheme.
Speaking at Civil Society’s ESG Imperative event this week in London, she told delegates: “For that, we’ve attracted a lot of ire.
“My photograph and photographs of many of my peers are being placed all over right-wing media with dog whistles in relation to us because of our role in the defeat of the Rwanda scheme.”
Sceats said her charity has had to roll out security personnel “in every single one of our torture rehabilitation centres, and I just cannot tell you how painful a decision that was”.
“We’re haemorrhaging money into security – cyber and physical,” she said.
“We have staff who are too scared to come to work. They won’t wear lanyards anymore. They’re frightened about being part of our community.
“That’s nothing compared with what you see happening to our clients, the violence against them in our communities – men, women and children.”
