The Refugee Action family was very saddened to hear the news this month of Gina Clayton’s passing.
The Refugee Action family was very saddened to hear the news this month of Gina Clayton’s passing. Such news has come at a time when people like Gina are needed the most in our sector and in our world, in both the context of her work in immigration but also as a wonderful human. We want to stand with her family and with all whose lives she touched through these difficult times.
Gina Clayton was a great academic, speaker, activist and most importantly one of the most generous people I have ever met. Gina always had words of encouragement and the most constructive advice one could have ever wanted when working in the access to justice field. She knew what she was talking about, she was inquisitive about what she wanted to learn and she worked to change what needed fixing. And she did change many things in setting up South Yorkshire Refugee Law and Justice, in chairing the wonderful ASSIST, in her excellent Academic work, and in influencing and supporting the work we all do to ensure access to justice for the most vulnerable in our societies.
Gina was pivotal in the development of Refugee Action’s Access to Justice work nestled within our Good Practice &Partnerships Team. She was a mentor and a critical friend and advisor in setting up our work and strategy to support the sector to develop models of legal advice that would be efficient, show empathy and harness empowerment.
Our Frontline Immigration Advice Project had Gina as one of our key advisors and as a supporter and shaper of our model assisting both the organisations wanting to embed immigration advice and those people wanting to deliver it. She also helped us to think about the work we did through the Street Legal Project in London supporting those with insecure immigration status come out of homelessness.
She was, and will remain, our inspiration and a very bright light in our journey towards Access to Justice. Thank you Gina.
