An award-winning Birmingham human rights lawyer has been chosen to be part of a national poster campaign promoting a positive message about the contribution immigrants make to British society.
S Chelvan, a barrister with No5 Chambers, is one of 15 immigrants selected to feature in the crowd-funded ‘I am an Immigrant’ campaign - initiated by the Movement Against Xenophobia and run through the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.
The campaign seeks to challenge negativity about immigrants, celebrate them and provide them with a platform to share their story.
READ MORE: {}
#Iamanimmigrant has gone viral on Twitter since the campaign’s digital launch last week and plans to display the posters at 400 tube stations across London have now been rolled out to include 550 bus and rail stations nationally as well as 26 billboards, with the barrister featuring in the biggest billboard at Ramsgate in Kent.
With the help of social media, the crowd-funded campaign raised more than £54,000 in just three weeks, smashing its original target by more than £10,000.
Chelvan has been a barrister for the last 13 years and joined No5 in 2011.
He has spent a large part of his career representing asylum seekers and immigrants and has also built an international reputation for representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or intersex (LGBTI) people fleeing homophobic or transphobic persecution.
In 2014 he was named Legal Aid Barrister of the Year.
Most Read
Born in Sri Lanka, his family moved to the 海角视频 in 1978 when he was just four years old, to escape the riots in his home country.
He said: “I Am An Immigrant is about self-empowerment and celebrating the contribution that I and other immigrants make to this country.
“The current debate on migrants, particularly EU migrants, is very toxic politically - as the various political parties see themselves losing the debate on Europe, migration becomes an easy target.
“This was not a Britain I wish to recognise, it made me angry, which is why I volunteered to be part of this poster campaign and proudly say ‘I am an immigrant’. It is part of my public service, to offer a human face during the current dehumanisation of the immigrant.”