As we mark the 75th anniversary of the ship HMT Empire Windrush arriving at Tilbury docks on 22 June 1948, concerns continue to be voiced by Windrush scandal survivors, lawyers and human rights organisations, among others, over the effectiveness of the Home Office’s Windrush Compensation Scheme and the government’s disdain for survivors.

The Windrush Justice Clinic (WJC) recently contributed to research by Human Rights Watch (HRW), which found that the Windrush Compensation Scheme is failing and violating the rights of those affected by the scandal to an effective remedy for the human rights abuses they suffered (‘UK: “Hostile” compensation scheme fails “Windrush” victims’, HRW news release, 17 April 2023). HRW made several recommendations to government including the removal of the scheme from the Home Office and the availability of legal aid to all eligible claimants. Other recommendations include the right of appeal to an independent tribunal, the lowering of the burden of proof for claims and full compensation for impact on life, regardless of the complexity.

The removal of the Windrush Compensation Scheme to an independent organisation is something that campaigners and survivors have called for, and it is encouraging to see the Labour party state in its draft manifesto that: ‘If the Conservative Home Office continues to fail the Windrush generation, the next Labour government will be willing to overhaul the Windrush Compensation Scheme and put it outside of Home Office control’ (Tom Belger, Morgan Jones and Katie Neame, ‘Revealed: full draft policy platform that could form 2024 Labour manifesto’, LabourList, 11 May 2023).

The WJC is considering coordinating a people’s tribunal to hold the government to account for the Windrush scandal and the compensation scheme. People’s tribunals are a type of grassroots justice organised by civil society and take the form of an opinion tribunal. The idea arose from the 1966 Russell Tribunal, which held the US government responsible for war crimes in Vietnam. Their objective is usually to hold states answerable for human rights breaches by shining a light on abuses and creating an archive of violations.

People’s tribunals are often convened to confront impunity and the refusal of officials to listen to the survivors harmed by the state. Their potency stems from collating, under public scrutiny, the experience and knowledge of the participants, including survivors, community activists and experts.

The Windrush scandal was a human rights violation perpetrated by the UK government on its own citizens. When the scandal was first uncovered in the media, it received extensive coverage, but many people are now wrongly under the impression that the government has rectified the violations and compensated survivors. In fact, it appears wilful in its refusal to listen to survivors or provide reparations.

A tribunal would put the testimonies of survivors at the heart of the process, creating a public record of their experiences, and will be combined with the input of community activists and researchers. We hope it would contribute to the campaign for survivors, starting with an improved compensation scheme.