refugee action blog

Tonight, the latest programme in Channel 4’s Unreported World strand focuses on Sudan, where Government forces are attacking civilians in the country’s troubled Nuba region.  Sadly, conflict in Sudan is far from new – civil war has raged in the country since 1985, and despite a peace agreement in 2005 and the declaration of an independent South Sudan just last year, violence and unrest continue in many of the border regions between the two countries.

Throughout the years, Refugee Action has provided vital support to many refugees who’ve fled Sudan’s conflict.  Some, like Peter and his family, arrived in the UK as part of the Gateway Protection Programme – a UN resettlement scheme which gives a small number of vulnerable refugees the chance of a new life in a third country.  Peter and his wife had lived for seven years in a refugee camp in Uganda, unable to return home after government forces attacked their city.  Three of their four children were born and grew up in the camp, where life was very difficult and opportunities were rare.  Despite this, Peter found work as a camp social worker, supporting others in the same situation as him and his family.  He applied for resettlement in 2000, but didn’t arrive in the UK until 2006.  Refugee Action staff met him at the airport, and supported him to build a new, safe life for himself and his family in the UK.  His youngest daughter, Happy, was born in the UK in 2009.

Another Sudanese refugee with an incredible story was Isa, who fled a terrifying life in Sudan and was supported by Get Connected, Refugee Action’s youth project.  Isa’s father was killed in the conflict in Darfur, a region of Sudan where many civilians were killed by government-sponsored militia.  Forced to become a child soldier at fourteen, he was beaten and made to kill and torture others.  He ran away and was sheltered by a priest, who paid another man to smuggle Isa to the UK.  When he arrived here he spoke no English and had nowhere to go.  The project workers at Get Connected helped him to adjust to life in the UK, learn English,  and make friends with other young people in a similar situation.  Isa is now studying Access to Medicine and hopes to become a doctor, “to help other people as I have been helped”.

In a situation of prolonged conflict like that of Sudan, thousands of ordinary people find themselves separated from friends and family, far from their homes and in extraordinary situations.  While the vast majority of Sudanese refugees were supported by countries like Uganda, we are proud to have helped a small number to build new lives in the UK.  As people around the world stand up in support of the Sudanese people – including celebrities like George Clooney, who was recently arrested at a protest against the Sudanese government – it’s important to remember that sometimes, people affected by a conflict can be closer to home, and need your support here as much as ever.  If you’d like to send a message of welcome to refugees in the UK, you can do so on our Welcome Wall.

This week, it’s Young People Seeking Safety Week!  With organisations and individuals all over the country standing up for young asylum seekers, we thought it was time for a blog about our fantastic youth project, Get Connected, which turns eight years old this year.

There’s been a youth project at our Liverpool office since 2001, but Get Connected was first launched in 2004.  Its youth workers – Gareth and Nicolette – worked with 55 young people last year, running weekly well-being activities like learning how to cook, and providing vital advice on asylum applications.  Both Gareth and Nicolette started out as youth project volunteers, in 2006 and 2002 respectively, and they’ve been at Refugee Action ever since!  “It’s important to support young people seeking asylum,” says Nicolette.  “They’re here on their own, without their families, so they’re one of the most vulnerable groups.”

It’s not easy to be a young person seeking safety in the UK, especially if you’re by yourself.  Not only do the young people at Get Connected have to deal with claiming asylum, they also have to learn and understand a new language and culture, as well as learn to live independently – doing their own shopping, cooking their own food, and looking after themselves in a strange city.  How many British teenagers could cope with living by themselves, in a strange country and a difficult and insecure situation?  We’re not sure that many could, but Get Connected gives the young people it works with a place where they can meet others in the same situation, make friends and enjoy themselves, and get proper support and guidance.  It’s also a place where they can be creative – recently, the young people cooked up a storm for World Food Night, and made a video about their event to inspire others (you can watch it here).

In its eight year life, Get Connected has supported more than 1,000 young people from all over the world.  Its current group includes young people from Iran/Kurdistan, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Guinea, Somalia, Ethiopia and Uganda.  All of the young people are here alone, with no family to support them.  Having been forced to flee their home countries due to conflict or persecution, they are faced with many of the same experiences as an adult asylum seeker: finger printing, asylum interviews, the need to prove that they have a well-founded fear of persecution at home and, in some cases, having to make their case in court.  In recent years, it’s become much more difficult for young people to prove their age – an issue which hit the headlines just last week, when the UKBA announced a pilot scheme using dental x-rays to assess the age of asylum seeking children. With young asylum seekers facing an increasingly uncertain future, it’s more important than ever that they receive the support they need to feel welcomed, respected and safe in the UK.  Youth projects like Get Connected, with experienced youth workers like Gareth and Nicolette, are a great way to ensure that this happens.  If you’d like to support the project, you can make a donation to it here.

What links unique flavours, a handful of fun and plenty of dough raised to help asylum seekers and refugees? Refugee Action’s first ever World Food Night! Fundraising Manager Alison Gregory rounds up the very best of the night from around the UK.

Get Connected does World Food Night

Here in the fundraising team, we’re constantly looking for creative ways to engage supporters and potential supporters in the vital work that we do – providing a lifeline for asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. After lots of coffee (and a few muffins) we came up with World Food Night. What better way to inspire people to take action than to ask them to organise dinner parties?! We know that 68% of people think that immigration has been great for British food, and our refugee beneficiaries were more than happy to donate recipes from all over the world. So, on February 24^th we asked our supporters to invite their friends, colleagues and neighbours round, cook them delicious food and raise a bit of cash which went straight to funding much needed destitution projects.

We were overwhelmed by the amount of support across the whole country. People welcomed neighbours into their houses, echoing our vision that all refugees and asylum seekers feel welcomed in the UK. Events were organised in cafes, restaurants and community centres. Professional guitarists performed, local councillors came to make speeches and at one event, they were having so much fun and frolics with the mouth-watering food they forgot to hold their raffle!

In Liverpool, eight young refugees from one of our projects cooked up a storm in a professional kitchen, which included Kurdish salad, Eritrean ‘teddy-fish’ and ‘Scouse’ – a Liverpudlian delicacy (ask our Liverpool team if you want to know more on that!)

And it all happened for a reason – so far we’ve raised a fantastic £7000! Because we’re such a small charity, that’s being put to use straight away where it’s needed most, helping destitute asylum seekers – those who don’t have shelter, or access to regular hot meals. Just £10 will pay for hot drinks for more than 20 people living on the street, who can also have a shower and receive clean clothes. You can see the support we’ve had for this is really fantastic. Don’t forget to send any outstanding donations in by April 2^nd – that’s when we’re giving the prize to the person who raises the most – a free meal for two at Levi’s eatery in London! And for the runner up, a free visit for two round Castle Rock Brewery in Nottingham.

As one World Food Night organiser declared ‘plantain soup, joloff rice, spinach and coconut in fresh fruit, friends to share it with and money for Refugee Action…what more could you want?!’ And the best bit…everyone is coming back next year for an even bigger and better World Food Night on February 22nd 2013. If you want to get involved, you can register for your free recipes now!

Thank you!

This week, we at Refugee Action’s London office were very excited to hear about the upcoming Human Rights Watch Film Festival.  Unusually for an artistic event, HRWFF is organised by an NGO – Human Rights Watch, who monitor and report on human rights issues around the world.  As this might suggest, the festival organisers really know their area, and their events – which take place in San Francisco, New York and Toronto as well as London – bring together some of the best films and documentaries about human rights currently showing anywhere in the world.

In this year’s programme, two films stand out as being particularly interesting for anyone who’s concerned with refugee and asylum issues.  In Colour of the Ocean, from German director Maggie Peren, two refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo find their lives colliding with two very different individuals – a well-intentioned tourist, and a disillusioned local police officer – as they attempt to reach safety in Europe.  The film explores the difficulties faced by asylum seekers who arrive in the Spanish Canary Islands, an issue addressed in a recent Human Rights Watch report.

In the documentary strand, there’s Fernand Melgar’s moving feature Special Flight (Vol special).  In contrast to Peren’s film, Melgar’s looks at experiences and stories from the other end of the asylum journey.  Filmed inside the Frambois detention centre in Switzerland, it gives an insight into the difficult relationship between the detainees and the staff who work with them.  The detainees, who give a powerful insight into their thoughts, hopes and fears, are all faced with three possibilities: receiving asylum and being allowed to remain in Switzerland, leaving voluntarily, or leaving in custody on a so-called “special flight”.  It’s an issue that many who work with asylum seekers feel very strongly about, and the film, which seems to include remarkable access to everyone involved, will give its audiences much to think about.

Colour of the Ocean is showing on March 23rd at the Curzon Soho on March 23rd, and on March 24th at the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton.

Special Flight is showing on March 27th at the Ritzy Cinema Brixton, and March 28th at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London (ICA).

To find out more about this year’s festival, please visit the Human Rights Watch Film Festival website or follow them on Twitter.

Back in November last year, Ahmad Masoude, one of our refugee spokespeople, attended an ECRE conference about getting refugee voices heard across Europe.  Here’s his insight into what it’s like to speak out for refugees, and what he learnt from the event:

Flying to Belgium, to another European country for the first time, was exciting.  I’ve been a refugee spokesperson for Refugee Action since 2008, and it has always been fascinating for me.  Not only have I learned more about the asylum and immigration system in the UK, I have met people from different backgrounds, faiths and nationalities who have made me more aware of how much people sacrifice to find safety.

As part of the media team from Refugee Action I was invited to attend a conference organised by ECRE (The European Council for Refugees and Exiles), discussing the role of refugee spokespeople and the possibility of establishing a Europe-wide refugee voices network to engage more effectively with media.  The two-day conference was held in Leuven, just on the outskirts of Brussels – a city full of students on bikes, plus lots of waffles and mussels!  It became an important opportunity to meet up with other media representatives, discuss and share our concerns and experiences and learn from each other about how European countries are treating asylum seekers and where we have common ground.

One question that struck me during our discussions was whether Europe is any longer the safest place – both on human rights grounds and moral grounds – to seek asylum.  I know about the asylum system in the UK from my sessions as a volunteer with RAP (the Refugee Awareness Project), which taught me about the tough experiences people go through.  However, I wasn’t aware of how refugees and asylum seekers are being treated in other countries as part of common European policy or through individual country policy.  During the conference, I thought about the rising number of Afghan refugees and those who have been affected by the Arab Spring, in countries such as Greece and Italy.  I realised that some governments no longer accommodate asylum seekers and refugees, leaving them in streets and parks to sleep rough and be fed (if lucky) by the charitable aid.

At one stage, a delegate from the Italian Refugee Council spoke about how their government is struggling to control the number of refugees and asylum seekers flowing into Italy, especially from the North African countries.  Perhaps for me the most shocking news came from the Republic of Ireland, where the living conditions of asylum seekers, the lack of a decent reception service and proper legal representation, and the lowest number of grants of asylum in Europe, raised fundamental questions for me regarding the Refugee Convention and our responsibilities.  The conference raised and debated the way refugee charities and NGOs can involve more refugee spokespeople who need their voices to be heard by their governments and policy makers.  It will not be easy, but I hope this can one day become a reality and the voices of some of the most marginalised people in Europe will be heard.

To find out more about ECRE’s work, you can follow them on Twitter.

Access to Justice, Refugee Action’s new research project into problems with the asylum legal aid system, is launching soon – and we need your support to make it a success.  In this blog, asylum laywer Jean-Benoit Louveaux explains how the project came to be and what he hopes it will achieve.

Between June 2007 and March 2011, I ran a research project into refusals of Legal Aid to asylum seekers in Devon and Cornwall.  The project found that 4 out of every 5 asylum seekers we saw had been wrongly refused Legal Aid by their lawyer.  Refugee Action is now launching a national project, Access to Justice, to show that these figures are not just confined to the South West.

Legal Aid matters and it matters most to those who need it the most. Most asylum seekers have neither the financial, emotional or legal capacity to adequately represent their case to UKBA, let alone to an Immigration Judge.  It is surely absurd to expect someone who is disorientated, often traumatised and who might not understand English well to be able to understand the English legal system.  I have been working within that system for the past fifteen years, and even I am far from mastering it completely.

Problems with legal support for asylum seekers originate from a system intended to stop lawyers being overly greedy by setting a fixed fee per Legal Aid case to prevent extortionate claims.  This meant that the fee a lawyer would receive for a case would be the same, regardless of how much work they put into it.  A diligent lawyer who did their best for their clients would therefore be paid the same as an unscrupulous one who did the absolute minimum.  The sad tale we hear from our clients up and down the country is all too familiar: “My lawyer won’t help me.”

The system clearly needs to change, and even the UK Border Agency (UKBA) have begun to recognise this. For the past year, they have been funding the Early Legal Advice Project, which explores the difference that a properly funded Legal Aid system might make.  Evidence suggests that helping asylum seekers to make their case fully helps UKBA to get its decisions right and therefore avoids the expense of unnecessary appeals. A quarter of all UKBA decisions are over-turned on appeal, but that number could be significantly reduced if proper legal support for asylum cases was available.

So where does Access to Justice fit in?  Firstly, we hope it will show that the existing Legal Aid system is not working, and that the huge proportion of asylum seekers being wrongly refused Legal Aid is a direct consequence of that. Secondly, it will help those who are wrongly refused support to find decent lawyers to represent them.  Although we will not have the capacity to help everyone, for those that we can help it could literally make the difference between life and death: protection in this country or being forced back to the country they fled persecution from. Thirdly, and most importantly, we hope to use the project’s findings to change the current Legal Aid system, to encourage better practice, and to bring about a Legal Aid system that gives every asylum seeker the means to present their case for asylum.

We are currently raising funds to support Access to Justice.  If you can make a donation, please visit our Latest Appeal page.

Peter, a refugee who was resettled to Greater Manchester on the Gateway Protection Programme, takes his children to school.

For more than 30 years, the Dutch government has resettled refugees to The Netherlands. Theirs is one of Europe’s longest standing humanitarian resettlement programmes, and has offered the chance of a new life to some of the world’s most vulnerable refugees. However, a recent statement from Gerd Leers, the Dutch minister for Immigration and Asylum, outlines a list of new priorities for the scheme – and could easily close the door to the vulnerable people it is meant to help.

Resettlement is one of the UNHCR’s three durable solutions to protracted refugee situations, and last year it was estimated that more 800,000 refugees worldwide were eligible for it. Of these, 170,000 were defined as especially vulnerable – strong candidates, you might think, for resettlement places. Annually, the developed world offers just 80,000 places on resettlement schemes, and Europe takes just 5% of these: less than 5,000 last year.

If resettlement numbers are so tight, surely it should be the most vulnerable individuals who qualify first? In Leers’ letter, this isn’t the case. The Dutch minister wants to base his programme on “integration potential”- a nasty phrase unloved by NGOs around the world. In practice, this means it’s up to the refugee to show the necessary skills or aptitude that the state deems would make them “easy” to integrate into their society – and, during any selection process, a person might be disqualified if it is deems their integration may be “difficult or undesirable”.

Thus, to qualify for resettlement, you’ve not only got to be one of the one million people identified as eligible, be noted as vulnerable enough to make it onto the priority list of 170,000, then be selected as one of the 80,000 for whom places on resettlement schemes are available, and then you must demonstrate that your integration will be an “easy” task. It seems likely that this addition will make it even more difficult for the most vulnerable refugees, the very people who should be protected by a humanitarian programme of this nature, to access help.

Another major issue with Gerd’s statement is that it’s often very difficult to tell who will integrate “easily” and who won’t. “Moving to Mars”, the excellent film by Mat Whitecross offers just this kind of insight as it follows two Karen refugee families from Burma on a journey to a new life in the UK. The contrast couldn’t be greater between the two men in the households, but it’s enough to say that their experiences of integration aren’t what you might expect. At Refugee Action, our greatest challenges in resettlement have often been with groups who should, on paper, have been the easiest to integrate – and often, it’s those who are perceived as “difficult” – due to poor health, little formal education, or no English – who have the most to give and who feel most connected to their communities.

I recently visited a family resettled to Greater Manchester; consisting of a husband, wife, two children and the husband’s elderly mother. The husband and his mother had arrived in a refugee camp in 1967 – the year I was born – and has languished there, lives on hold, until they were resettled to Greater Manchester more than forty years later. After so long in a refugee camp, the husband had no qualifications, spoke no English and had just recovered from a serious illness. After a thirty hour journey to the UK, the husband’s first words to me were, “Tell me when to start work, I’m ready today”. On paper, how “easy” would it be for this man to integrate into UK society, and what about the long-term contribution made by the subsequent generations of his family? By their very nature, resettlement programmes are an investment in the long term future of people and their families, and it saddens me to think that this potential, as well as the overriding humanitarian need for the programme, could be sidelined.

Good governments accept their responsibilities, and with integration this means providing adequate resources and engaging civil society at the start of the process. It’s highly specialised work, but leads to strong, responsible communities, and investment at the start of the integration journey saves resources in the longer term. My advice to Mr Leers is that The Netherlands should stick to the humanitarian nature of the resettlement programme, concentrate on those most in need, and find a different way of valuing the worth that people bring to your country and your community. Offering the protection of our communities to the most vulnerable is the right thing to do – it shouldn’t be motivated simply by economic gain.

- Rick Jones, Director of Operations at Refugee Action