refugee action blog

This video gives a unique insight into life in the UK through the eyes of 22 Bhutanese refugees who now live in Greater Manchester.  Last month, these men and women took part in PhotoVoice – a innovative art and photography event linked to the “In Translation” exhibition at the Manchester Art Gallery.

Refugee Action has been working with resettled Bhutanese refugees in the North West since 2010.  Many of those resettled to the region have lived in refugee camps in Nepal for most of their lives, unable to progress in their education or careers.  A Refugee Action photography project invited the community to take pictures of things that kept them healthy and well during the upheaval of starting a new life in the UK.  The images, collected over six months, emphasised the importance of community, family, access to employment training, online social networks, learning English and education.  The collected photos were then displayed at PhotoVoice, accompanied by audio interviews with community members about why these things are so important to them.

The PhotoVoice event included presentations from the Bhutanese community and from other participants in “In Translation”, such as migrant and refugee women from the Wai Yin Chinese Women’s Society, Europia Manchester and the Cumbria Multicultural Women’s Network.  Participants enjoyed an interactive tour of the gallery and took part in creative workshops about their shared experiences of moving to the UK.  There was a strong theme in the discussions around the importance of communities supporting each other, and the groups enjoyed meeting new people, swapping contact details and taking photos of their new friends.  It was a fantastic day – thank you to the Manchester Art Gallery for facilitating it and to everyone who came along and took part.

To find out more about our work with resettled refugee communities in the North West, read about our work on the UNHCR’s Gateway Protection Programme.

At 10:30am yesterday, Refugee Action heard news that sent whoops of joy through the audience of our staff conference. The claimants in a recent High Court judicial review (MK & AH v SSHD) had been successful in their case against the Home Secretary. Their case addressed the lawfulness of the Home Office policy of denying asylum seekers access to Section 4 support until a decision is made on their further submissions.  Both claimants, MK and AH, found themselves destitute for at least three weeks while waiting for a decision on their support application.

Both claimants had been Refugee Action clients when they submitted their application for support, and we played a key role in the legal challenge by acting as an independent intervener in the case.  This means that we offered the Court our unique expertise as an advice agency that supports and assists asylum seekers in exactly this situation, every single day, across England. In the months leading up to the hearing we had our heads down furiously collecting evidence of the impact of this policy on our clients, and debating lines of legal argument with our solicitor, Sonal Ghelani of Migrants Law Project, and our barristers, Alison Pickup and Mark Henderson of Doughty Street Chambers.

Was it all worth it…..? You bet it was. To quote the judge:

‘The evidence in this case drives me to the conclusion that the blanket instruction [concerning access to Section 4] does involve a significant risk that the Article 3 rights of a significant number of applicants for section 4 support will be breached.’

That means the judge agreed with the claimants’ that the policy carries an unacceptable risk that asylum seekers in need of support will be subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment – a risk that was strongly suggested by the evidence we collected.

So, what does this judgment mean for asylum seekers? In a nutshell, it means that people who have had an initial asylum claim and appeal refused, but have presented further evidence or information to be considered as a fresh claim for asylum, must not be subjected to a prolonged period of destitution, hunger, homelessness, and desperation. It means they won’t be forced to hop from sofa to sofa, from church pew to park bench, from night bus to rain-soaked doorway. It means they’ll be able to buy food, phone their legal representatives, travel to see their kids, make it to GP appointments, and hold their heads up high with something resembling dignity. Perhaps most significantly, it means they won’t have to make that awful, terrifying choice between suffering the inhumane experience of destitution in order to pursue safety in the UK, or returning to persecution or death in their country of origin.

 We believe it’s a choice no person should have to make – and, with a great sigh of relief, we can proudly state that the Court agrees with us. The High Court, one of the most respected legal institutions in this country, has stood up for the rights of asylum seekers.

 However, we won’t stop here.  We have to make sure the Home Office abides by this judgment, withdraws this unacceptable policy and introduces a fair and transparent system that ensures all asylum seekers who are eligible for support are provided with it in a prompt and efficient manner. If you agree that forcing people into abject poverty should never be the outcome of any government policy or practice, show your support for this cause on Facebook.  You can also read the full judgement here.

– Sile Reynolds, OSS Policy Manager, Refugee Action

A pop-up café touring the North West of England selling food that fuses traditional English cuisine with classic dishes produced by refugee communities; a day of tea-drinking across Manchester to bring refugees together with the wider community; and a series of iconic Manchester bridges covered from one end to the other in welcome messages to refugees from the Manchester public and thank you messages in return from refugees settling in the area. 

These were just three of the innovative awareness-raising concepts produced by advertising and design students recently when Refugee Action’s Manchester office and Salford University decided to combine talents, expertise and approaches to look at new ways of engaging the Manchester public in the realities of life for the region’s refugees and asylum seekers.

 In one film, a character with universal appeal and a strong English flavour is shown arriving in Manchester as a refugee and being directed to our offices for help – a daily reality here at Refugee Action, where refugees and asylum-seekers are met by highly skilled, passionate caseworkers and volunteers who provide much needed support.

 The project culminated in a fascinating afternoon of presentations and pitches to Refugee Action staff by each student group, talking through their designs and enthusiastically selling their concepts.  The winning designs came from Marie / Matt with the Pop-Up Café, global fusion menu and awareness-raising tablecloths, paper cups and cupcakes and Whitney / Ben whose animated film starring the “Refugee Tea Bag” was at the heart of a proposed campaign to get people across Manchester drinking tea together on one day of the year and learning about the experiences of refugees and asylum-seekers along the way.

 John Rooney, who set up the project from Salford University’s side and taught the students on the course said “I chose to approach Refugee Action as I believe that it is vital to set student projects designed to address relevant social issues. It was brilliant working with Tim and Gemma from Refugee Action on this project, and I am really pleased that the students excelled themselves in their creative responses. They fully engaged with the brief from the start, and produced a fantastically creative set of solutions which included motion work, flash mobs, umbrellas, home-made cakes and editing a daily newspaper.”

 Gemma Masingiri, Major Gifts and Partnerships Officer at Refugee Action said: “the creativity from all the students was really fantastic to see.  Many of them had really thought about what it means to be a refugee or asylum seeker, how important this issue is and how to combine this with innovative ways of engaging the public.  Thank you to all the students for taking part in the project with enthusiasm and to John for working so closely with us on this.”

– Tim Hilton, Greater Manchester Area Manager

 If you would like to approach Refugee Action with a similar project, please email us.