An Introduction to Leeds Asylum Seeker Support Network,September 2014
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Transcript of An Introduction to Leeds Asylum Seeker Support Network,September 2014
AN INTRODUCTION TO LASSN Jon Beech
Director
WHO IS A REFUGEE?A refugee is as a person who has fled … due to a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of racereligionnationalitymembership of a particular social groupor political opinion
Article 1, The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?
Displaced people 2013
Refugees 2013 UK Asylum applications
in 2013
51,200,000
17,000,000
25,000
Source: UNHCR, 2014; Home Office, 2014
UK ASYLUM CLAIMS BY COUNTRY: TOP 10
Eritrea
Pakistan
Iran
Syria
Albania
Sudan
Sri Lanka
Afghanistan
Nigeria
Bangladesh
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
Q2 2014 Q2 2013
*
*
*
Source: Home Office, 2014
HOW ARE ASYLUM SEEKERS, REFUGEES (& EU MIGRANTS) DIFFERENT?
Asylum seeker
Refugee EU migrants
UK Govt have accepted their right to stay in UK
Permission to Work Access to mainstream welfare systems
Permissions to travel abroad
Choose where to live Ability to use NHS for free
/? /?Nb: There are some exceptions to this picture, but this is the simplified version
WHO ENDS UP STAYING?About 35% of applications are accepted as refugees, 5% are given temporary rights to remain, and 60% refused
Appeals are down 30% in Q2 2014About 60% of people who are refused appeal, and about 25% of these appeals are successful
Source: Home Office, 2014
WHERE DO PEOPLE END UP? In Q2 about 30,000 destitute asylum seekers were supported by the Govt
27,000 on Section 95 (housing, subsistence: pending initial decision)
About 3,000 on Section 4 (subsistence: refused but vulnerable)
North West is largest dispersal area (where asylum seekers are placed, pending decisions) - 6,130
In July 2014, Leeds had 578 asylum seekers on s4 & s95 combined
Source: Home Office, 2014
WHO ARE LASSN & WHAT DO WE DO?Leeds Asylum Seeker Support Network started in 2000
5 part time members of staff231 volunteers
All our work is about Supporting Empowering Integrating
THE POWER OF OUR WORK IS BASED ON THE POWER OF RELATIONSHIPS We help ordinary people to do amazing things by
Opening their homes
Sharing a meal
Spending time with someone
Listening
Having conversations
Sharing stories and experiences
Our volunteers get back as much as they give
IN 2013/14 LASSN SUPPORTED 483 PEOPLE
To learn English in their own homes 1,193 hours of teaching
To reduce isolation through our befriending scheme 86 matches
By providing temporary accommodation to people with nowhere to go through Grace Hosting more than 4,200 nights
INFORMATION AND AWARENESS
We trained 70 new volunteersWe also helped 10 exiled journalists to collaborate with 10 student journalists on www.oneworldleeds.org
We updated the Leeds Directory of Services for refugees & asylum seekers
Supported the Leeds MultiAgency Meeting
WHERE DOES LASSN FIT IN LEEDS?
Legal Advice/Immigration
Manuel Bravo
CAB
Advocacy Support
Asylum Help
Health
York Street
Solace/ Freedom
from Torture
PAFRAS
Women’s Health
Befrienders
Destitution
PAFRAS Drop Ins
Meeting Point
LASSN Grace
Hosting
Info/Campaigning
City of Sanctuary
Regional Asylum Activism
Migration Yorkshire
LASSN Directory, One World
Leeds
Language/Employment
RETAS
St Vincent de Paul
LASSN English at
Home
Social Contact
Leeds Refugee Forum
RETAS
LASSN Befriending
SOME RECENT CHANGES THAT ARE ON OUR MIND
Advocacy: making sure people know their rights & are able to speak up for them
Trafficking: people who are brought to the UK, and forced to work under threat of violence by organised criminal gangs
Changes to NHS access: NHS will no longer be free for people without Indefinite Leave to Remain
Less Advice and Legal Support available (cuts to Legal Aid)
Increasing destitution/ Home Office Allowance frozen at £5 a day
Increase in EU migrants and how we can be supportive
THINGS YOU CAN DO TO HELP? Understand more about the reality of refugees and people
seeking asylum - and share this with people you know
How could your church be more welcoming to people seeking refuge?
Ask us to come and speak to your church or group
Volunteer as a tutor, befriender, Grace Host – or as a Trustee
Support us financially – donations make up 25% of our income Support our friends eg PAFRAS with Harvest Festival donations to
their food bank/clothing store
Assist us to lobby for change at a local level Make contact with City of Sanctuary Lobby for change through your local councillors & MPs
Q&A
Jon Beech
Director
07845 29 80 47
lassn.org.uk
@lassnleeds
facebook.com/lassnleeds