Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Volunteering

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Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Volunteering

• Maeve Sherlock
• Chief Executive
• The Refugee Council

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Refugees and Asylum Seekers

• Refugee definition
• persecution or fear of persecution for reasons of
  race, religion, nationality, membership of a
  particular social group or political opinion
• outside their country of origin or usual
  habitation
• unable or unwilling to gain protection from that
  country

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Refugees and Asylum Seekers

• Asylum Seeker definition
• claiming to be a refugee
• waiting for their claim to be decided
• There is no such thing as an illegal asylum seeker

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Top 10 Nationalities applying in the UK, July -
September 2004

• Iran 935
• China 620
• Somalia 570
• Zimbabwe 535
• Iraq 475
• Pakistan 460
• Eritrea 415
• India 400
• Afghanistan 380
• Sudan 340
• Other Nationalities 3,470

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The Asylum Process

• Asylum claim determined by the Immigration and
  Nationality Directorate (IND) - part of the Home
  Office
• Support while waiting for claim to be determined
  provided by the National Asylum Support Service
  (NASS) - a separate part of the Home Office

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Asylum Seekers

• No right to work - removed in 2002
• Allowed to Volunteer - guidance on this was
  issued on 12.02.01
• Government is keen to see asylum seekers and
  refugees take an active interest in the welfare
  of their own communities and the local community
  by undertaking voluntary activity while they are
  in the UK

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Home Office Guidance on Voluntary Activity

• Must be genuinely voluntary , amounting to
  neither employment or job substitution
• Expenses are refundable, but as actual costs and
  not as a flat rate
• Volunteering is not the same as Unpaid
  Employment, which asylum seekers are not allowed
  to do

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What can Asylum Seekers and Refugees bring?

• Skills
• Many refugees have excellent qualifications,
  experience and skills
• Life experience
• Knowledge of different cultures
• Refugees and asylum seekers come from all over
  the world

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What can Asylum Seekers and Refugees bring?

• Language skills
• Diversity
• Enthusiasm
• Many refugees and asylum seekers want to do
  something to say thank you to the UK for
  providing them with refuge
• They may want to learn about UK culture, and
  particularly employment culture

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What do you need to consider?

• Recruitment methods
• Additional support
• Payment of expenses
• Lack of certainty over future plans (asylum
  seekers)
• Possible client/staff prejudice

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Why bother?

• The importance of our environment to community
  cohesion
• Organisations gain from looking at their own
  diversity