Leicester

Working to create a culture of welcome in the City and County of

LeicesterRegistered charity no 1138017

www.cityofsanctuary.org/leicester

What does Leicester City of Sanctuary do?

We try to tell people about what it is really like to be an asylum seeker.

•We give talks and hold workshops for schools and other organisations.•We offer free training to employers and the voluntary sector

We also try to make life better for asylum seekers and refugees in our community by:

•Running a drop-in centre.•Arranging outings and social activities.•Providing classes and workshops.•Helping them learn English.•Organising NEST – a scheme which helps asylum seekers find new evidence to support their claims.•Running a ‘hosting’ scheme for people who are temporarily homeless.•Maintaining a small ‘hardship fund’ for people in crisis.•Helping people find items they need that they cannot afford to buy

Case Study Abdul fled his village when the Taliban tried to recruit him when he was 15. As a member of the Hazaran ethnic group he faced persecution. His family had already been killed and he arrived in the UK alone after a terrifying journey of 6 months. He was treated as an adult although he was still a minor. His asylum claim failed due to poor legal representation and an interpreter who did not speak his dialect. He missed his appeal hearing as he could not read the letter and went “underground” due to his fear of deportation. He lived destitute in Leicester for 6 years when he was found by the Red Cross. Referred to Leicester City of Sanctuary, Abdul was found a new solicitor and was hosted by a couple in Rothley who showed him kindness and support. Abdul regularly attended City of Sanctuary English classes and the Drop in Centre. He loved his classes and learned to read and write in English. He was not literate in his first language as he never had the chance to go to school. He was also seen be a specialist for his medical condition.

He was arrested and detained before his fresh claim was lodged. Abdul had made many friends across Leicester and Rothley and a campaign was launched by his football friends to release him and prevent his deportation. He is currently free and awaiting further consideration of his case. Abdul says “All I want is to be safe. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me.”

Our drop in centre Thursdays 1-4pm at St

Martins House by the cathedral

Provides free lunches and bus fares

Access to sewing machines and laptops

Games and activities, cups of tea and a chat

Opportunity to meet new people and make friends

Leicester City of Sanctuary Outings

Skegness Hunstanton

Leicester City of Sanctuary Activities

Visit from Jon Ashworth MP

Christmas party

Drop in Activities

What can you do to help? Tell your friends about us and challenge negative stereotypes

of asylum seekers. Donate (non-perishable) food items to the Red Cross or the

Welcome Project which help destitute asylum seekers. Become a supporter – you will receive our newsletter and

occasional requests for help. Become a volunteer. Leicester City of Sanctuary is entirely run

by volunteers. Encourage your organisation – workplace, club, religious

organisation or other group – to invite one of our speakers and sign up to support Leicester City of Sanctuary.

Offer a spare room in your home from one night to two months to someone who is temporarily homeless.

What can you do to help? Make a donation or raise money for us. We do not

receive any ‘official’ funding – all our money comes from donations, charitable trusts and our own fund-raising efforts. With more money we can help more asylum seekers – for example, it costs £200 a session to run the drop-in centre, £25 a week to support a destitute asylum seeker in our hosting scheme or £2 to provide a lunch for one person at our centre.

Become a Friend of Leicester City of Sanctuary and covenant a small monthly sum (as little as £5) to support our work.

Donate via Just TextGiving 70070 LCOS £1 to £5 or £10

Asylum seekers get an unfair press

Inaccurate media reports have given asylum seekers a bad name but this is unfair since asylum seekers are less likely to commit a crime through fear. A constant stream of inflammatory media encourages us to pair words like bogus and illegal or crime with asylum.

Comments such as “Every asylum seeker in Britain should be treated as an illegal and deported” have been made in letters to the Leicester Mercury but this is against Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

Who are asylum seekers and why do they need our

help?People seek asylum because they have suffered persecution at home – even torture and imprisonment – simply for osupporting the ‘wrong’ political party o speaking out against corruptiono for being gay or marrying the ‘wrong’ persono for belonging to the ‘wrong’ ethnic group or practising the ‘wrong’ religion These are things we simply cannot imagine in the UK - so many people don’t believe them.

Asylum seekers get an unfair press

Inaccurate media reports have given asylum seekers a bad name but this is unfair since asylum seekers are less likely to commit a crime through fear. A constant stream of inflammatory media encourages us to pair words like bogus and illegal or crime with asylum.

Comments such as “Every asylum seeker in Britain should be treated as an illegal and deported” have been made in letters to the Leicester Mercury but this is against Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

Asylum seekers get an unfair press

Inaccurate media reports have given asylum seekers a bad name but this is unfair since asylum seekers are less likely to commit a crime through fear. A constant stream of inflammatory media encourages us to pair words like bogus and illegal or crime with asylum.

Comments such as “Every asylum seeker in Britain should be treated as an illegal and deported” have been made in letters to the Leicester Mercury but this is against Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

What happens to asylum seekers when they come to the UK?

On arrival, asylum seekers have to report to the UK Border Agency. Many are traumatised. They

•are finger-printed and issued with an identity card

• have to report back at regular intervals and can be locked up at any time

•are not allowed to work and receive minimal benefits which are not always paid in cash

This means that some people can never use public transport, buy a cup of tea, shop in the market or a charity shop, repair shoes or get a hair cut.

They have no choice about where they live and they can be moved to another part of the country at 48 hours notice, away from schools, friends and any life they have made for themselves.

Please Support Us

To pledge your support, covenant donations or for more information

Visit http://www.cityofsanctuary.org/Leicester Email: Leicester@cityofsanctuary.orgLike us on Facebook/com/leicestercityofsanctuaryFollow us on Twitter.com/leicestercos

The facts about asylumWho's who – Definitions

Refugee“A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.”The 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of RefugeesIn the UK, a person is officially a refugee when they have their claim for asylum accepted by the government.

Asylum SeekerA person who has left their country of origin and formally applied for asylum in another country but whose application has not yet been concluded.

The facts about asylumWho's who – Definitions

Refused asylum seekerA person whose asylum application has been unsuccessful and who has no other claim for protection awaiting a decision. Some refused asylum seekers voluntarily return home, others are forcibly returned and for some it is not safe or practical for them to return until conditions in their country change.‘Illegal’ immigrantSomeone whose entry into or presence in a country contravenes immigration laws.Economic migrantSomeone who has moved to another country to work. Refugees are not economic migrants.

Getting leave to remain is very complicated and can take a long

time Many asylum seekers have no legal

representation Interpretation services are often poor Immigration officials are sometimes

inadequately trained and don’t know about the country of origin

Whilst waiting for a decision you live in limbo and are unable to take paid work

There’s no guarantee you will be granted status …

Only 36% of cases are granted refugee status at the first hearing

Another 28% are granted status on appeal Where status is refused it is often because

of lack of evidence or lack of or poor legal representation or lack of information about the country of

origin

Asylum seekers and refugees do not get large handouts

from the stateAsylum seekers do not come to the UK to claim benefits – in fact most know nothing about the welfare systems before arrival. Most asylum seekers are living in poverty and experience poor health and hunger. Almost all asylum seekers are not allowed to work and are forced to rely on state support – usually £5 a day.Asylum seekers have to live where they are told – usually a room in hard to let housing.

Asylum seekers and refugees are law-abiding citizens

The vast majority of people seeking asylum are law abiding people.

Many destitute refused asylum seekers fear approaching the police to report incidents of sexual harassment and assaults, avoiding contact for fear of being picked up, put in detention and deported.

Immigration officers have the power to detain asylum seekers, even if they have not committed any crime.

Refugees make a huge contribution to the UK

Immigrants, including refugees, pay more into the public purse compared to their UK born counterparts.

An estimated 30,000 jobs have been created in Leicester by Ugandan Asian refugees since 1972.

About 1,200 medically qualified refugees are recorded on the British Medical Association’s database It is estimated that it costs around £25,000 to support a refugee doctor to practise in the UK. Training a new doctor is estimated to cost between £200,000 and £250,000.

Asylum seekers are looking for a place of safety

The 1951 Refugee Convention guarantees everybody the right to apply for asylum. It has saved millions of lives. No country has ever withdrawn from it.

There is no such thing as an ‘illegal’ or ‘bogus’ asylum seeker. Under international law, anyone has the right to apply for asylum in any country that has signed the 1951 Convention and to remain there until the authorities have assessed their claim.

Many refugees and asylum seekers hope to return home at some point in the future, if the situation in their country has improved.

The top ten refugee producing countries in 2011 all have poor human rights records or ongoing conflict. Asylum seekers are fleeing from these conflicts and abuses, looking for safety

Many refused asylum seekers are still here because

Their countries are unsafe or unstable Many of those who would once have qualified for protection today find themselves refused and destitute.

They can’t be removedIn practice it is extremely difficult to forcibly remove people to countries where there may be serious safety issues, uncooperative governments, difficulties in obtaining travel documents or unreliable travel routes.

They are afraid to go back Many refused asylum seekers are too fearful to return voluntarily as they are from countries torn apart by conflict or where human rights abuses are rife. While their countries remain volatile, they consider destitution a safer option than returning to conflict and abuse

They believe they have a case Even if a person is fairly refused asylum, it does not automatically follow that their claim for asylum is “bogus”. Even if the government accepts that you have been persecuted, you may be refused asylum unless you can prove there is a significant risk it will happen again.

The government sometimes gets it wrong Experts have long expressed concerns about whether some asylum seekers receive a full and fair hearing of their claim. Decision making in relation to some nationalities is particularly poor. For example, in 2012, 53% of Eritreans, 47% of Sri Lankans, 34% of Zimbabweans and 30% of Iranians who appealed had their refusals overturned. For every person who successfully overturns a poor decision, many more may be falling through the net due to a lack of quality legal advice.

More facts and figures

80% of refugees are hosted by developing countries, only a small proportion travel to developed countries in Europe and elsewhere

Refugees only account for a tiny percentage of overall immigration in the UK - 3% in 2011

Most asylum applications are from countries that have either recently experienced conflict or have well-documented human rights abuses

E.g. Iran, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Nigeria, China, Sudan and Zimbabwe.