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

jon@lassn.org.uk

07845 29 80 47

lassn.org.uk

@lassnleeds

facebook.com/lassnleeds