Theme - Asylum Seekers & Refugees
CRC has a particular concern for asylum seekers. Mostly living in Newcastle-Gateshead and the Wearside and Teesside conurbations, 3600 asylum seekers and their families from 70 nationalities receive support and accommodation while their claim for asylum is assessed.
To be one of the 10,000 asylum seekers in the North East can mean detention (often for years), poor housing, isolation, being moved at short notice from the community where the person has settled, cut off from their regular source of spiritual, emotional and medical support, and being denied the choice of shops through a voucher scheme amounting to just £35 per week.
Remembering that Jesus was the first asylum seeker in the New Testament, what can churches do?
Give practical support for people seeking asylum.
Stand alongside them as they struggle through “the system”.
Bust the myths, by confronting misinformation and misconceptions in society.
Engage with Government on these issues.
CRC is actively involved in campaigning for the right of asylum seekers to work and support themselves. In 2002, the Government withdrew this right to work. Denied the opportunity to support themselves and their families, asylum seekers are often forced to survive on handouts and frequently end up destitute, depressed and without a sense of self worth. In March 2009 the General Synod of the Church of England voted almost unanimously to support a change in the policy.
The Right to Work campaign is not simply a matter of charity but of justice. It is a campaign which CRC believes represents truer North East and British values, and certainly Christian values, than the present policy of the establishment.
In December 2009, CRC joined the North of England Refugee Service, the Regional Refugee Forum and the North East Strategic Migration Partnership in organising an event at Newcastle Civic Centre in support of asylum seekers. Our Chair, Bishop Martin Wharton, was one of the key speakers, and an account of his speech was recorded in the Journal by journalist Alastair Craig.
Latest Blog Posts
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- (Asylum Seekers & Refugees)
- Added Thu 20th May 10
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- Added Fri 29th Jan 10
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- (Asylum Seekers & Refugees)
- Added Tue 5th Jan 10
