Refugees and asylum seekers have been much in the news lately. As I write, the latest concern is over those driven to leave Libya in overcrowded and often unseaworthy boats, who sometimes perish at sea and find little help or refuge if or when they arrive in Europe. Refugees from Syria and other countries in the Middle East have been an ongoing concern for several years and many other examples could be given. Some of them arrive in this country.
Few people can be in greater need of help than those who have been forced to leave their country of origin by persecution, torture, rape, violence, threats of death or serious harm and who arrive in a strange country, destitute, suffering and not always speaking its language. What help are they given in the UK? Initially very little. When they arrive, it is often many months, sometimes even years, before their claim to asylum and refugee status is assessed by the Home Office. In the meantime they are given just £5 per day. Many are homeless or forced to live in unsuitable accommodation. They are not allowed to work or earn a living. It is worth noting that the Home Affairs Committee’s Report on asylum in October 2013 includes the statement: “People in all stages of the asylum system experience destitution”.
Leviticus 19 vv 33-4 says: “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not suppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”
I am struck by the comparison with our own citizens. Many people regard the minimum wage of £6.50 per hour as inadequate and many bodies, including London Citizens and this church, have been lobbying for people to receive a living wage of £8.80 per hour. In addition many people in poverty or hardship are entitled to housing or other benefits, even though these may not be as great as some would like them to be. But we expect asylum seekers to survive on £5 per day – not £5 per hour but per day. I cannot regard that as in accordance with our biblical teaching.
This church supports LCRF and FfT, two charities which in different ways act to help refugees and asylum seekers. LCRF is a small charity, set up by the London churches to help asylum seekers in destitution, by raising funds to enable them to make grants to churches and other groups directly assisting asylum seekers. These grants are mainly for the provision of food parcels, toiletries and hygiene packs, travel cards to enable asylum seekers to access services at day centres, and to attend ESOL classes (English for Speakers of Other Languages). LCRF also supports Baisekel, a project which renovates bicycles for asylum seekers, and centres which help deal with psychological issues faced by asylum seekers.
LCRF’s income is almost entirely dependent on donations from individuals and churches, of which a significant proportion is from this church. Expenses are minimal. The Charity has no paid staff and all its activities are carried out by the Trustees and other volunteers. Meetings are hosted by St. Martin’s, Gospel Oak, and the London Interfaith Centre.
FfT (aka the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture) was founded as a small charity about thirty years ago, but has grown into a vital nationwide institution. It is the only organization in the UK dedicated exclusively to providing care and treatment for victims of torture. Such care is extremely costly and can last in individual cases for months and sometimes years, so traumatized are some victims of torture. Care is made more difficult and costly by the Government’s system of dispersal of asylum seekers which may interrupt treatment and means that FfT is having to provide more centres and find means of reaching victims who are at a distance from main centres and cannot afford the costs of travel for treatment.
Another aspect of help given by FfT is the provision of medico-legal reports on asylum seekers who have suffered torture.
All too often those at the Home Office do not believe genuine asylum seekers when they initially present their claim, such claimants naturally having no ability at that time to present independent evidence. In such circumstances a report from FfT can make all the difference to the ability to prove that the claim is genuine. FfT receive many calls from scared victims who have been detained with a view to deportation back to the country from which they have escaped and provide help whenever possible.
Just one example of the gratitude of one victim of torture. A survivor from Iran said: “I referred myself to FfT and I can tell you that it was the light at the end of the tunnel for me. It reconfigured my whole life. Without FfT and my counsellor Gillian, I wouldn’t have survived.”