This was the fundamental message at the Basis Project National Conference – Refugee Community organisations: looking to the future.
Refugee community organisations have a powerful part to play in changing the asylum process for the better. This conference allowed lots of different organisations to come together to look at the challenges facing refugee community organisations, and to share ideas with other groups on how we can work together to tackle them.
Empowering refugee women
I attended the conference along with my colleague Mary Kate Dickie and we were joined by members of the Refugee Women’s Strategy -Group Ahlam Souidi and Maeriem Timizar. We have been working with this fantastic refugee community organisation; helping them to develop their own influencing capabilities and supporting them in their mission to support refugee and asylum seeking women bring about positive change.
Working together is key
Conferences like this highlight how important it is to work together; communicate, support each other and share resources. We were thrilled to put this into practise and spend some time talking with the members of the Manchester based, Women Asylum Seekers Together (WAST). Ahlam and Maeriem were able to share their experiences campaigning on asylum issues – and they were amazed by the support Glasgow communities had shown to refugees and asylum seekers.
The two groups were keen to meet up again so I’m sure the Refugee Women’s Strategy Group will be looking forward welcoming them to Glasgow and building a stronger bond with them.
Petition for routine regional asylum screenings – sign up!
The conference was the ideal platform to launch their petition calling for routine asylum screening in the UK Border Agency regions. They believe that people seeking safety in the UK should not have to be forced to go to Croydon to make an application for asylum. We managed to gather 63 signatures during the conference, which is a great start!.
Sign the petition – it only takes seconds
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