Why sign the stop destitution petition?
I signed because I want the UK Government to change their policies that force people seeking asylum into destitution. On the face of it, it may appear to be a simple reason so is worth looking at in a bit more context.
Not natural – not right
The UK Government must change their policies that create the problem of destitution. Ultimately these policies force people who have been refused asylum in the UK, but for varying reasons cannot return to their country, into a hopeless state of limbo with no support.
Destitution – to have absolutely nothing – is not a natural way to attempt to exist, much less for someone who has been forced to flee all they know and now finds themself in a country as wealthy, free and hospitable as Scotland.
Not all refugees arrive here destitute; they are made destitute by a series of artificial barriers, both legal and bureaucratic, placed between them and the necessities of a dignified life. People are faced with no home, no money and no right to work.
Supporting people from the beginning to the end of the asylum process will help them to remain engaged with the process and enables them to make the necessary decisions about their future. Not everyone who seeks asylum and protection meets the criteria of the Refugee Convention but ensuring that people are still supported enables them to better consider their choices with dignity.
Stop the indignity – end the nightmare
I want the UK Government to stop destitution because existing without the basic means of survival is a daily nightmare that no one should face.
It is not just living without a safe bed to call your own, not knowing with certainty where your next meal is coming from or not having the right to work to support yourself – it means living without a quality of life in any real sense. It is a state of poverty made all the worse by its sheer indignity and real dangers to wellbeing.
I want refugees living in Scotland and across the UK to be free from destitution because I find it difficult to imagine a group of people more in need of our support. To flee your home country, to abandon a life, a career, friends and family takes an exceptional kind of fear. It takes a fear that most of us are lucky enough never to experience.
Fear of murder, repression, of systematic rape, of genocide – of one day being simply ‘disappeared’. This fear brings refugees to Scotland from all over the world, that we greet so many of them with an imposed state of destitution is a real mark of shame against our society.
I signed to stop destitution – you can too
In addition to signing the petition, you can also share your reasons for doing so. When I signed, however, I realised that I had a bit more to say than I could fit in the space provided. And so I’m sharing my reasons in this blog.
I signed this important petition, not just because I am the Chief Executive of Scottish Refugee Council, but because I want the UK Government to change their policies forcing Scotland’s refugees into destitution, vulnerability and uncertainty.
Please join me and sign the petition too.
