Thank you to everyone that has got involved in Refugee Week. We hope this becomes the start of discussions and learning.
We’ve put together easy ways to reflect, engage and continue getting involved.
1. Remember the terms
Here at RMC, we work a lot with refugees, asylum seekers and migrants of many kinds. These terms can get confusing and often cross over, so we thought we would help share some ways to find out more about the people we work with.
Economic migrant
Someone who leaves his or her country of origin purely for financial and/or economic reasons. Economic migrants choose to move in order to find a better life and they do not flee because of persecution. Therefore they do not fall within the criteria for refugee status and are not entitled to receive international protection.
Refugee
A person who has fled their country of origin and is unable or unwilling to return because of a well-founded fear of being persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.
Asylum Seeker
An individual who is seeking international protection. In countries with individualised procedures, an asylum seeker is someone whose claim has not yet been finally decided on by the country in which he or she has submitted it. Not every asylum seeker will ultimately be recognised as a refugee, but every refugee is initially an asylum seeker.
See more about these terms and what it means for people:
What does this all actually look like?
All of this affects real people with real lives. Whether you have been in the UK for many years, or just a short time, it can have an impact. Below is a powerful conversation between two people – Owen, 45, a Jamaican born immigrant who came to the UK when he was four years old, sits down with Mo, 22, a Syrian refugee who came to the UK after fleeing ISIS in his home country.
2. Learn more
There are many useful resources to learn more yourself.
Take the free asylum support e-learning provided by ASAP
Use the Right to Remain toolkit to find out about the asylum process
Read about more of the Windrush cases that RMC has been involved in
Find out more about different terms with Amnesty
Read up on some of the incredible stories HuffPost put together for Refugee Week and The Metro
Attend a training course with Restore on befriending
3. Keep up to date:
If you have social media, follow some of our friends to keep up to date with news and local events:
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