Why teenagers?

December 1, 2016

Yesterday I listened as a teenager told me that the final straw, in his country of origin, was when he was asked to wear a suicide vest.

It was time to go and his poor, widowed mother had to lose her only son and find a way to get him out, because what else could she do?

Earlier this month I stood in Srebinica and heard first- hand the stories of some of the few survivors of the genocide that was committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995. Atrocities were carried out on everyone, but it was the men and teenage boys who were identified as a bigger risk and over 8,000 were murdered. They were murdered because they are “dangerous” by being male. They are seen as being the future of the opposition. This is replicated in so many conflicts across the world.

So when politicians and the tabloid press complain that it is teenage boys that turn up seeking asylum and not “cute” babies and toddlers, they need to remember that vulnerability comes in a number of forms and may be precisely because you are a teenage boy! They need our protection not our derision.

Adele

November Events Roundup

November 10, 2016

There are several events throughout November across the county that you may be interested in.  First up, on Friday 11th at Nature in Art, Twigworth, is a Puddings Evening.  Come and eat pudding for a good cause!  (Tickets £5, available from GARAS’ office.)  The Stroud Book Festival has 2 events: Echo Chamber (11th-13th) and Hassan Akkad’s Personal Exodus (Saturday 12th), both in Stroud.  Gloucestershire County Council would like to meet anyone interested in fostering young asylum seekers, on Wednesday 23rd in Newent, whilst on Saturday 26th Samara Levy will be talking about the charity that she set up to help refugees in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, hosted by St Andrew’s Church, Churchdown.

More details of all of these events can found on the events page of our website, by clicking here.

Looking forward to the New Year, if you speak another language and would be interested in training as an interpreter in a therapy session, please follow this link to the ‘Latest’ page on our website for further information.

Today, 9th November 2016

November 10, 2016

So today is the day that GARAS says goodbye to the Hate Crime Co-ordinator who we have hosted for the past 2 years. Two years where she has worked in Gloucester and Gloucestershire to encourage a climate of trust in authority to report hate crime and incidents, to increase reporting and to work with communities.

And today’s the day we woke up to find that the President Elect of the USA has been openly misogynistic, racist and Islamaphobic throughout his campaign, a scary day indeed.

Last week I stood in a small town in Bosnia Herzegovina and saw something of what happens when hatred has the upper hand, when the “other” is singled out and isolated, when history cannot be forgotten and ridiculous fears are played on so that politicians can get their own way.

So thank you Sado, and Mina (who worked alongside Sado for a few months) for doing your part in this county. Let’s continue to work to defend our fundamental ideals & beliefs that no one should be discriminated on the basis of their race, gender, faith or sexual orientation or any other way that identifies their “difference”.

GARAS Conference

August 27, 2015

On Thursday 3rd September 2015 at 3pm, we will host a conference at GARAS entitled,
“InHumanE Rights? What is happening in Asylum?”

Our main speaker will be Dr Nick Gill from the University of Exeter. He will present on ‘Inhumanity in our time: Perspectives on border control and asylum in Britain’. There will then be some updates on immigration policy changes from the GARAS team and tea and cake afterwards. If you’d like to come, please RSVP to info@garas.org.uk .

In the week leading up to this, we’ll be posting snippets from emails into the GARAS inbox, showing some more of the positive, caring, compassionate response to the migrant crisis well documented in the press. All emails have been received in the past month.

May 14, 2015

A week into our new government and I find myself extremely depressed by
the immediate situation we find ourselves in.

This seems to be epitomised by the continuing response from the UK
towards those making the desperate journeys across the Mediterranean.

Countries across Europe are trying to work together to find ways to help
and our response is pitiful.
“Send them back!” was the response of our Home Secretary – to where?
Where do you suggest?

Do you mean to Libya where life is so very very bad taking a risk on a
flimsy craft seems worth it? Where you take your life in your hands and
abuse is routinely experienced.  Where a vivid description made to me
simply stated, “there is hell, and then there is Libya!”.

Or do you mean to countries such as Eritrea, where to be returned means
almost immediate imprisonment? Life long National Service, detention and
torture?

Or to Syria – yes you may claim we have taken 4000 Syrians, but not out
of any altruism, but because almost all them had to make the perilous
journey to get here.

This is a terrible response, one that had me in tears of anger and
frustration.  We can do better… we must do better, please remember that
well worn phrase, “Britain has a proud tradition……”