Asylum Seeker dispersal areas are typically in economically and socially deprived areas

The Sudan quarter of the Calais Refugee Camp

I spent Wednesday evening with my wife Heather filtering through reams of research material for the BBC Radio Lancashire radio interview on Thursday 3rd September 2015. In the end of course, I didn't need all the the statistics or "fun facts" about seeking asylum in the UK.  But it was reassuring to have something in the bag to pull out if needed.

What I learned though, through doing the research, is that the UK asylum system is totally disfunctional. The only people who seem to win are MP's who ensure that Asylum Seekers are dispersed across the country, far away from their safe seats. The other winners are the private companies contracted to manage the system. These companies are rewarded huge amounts of tax-payer's money for delivering sub-standard services. What's more they include the usual suspects. You've heard of them all before as they are same companies who keep cropping up in connection with the running of private prisons, custody services, deporting "failed" asylum seekers etc.

Asylum Seeker dispersal areas are typically in economically and socially deprived areas, and these parts of the country have rates of high unemployment, and low incomes: areas in South Wales, Birmingham, the North West, the North East and Glasgow. To top it all asylum seekers are often among the most economically and socially deprived people in these most deprived of areas. The interview tomorrow is being being transmitted across the North West, an area that has a disproportionate number of asylum seekers and in many parts of the region, some of the poorest citizens in the country. While the direct costs of Asylum Seekers dispersal are funded by the UKBA and not local council tax, there can of course be an impact on social-cohesion. It's a tricky subject to tackle. It is perhaps not a surprise that dispersal areas are not in areas like Knightsbridge, Hampstead, Chelsea and (excluding Labour London and a couple of notable exceptions) the South East of England. It's curious that areas which vote Tory and have the highest house prices growth are not areas designated for Asylum seekers dispersal. Make of that what you will.

I want to thank Graham Liver for talking with me this morning on BBC Radio Lancashire about the Calais Refugees. It's a difficult subject, a lot of emotion and strong opinions on both sides of the debate. Those people with low incomes and who rely on public services, are the ones most likely to have to shoulder the burden of government spending cuts. Is it no wonder then that people at the bottom of the pile, are going to feel threatened about the possible impact that large numbers of new arrivals, immigrants and refugees might have on jobs, social housing and public services. Even so, I have met and spoken with lots of British people, many from the North West who, while they might not have much money, are either collecting donations, or giving their time as volunteers, all to help people worse of than themselves: the men, women, boys and girls who have fled from countries such as Syria, Eritrea, Sudan and Afghanistan.

Calais People to People Solidarity - Action from the UK

If you want to donate food, clothes, money or volunteer your time to help the men, women, boys and girls in the Calais Refugee Jungle Camp, please join the Facebook group Calais - People to People Solidarity - Action from UK

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Refugees are "rats in human form" response to Ormskirk Volunteer in the Calais Jungle newspaper article

Thank you to the Southport Visitor Newspaper for the coverage of ten day volunteering during August in the Calais Refugee Camp.

Photo taken in the Calais Refugee Jungle Camp

The article generated a number of responses in the comments section, most were favourable to the plight of the refugees.  Indeed the comments demonstrated that there are other people in the North West who support the refugees and are doing their own work to collect and distribute donations to the camp.

However, one person decided to respond altogether less favourably and called the refugees "rats in human form" and "filth".  In response, I wrote that I wondered if this chap suffered from a form of personality disorder, and while we should hate the actual comment, we should go easy on any poor soul who could utter such a vile thought. But on the other hand, it's perhaps dangerous to dismiss such comments as the raving of a mad man. If you replace "illegals", as he refers to the refugees, with "Jew", then we've been here before in Europe's not so distant past. The refugees in Calais are not rodents or a swarm, they are men, women, boys and girls, like each of us and they deserve our empathy and assistance.

Supporters of the refugees on the Facebook group Calais - People to People Solidarity - Action from UK took a different view to both the horrible comments and my response.  Leanne said "Can we please not equate mental health diagnoses with making hateful comments? Having a mental illness does not make a person racist!!!". Leanne is right of course, having a mental illness does not in general make someone a racist. I am not tarring all the people with a mental illness with the same brush. However, to refer to a group of people as "rats in human form" and "filth" is perhaps indicative of a sociopathic personality disorder.  On the other hand, my wife Heather said that perhaps the man is just horrible and horrible people say horrible things.

Andrew, from the organisation A Safe World For Women, said in reponse to the "rats in human form" comment "I would suggest this counts as incitement to racial hatred and most certainly hate speech".  Andrew has requested that Trinity Mirror Plc, which is the publisher of the Southport Visitor newspaper, ensures that the offensive comment is removed.

The majority of the comments to the article show once again that  despite the political differences regarding how the refugee crisis should be handled, many of us can still come together and agree that compassion for our brother and sisters trumps xenophobia.

If you want to donate food, clothes, money or volunteer your time to help refugee men, women, boys and girls please visit the Liverpool based refugee and homeless support charitable group Merseyaid

Do you have some community news from around the Ormskirk area to share or a story to tell? Yes!

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Photos and story about the Calais Refugees Jungle Camp August 2015

 

Calais Refugee Jungle Camp

The Calais Refugees Jungle Camp is an encampment in Calais where thousands of refugees are currently residing.  The refugees are from countries as far away as Syria, Afghanistan, Kurdish Iraq, Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia. These refugees have escaped danger in their home countries and fled to Europe to find a new home in which they can secure a safe future for themselves and their families

After weeks of shouting at the television, complaining against the inaction of the politicians to find a solution to the refugee crisis in Calais, and annoyed with the abusive rhetoric spewing from the orifices of rent-a-mouth news columnists, my wife and I decided we should get in contact with the local charitable associations in Calais and find out what out what we could do to help.  I journeyed down to Calais from Ormskirk in August and spent ten days volunteering on the ground.  While in the Jungle, I was aware that this, for the many people taking refuge in the camp, was a place they considered home, albeit temporarily, and I was therefore reticent about filming in the environ.  Before using my camera, I asked and received permission from the subjects in the photos.  Click here to see the photo albums in the Calais Refugee Jungle Camp collection on Flickr.

Calais - people to people - Solidarity - Action from the UK

If you want to donate food, clothes, money or volunterer your time to help the men, women, boys and girls in the Calais Refugee Jungle Camp, please join the Facebook group Calais - People to People Solidarity - Action from UK

These men, women and children have fled from war zones, dictatorship, famine and fear.  Yet, this as far as the vast majority of those in the camp will get in the foreseeable future.  None have immigration papers, few are on the track to receiving Asylum in France and the British authorities are spending millions of Euros building defences to keep them out of the UK. The refugees are stuck in limbo; no country wants them and the French and UK authorities don't know what to do with them. 

This is not a Refugee Camp in the proper sense of the term.  There is no Oxfam, no Red Cross, no Red Cresent and no UNHCR. There is no governmental agency providing shelter and healthcare.  There is no formalised food or clothing rationing system, no formal education for the children in the camp.  There are no entry and exit controls.  There are no child safety protocols in place to protect the children living in the camp.  There are no protocols in place to protect the women in the camp from sexploitation.  The men in the camp, who once enjoyed useful occupation, are now idle and desolate, unable to work and unable to provide for their families.

However, life goes on.  Everone struggles in the camp to find food, keep warm and dry and stay clean and healthy.  There are three local charitable associations doing what they can to provide food, clothing and materials to build shelters.  Foreign charitable donations of clothing and food are starting to flow to these associations, but the local volunteers, many of whom are elderly, are worn out by their valiant efforts.  These volunteers are overwhelmed by the needs of the refugees in the camp.  They have little or no support from government.  There is no central administration and no formal infrastructure to ensure sufficient funding of basic services and no transparent and equitable needs based plan to ensure a just distribution of food, shelter and clothing.  The minor wounds and basic healthcare needs of the refugees on the camp are catered for by the voluntary organisation Medicines Du Monde (Doctors of the World). This group desperately requires more funds and materials to maintain the service level it currently provides.  I heard tell on the camp that the Medicines Du Monde service is being curtailed due to a lack of funds come September 2015.  This will be a tremendous loss to those who need emergency healthcare on the camp.

This refugee crisis deserves the full attention of the UK and French governments and the EU in order to allocate sufficient resources to deal effectively with the needs of these refugees.

Once again, if you want to donate food, clothes, money or volunterer your time to help the men, women, boys and girls in the Calais Refugee Jungle Camp, please join the Facebook group Calais - People to People Solidarity - Action from UK

Do you have some community news from around the Ormskirk area to share or a story to tell? Yes!

Please contact Life In Another Town