Voices Beyond Borders - Dreamers

VOICES BEYOND BORDERS

Dreamers

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Published by Charnwood Arts Charnwood Arts is a Registered Charity, Registration No. 1143163.

Charnwood Arts is a private company, limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales.

Company No. 07477378 Registered Office: 27 Granby Street, Loughborough, Leics LE11 3DU, United Kingdom

May 2013 ISBN 978-1-903947-33-3 Š 2013 Charnwood Arts and Paul Gent (illustrations)

VOICES BEYOND BORDERS Based on the experiences of the Dreamers Group, Loughborough, UK.

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Beyond Borders: A Sense of Belonging The images in this book originated as part of an East Midlands regional initiative between a number of arts organisations and academic partners. The programme was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and led

by Loughborough University, it culminated in an exhibition at the Bonington Gallery in Nottingham. The wooden, painted panels, which are the subject of this book, were also exhibited at the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester.

Charnwood Arts contributed to this process in many ways but the heart of our contribution was the work undertaken with members of the ‘Dreamers’ youth group in Loughborough.

The Dreamers were established by youth workers in Loughborough as a means of meeting the needs of unaccompanied young asylum seekers who were arriving in increasing numbers in the locality. Many joint projects have taken place with them over the years but this was the first to also engage with adult refugees in an arts based programme.

The full programme is described in a report which is available from Charnwood Arts. Our work with Dreamers included support for them to engage with artist Misha Myers and her practice of ‘guided walks’, as a way of exploring displacement and to see the new in the context of the old. This enabled participants to explore and discover their ‘home’ environment in new ways and then to share the double consciousness of ‘home away from home’ with others.

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We then went on to explore two parallel strands of work around the same themes, working through the mediums of drama and drawing. Regular drama sessions at our Next Level Café space with theatre practitioners Sarah Bailey and Gerry Flanagan resulted in a short performance piece that was enacted at the opening of the Bonington Gallery exhibition.

The images of the wooden painted panels in this book were the result of a process that began through drawing workshops with members of the Dreamers group led by Paul Gent and Amy Edwards. As the conversations developed with participants they expressed an increasing interest in being able to represent their thoughts and experiences in a way that could be followed and understood by others. It was their wish for the lead artist to help them visualise this through his ability to represent situations in cartoon form. Each panel thus represents a conversation between a young person, or group of young people, guiding and explaining to Paul what their experience and response was in different situations. The finished work, ‘I Had a Dream...’, was presented as a unified piece for the gallery exhibition and formed a backdrop to the enactment of stories by the young actors.

The youth work with Dreamers and our own partnership work with Mountfields Lodge Youth Centre, who host the group, resulted in a generous grant from the Baring Foundation to continue arts and cultural work with these young people. The resultant programme, ‘Here Our Voices’, has supported many of them to pursue interests and experience a wide range of different art forms as both audience and participants. This includes the production of this current publication which contains a range of facts, gathered by youth workers and young people, around the subject of asylum seekers and refugees in the UK.

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Everyone has the right to seek asylum.

The UK is a signatory of the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention that gives every person the right to seek asylum. ~ Therefore, there is no such thing as an “illegal asylum seeker�.

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Who is an Asylum Seeker?

An Asylum Seeker is someone who has fled persecution in their country of origin, has arrived in another country, made themselves known to the authorities and asked for protection and safety.

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80% of the world’s refugees are Women and Children.

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Who is a Refugee?

A Refugee is someone whose asylum application has been successful and is allowed to stay in another country.

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What is an Economic Migrant?

An Economic Migrant is someone who has moved to another country to work.

In the UK an economic migrant is not coming primarily for safety and protection.

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It is estimated that there are about 25 million refugees in the world.

These are people that need safety and protection.

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The youngest unaccompanied boy seeking asylum arriving at Dreamers was just nine years old.

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Dreamers young people have experienced or witnessed:

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War, bombing or shelling

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The destruction of their homes

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The violent death of family and friends

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The injury of family or friends

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Being separated from family

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Being injured themselves

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Being arrested or detained themselves

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Seeing family or friends arrested

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Being tortured

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Being forced to join armies or militias

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Rape, sexual assault or abuse

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Grave shortage of food and water

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Hostility and Racism in their countries

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Poverty and material deprivation in the UK

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Loneliness and isolation in the UK

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Racism and prejudice in the UK

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People become refugees because of:

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War and conflicts

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Political persecution and oppression

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Natural disasters such as droughts, famine and floods

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Persecution on the grounds of religion, gender, race or sexuality

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Fact.

Four out of five refugees are ‘housed’ in the developing world.

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Fact.

Pakistan has taken in 1.7 million refugees.

The whole of Europe has taken in 1.6 million.

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Fact.

In recent times the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burma and Columbia have generated the most refugees.

Newer conflicts such as that in Syria and other places are producing hundreds of thousands more.

One of the largest refugee/descendant of refugee populations is that of displaced Palestinian families. Today, 5 million Palestinian refugees are eligible for United Nations Relief and Works Agency services.

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Fact.

In 2009, the UK received only 24,485 asylum applications.

In 2009 the UK refused 72% of these applications.

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Fact.

In the UK, by law, asylum seekers are not allowed to work.

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Fact.

In 2009, the UK was ranked thirteen amongst European countries, in terms of asylum seekers per head of population.

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A Youth Worker asked a young person, while leaving his citizenship ceremony, what getting his British citizenship felt like.

He replied: “For the first time in my life, I belong, I am somebody.�

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Fact.

An estimated 30,000 jobs have been created in Leicester City by Ugandan Asian refugees since 1972.

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Research on the fiscal effects of immigration is limited.

The Institute for Public Policy Research published a paper entitled: ‘Paying their way: The fiscal contribution of immigration to the UK.’ They discovered migrants paid £41.2 billion in taxes during 2003–2004.

They also discovered that immigrants make a relatively greater fiscal contribution than people born in the UK.

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Since 1997, more than 90,000 international nurses have registered in the UK. Most of these come from the Philippines, Australia, India and South Africa.

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12% of India’s doctors work in the UK.

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Do immigrants burden the NHS? In fact, the NHS benefits significantly from immigration.

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Are asylum seekers flooding the UK? In 2002, the UK received only 84,130 asylum applications.

In 2007, this had dropped to just 23,430 applications.

This is the lowest number of applications since 1993.

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It is a myth that the UK has an ‘open door’ immigration policy.

People who live outside the EU cannot freely come here to live and work.

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It is estimated there are 10,000 curry houses in the UK. In 2005, their annual turnover was ÂŁ2.5 billion.

This is more than the coal, steel and shipbuilding industries put together.

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Another young person said after his citizenship ceremony: “It feels like freedom!”

“I can now be who I am, who I want to be and do what I want to do.”

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The often, negative portrayal, of asylum seekers and refugees by the mainstream media has culminated in a legacy of public hostility against them and against other immigrants.

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Research finds that asylum seekers and refugees are vulnerable to many forms of harassment including physical attack and that press reporting of asylum issues is likely to increase community tension and particularly influence perpetrators of harassment.

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Fact.

Immigration Officers have the power to detain asylum seekers, even if they have not committed a crime.

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The UK asylum system is strictly controlled and complex.

It is very difficult to get asylum.

The decision-making process is extremely tough and many people’s claims are rejected.

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These are some countries whose citizens can freely come to the UK to work: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

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Austria Belgium Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Eire Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Slovenia Spain Sweden

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Negative media reports have made many people doubt whether asylum seekers are ‘genuine’, further fuelling the resentment and fear of their presence in the UK. Although it is not always easy to determine the exact influence of the media, it is clear that it does play a role in shaping the way people behave and in particular in offering the false ‘evidence’ the public requires to justify existing prejudices.

(Lewis 2006 and 2007)

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Many asylum seekers come to the UK specifically for reasons other than knowing about the UK asylum, benefits or health system.

They may come because of family and friends, because of the UK’s historical or colonial ties with their countries of origin, because English is spoken so widely across the globe, or simply by accident.

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Children seeking asylum in the UK are among the most vulnerable in our community. They have high rates of significant physical and psychological harm reflecting their experience before coming to the UK, dislocation of their families and the challenges of poverty and integration on arrival.

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In 2011, 17,700 children applied for asylum having arrived in the country of refuge alone with no parents or guardian.

1,277 of these applications were made in the UK.

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Many asylum seekers prefer to come to Britain because of the existence of established communities of their own nationality or ethnic origin.

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Asylum seeking children contribute very positively to schools across the country.

This in turn enables more successful integration of families into local communities.

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Refugees often go back to their country once the reasons that forced them to flee no longer exist.

For example, most South Africans and Chileans who fled to Britain returned when it was safe for them to do so.

Many refugees and asylum seekers hope to return home at some point in the future, if the situation in their country has improved.

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The Press Complaints Commission has issued guidance to journalists following complaints stating that the term ‘illegal asylum seeker’ breaches its code of practice as it leads to ‘misleading or distorted terminology’.

(Guardian 23 October 2003)

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Most asylum seekers are living in poverty and experience poor health and hunger.

Many families are not able to pay for the basics such as clothing, powdered milk and nappies.

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17 Nobel Laureates, 71 Fellows or Foreign Members of the Royal Society and 50 Fellows or Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy are refugees.

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The media has an important role to play in how the UK treats those seeking asylum here.

It could choose to put into context why people seek sanctuary and how they are coping with the new challenges of life away from home.

It could draw on people's personal testimonies and use accurate data to report stories and issues.

It has the potential to dispel rather than reinforce the myths about asylum seekers and refugees, and could prevent much hostility towards them.

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Many asylum seekers who are initially refused refugee status go on to win their appeals.

This reflects the poor quality of initial decision making at the Home Office.

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Paul Gent has worked on and off with Charnwood Arts as a volunteer, freelancer and staff member since the mid-1990s. His work includes projects in schools, community centres and youth clubs, in areas as diverse as challenging young people and adults on such issues as bullying, crime prevention, the environment and community cohesion. In his personal work he records the lives of ordinary people in their environment through drawing and painting, (usually from life) both in the UK and abroad. His work is generally influenced by working and travelling. He works mainly with ink pen and paper, but in the studio, he often works in collage and 3D cardboard construction, as well as water colour and oils.

Paul has gained much experience working as an international volunteer with local people, refugees, NGO’s and peace groups in the Balkans, (Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo) Rwanda, Gujarat (India), and Palestine. He has worked on various art projects exploring peace and reconciliation and discussing local and global issues with young people and adults. Often his aim is to avoid social and political issues, especially with children, and to concentrate purely on art as a form of play and therapy.

Paul has produced cartoon artwork for user-friendly publications to enable easily accessible understanding of such issues as parenting, crime awareness, asylum issues, community cohesion and youth award schemes.

He has produced cartoon work for three graphic novels, a children’s computer game, information booklets and websites. His skills are often used to document projects from life, with art organisations, youth offending services, and at conferences, using the cartoon format in place of photography.

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The making of this publication would not have been possible without the skills, time and effort of:

Andrew Lake and the Youth Work Team at Mountfields Lodge.

Maggie O’Neill and Phil Hubbard of Loughborough University Misha Myers - artist Paul Gent, Amy Edwards, Jagdeep Ryatt, Natalie Chabaud, Jenni Lindfors, Cristina López García, Rebecca Abrahams, James Chantry, Sarah Bailey and Kevin Ryan of Charnwood Arts We would also like to thank:

Gerry Flanagan, Long Journey Home, City Arts and Soft Touch for their partnership in this work.

To all of the participants in Loughborough and across the East Midlands:

Your stories, the sharing of your time and energy and your spirit to rise above the most extraordinary difficulties have inspired and touched us all.

The main information source for many of the facts in this book was the Refugee Action website.

Some of this information may be subject to change over time. www.refugee-action.org.uk We are extremely grateful to the following bodies for their help and support with Beyond Borders: A Sense of Belonging and the publication of this book: