| Dear Supporter, First of all thank you so much to everyone who responded to our Emergency appeal and have offered to host or give donations or write letters.
Yesterday's protest at the steps next to the Donald Dewar Statue attracted hundreds of supporters, despite the driving rain.
All of civic society has now condemned SERCO's decision to change locks and mass-evict up to 300 asylum seekers out of their homes in Glasgow. Positive Action in Housing, Glasgow City Council, Church of Scotland , Iona Community, politicians of all persuasions and the Scottish housing associations who LEASE properties to SERCO have come out to condemn his actions and warn him off of carrying out unlawful evictions on their properties, their patch.
In this global refugee crisis, it doesn't sit well with the conscience to see a multimillionaire aristocrat and a corporate giant like SERCO abandon any duty of care and irresponsibly turn 300 war refugees and their children out on to the streets because they no longer turn a tidy profit.
Glasgow has the biggest asylum population in the whole of the UK. SERCO houses 5,000 refugees here. Positive Action in Housing plays a lead crisis prevention role in the city.. In 2017-18, we assisted 1,400 destitute refugees to find resolution. We distributed almost £62K in crisis funds. We arranged 45,000 continuous nights of shelter in the homes of our volunteer "hosts" through the Room for Refugees Network. SERCO's action places added pressure on our crisis prevention work. We we will find it impossible to cope with a mass eviction on top of the regular crisis destitution cases we must deal with. Regardless, we have today written to the City Council task force and the leader of the council Susan Aitken to offer access to our refugee hosting network which has over 7,000 hosts across Scotland and the rest of the UK. We currently shelter around 70 to 100 families and individuals at any one time. Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken is right to warn Home Secretary Sajid Javid of a "humanitarian disaster" in the city. She is also right to demand that Mr Javid instructs Serco to stop the evictions with immediate effect – his department is, after all, responsible for the welfare of asylum seekers.
Many Glaswegians - including SNP and Labour politicians - are already talking about direct action, citing the likes of local heroine Mary Barbour.
Serco plans to do a mass eviction and we are not prepared to stand by and let that happen. Two young SERCO residents facing eviction - Afghan refugees - have begun a hunger strike today outside Brand Street in protest at the length of time it has taken to get their paperwork.
A further mass protest is planned to take place on Saturday 4 August at 11 am at Brand Street, Glasgow G51 to burn SERCO's eviction notices in a symbolic act of defiance from the people of Glasgow and SERCO residents. Brand Street, Glasgow is where the Home Office is based. SERCO's head office from which the eviction notices are issued is based directly behind the Home Office in the same complex. SERCO residents tel us they are terrified that if they refuse to sign paperwork they don't understand that SERCO will report them to the Home Office and this will jeopardise their right to be here.
The press comments by SERCO that they are evicting people who have no right to be here, is a gross oversimplification of the complex and mercurial issue of status. Today's refused asylum seeker could be granted leave to remain tomorrow. Only three weeks ago a Glasgow hunger strike family from Iraq who had waited 18 years for a decision were handed status within hours of the Home Office getting wind of the potential public embarrassment. SERCO has no right to pass comment n the legal status of its residents. It is a landlord not an immigration officer. Many residents have developed severe mental health problems, are self harming or are close to the brink of suicide.
There is no need for hunger strikes or protests if the Home Secretary Mr Javid takes the humane and ultimately more sensible approach by calling a halt to the evictions; a more compassionate solution can and must be found. If Rupert Soames will not avert this disaster , then Sajid Javid, the home Secretary can. Certainly Rupert Soames has picked the wrong city to conduct a mass eviction. And it could be his ultimate undoing. Rightly so.
Finally, we have launched an emergency appeal in aid of 300 asylum seeker families and lone men and women, many fleeing war in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, who are to be made destitute in Glasgow by SERCO. Such an action places added pressure on Positive Action in Housing's Emergency Relief Fund which provides crisis grants and arranges free shelter through our Room for Refugees Network. Please share this appeal and donate if you can and see the figures below on the crisis support we are currently providing. To keep up to date with updates, please like us on facebook and follow us on Twitter at @positiveactionh.
Thank you for your support thus far.
With best wishes and kind regards,
Robina Qureshi
Positive Action in Housing | Working together to Rebuild lives
www.PositiveActionH.org Registered charity number SC027577 Company limited by guarantee 158867
To offer a temporary spare room, register here
Donate to our Emergency Crisis Appeal via Paypal , BTMyDonate, Justgiving or Click here for other ways to give
Support Mirwaiz and Rahman - Afghan Hunger Strike More
Mass Demonstration at Brand Street, Glasgow G51
Hear some inspiring speakers and help burn copies of the eviction notices
Supported by Positive Action in Housing, Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees,
the Church of Scotland and the Iona Community
https://www.facebook.com/events/1934931253238740/ More info - Glasgow has the highest asylum seeking population in the UK as a result of the UK government's forced dispersal policy since 2000.
- Anyone facing destitution can be referred to Room for Refugees for temporary free shelter with our hosts by calling 01413532220 or their caseworker can make a formal referral, for more info see roomforrefugees.com.
- The refugee crisis has not gone away. Please support our crisis prevention work by giving a regular donation here www.positiveactionh.org/donate
- News articles here
(To remove yourself from our mailings just click unsubscribe at the end of this email) | 
No comments:
Post a Comment