Meeting of the Parliament 08 September 2016
It is a year since Alan Kurdi and his mother and brother drowned in the Aegean Sea. As has been said, their tragic deaths quickly came to symbolise the human cost of the refugee crisis that is gripping the middle east and north Africa, and sparked a humanitarian response across Europe.
Alan’s father, Abdullah, now lives in Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan. He remains, of course, utterly bereft. Abdullah’s sister, Tima, told The Independent the other day that the family would never recover from the deaths, but she feared that the rest of the world had already forgotten. For her, the world had not sufficiently embraced those fleeing from danger or done enough to end the civil war in Syria to allow Kurdish families and other refugees to return to their homes. She said:
“We need a bigger table, not higher fences.”
That perspective should inform debate on refugees, and not just in this Parliament.
Later this month, world leaders and experts will gather under the auspices of the United Nations to consider the scale of displacement of refugees and mass migration in general. The choice between bigger tables and higher fences is one not just for Scotland or the UK; it is a choice that faces the wider world.
Here in Scotland, though, we have a clear part to play. As has just been said, the fact that 1,050 Syrian refugees have been welcomed here in the past 12 months means that 1,050 people have hope for the future and are a symbol of what might be achieved for others.
I am most aware of the successful settlement of 63 Syrian refugees, in nine families, in and around Aberdeen, and of the way in which different agencies and faith groups have worked together to make their experience as positive as possible. Refugees who have found homes in Aberdeenshire have been able to access classes organised by North East Scotland College, not only to learn English but to find out how things work in a new and unfamiliar country.
Aberdeen FC Community Trust has been running football sessions for newly settled refugees at local centres. In doing so, it has provided both coaching in football skills and a way to access local services. With translation provided courtesy of Aberdeen mosque, those enthusiastic Syrian footballers have also enjoyed hospitality on match day at Pittodrie, which is an essential visit for anyone who wants to get to know about life in Aberdeen.
The voluntary organisation Aberdeen Solidarity with Refugees has mobilised a great deal of good will in local communities. After starting with a mission to help refugees in camps in Calais and elsewhere, it has swiftly evolved into one of the key partner agencies supporting Syrian refugees in the north-east.
Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council have, of course, played a central role by co-ordinating the efforts of others and ensuring ready access to housing, schools and other essential services, as well as engaging neighbours in local communities as part of the process of making new citizens feel welcome.
The experience in the north-east is a good indicator of the welcome and integration process across the country. Good will is there in plenty. Signposting to services has been successful and third parties have engaged in the process. However, as the cabinet secretary said, that does not mean that the experience of welcoming and integrating refugees from Syria and elsewhere has been problem free. Restrictions around access to employment have been a continuing issue, even for those who have been here for more than just the past few months.
A report, published by Queen Margaret University in June, found that only 9 per cent of those with refugee status were in work 12 months after their asylum claim was granted, and that as many as 12 per cent ended up presenting as homeless to their local council. Loss of jobs and a lack of social rented housing are a challenge for many other people too, but refugees and people seeking asylum are particularly vulnerable, not least because of difficulties with language and interpretation.
The approach that we propose in our amendment is intended to help to address those difficult issues. We highlight the case for a refugee integration bill to put the rights of refugees on a statutory basis, in line with the 1951 refugee convention and international human rights law. Those rights, which would include a right to access services and specific rights in relation to language and interpretation services, would require to be backed up with the resources that are necessary to provide such services.
Issues around the reunification of refugee families also need to be considered by government at every level. I have recently taken up the case of a Syrian family whose elderly parents remain stuck in a war zone, in part because they cannot obtain permission to join their family in this country.
Children who travel alone or are separated from their families in transit are particularly vulnerable. A year on from the death of Alan Kurdi, the needs of child refugees should have a prominent place and, as Alf Dubs argued in the House of Lords, that is best achieved by specific commitments on the part of Government.
Back in the 1930s, 30 unaccompanied children arrived in the north-east from the Basque Country as refugees from the Spanish civil war. The Luftwaffe had just destroyed Guernica, and those children, fleeing for their lives, found refuge in Montrose. Like them, the children who are fleeing Syria today face an uncertain future. We should applaud efforts to bring the civil war in Syria to an end and make it safe for people to go home, but we can also make them welcome in this country, and that is what we should unite to support today.
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