The New Internationalists

Front matter

The New Internationalists

The New Internationalists

Activist Volunteers in the European Refugee Crisis

Contents

Foreword — Gulwali Passarlay Foreword — Lord Alf Dubs

Preface — Sue Clayton Acknowledgements — Sue Clayton

List of Contributors

Foreword

Gulwali Passarlay

Thirteen years ago, I made the dangerous journey from Afghanistan to Europe as an unaccompanied 12-year-old, and now have status here in the UK. Many of the people supporting me in my hardship and showing compassion were volunteers. I was touched by the kindness and support of volunteers with providing basic necessities of life, like food, water and shelter in Athens, Rome and Paris, and particularly in-Galais. I was so grateful to all the wonderful people out there.who supported and helped me in my most desperate situations and give huge thanks to all volunteers and friends for continuing their efforts and dedications. Now I myself have spent the last/ten years so volunteering and giving back to the community. Ihave founded an organisation, called My Bright Kite, that aims to improve the wellbeing and inclusion of young refugees who arrive here - because making the journey is only half the story; young people then have to find a place for themselves and ways they can fit in and*belong. I have written an account of my own journey, The Lightless Sky, and have been asked to events across the UK to share my experiences. People are mostly kind and generous and often want to know how they can help refugees. I encourage people to write to their MPs, go on protests for social justice and get active and engaged with their local City of Sanctuary group or refugee support network, or I suggest they volunteer in the UK with refugee charities or in refugee camps in Calais and Greece. Iam humbled by how they have then gone on to travel to refugee camps across the world to support the efforts and work of independents and NGOs. It is amazing to see ordinary people doing extraordinary work, when EU governments have been failing refugees, and to see the massive volunteer movement that has come to the rescue of literally millions of refugees who entered Europe in 2015 and since. I have every hope that this book will inspire people in the same way, and give the knowledge and the inspiration that they need.

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Gulwali Passarlay

As we see across Europe, things seem to have changed in the last few years and the environment has become so much less welcoming. With governments not always helping, or being hostile to refugees, and NGOs not always up to the job, the role of volunteers has become essential - and is now a whole new movement. It has been alarming to see humanitarian workers treated as criminals in Italy and Greece, as well as the Stansted 15, peaceful protesters, having been criminalised for supporting asylum seekers in the UK. We all need to go on speaking out and be advocates for human rights for refugees and those who support them.

Gulwali Passarlay, BA (Hons) MPA, author of The Lightless Sky

Foreword

Lord Alf Dubs

As a member of the UK Parliament I have been actively involved with the plight of unaccompanied child refugees in Europe, and of children separated from family members in Europe seeking reunification. As I worked to introduce the so-called “Dubs Amendment” into UK law, I visited many places where refugees are suffering terribly»including the Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesvos, where thousands of refugees are surviving in extremely cramped and unsanitary conditions. The Moria camp was built to accommodate around 2,000 people but it is estimated that there are as many as 20,000 living there now. Beyond the camp are makeshift shelters where refugees; including children, live rough among the rubbish, rain and mud. outside its gates. In France, I’ve seen many lone children fending for themselves in the outskirts of Calais, many of whom have been trafficked. They are hungry and destitute and at risk of violence, including at the hands of the police, who carry tear-gas.

Some of these children have the right to legal routes to safety in the UK; my amendment to the Brexit EU Withdrawal Bill, which asked the government to uphold the right of unaccompanied children stranded in Europe to apply for legal family reunion with relatives in the UK after Brexit, was defeated in the Commons. However, the UK Government has on more than one occasion reiterated its commitment to assisting these children, and the campaign to hold them to that commitment carries on. Other unaccompanied children stranded in Europe - so-called “Dubs” children (those with no family at all) - also have a legal right to safe passage to the UK after my amendment to the 2016 Immigration Act was passed, enshrining that right.

The struggle to make changes and to hold governments to account all across Europe is an arduous one. We can all feel defeated at times in the face of indifference, or open hostility, from so many quarters. But it

Lord Alf Dubs has been the volunteer movement, which sprang up locally all over Europe in 2015 and then set up dynamic international networks, that goes on inspiring me. As long as the volunteers are working, I will be working with them. Their passion and commitment inspire me to keep up the pressure in Westminster. My campaign has received a lot of publicity, but there are thousands of volunteers whose work goes unnoticed, who are making huge differences to the lives of refugees every day. For many of them, visiting the camps in Greece or Calais has reinforced their commitment to the cause of refugees and they have returned more determined than ever to support people who are suffering so much there, particularly children. Groups like People2People, Help. Refugees, Worldwide Tribe, Indigo Volunteers, Safe Passage, One Happy Family, Starfish Foundation, Refugee Community Kitchen, Calais Action, Care4Calais, Kesha Niya, Quartiers Solidaires, Plateforme Citoyenne, Help Refugees and literally hundreds more, working alone or joining with NGOs like Médecins Sans Frontiéres*and.sea-rescue missions like Open Arms and Sea-Watch, conduct rescues, supply food and shelter, offer support and solidarity and provide long-term help at peoples’ final destinations.

Often governments and the media would have us think the “crisis” of arrivals is over - but this is not the case. More and more refugees arrive daily in Greece and there are thousands stranded in Europe in camps, at borders and living rough, supported in large part by volunteers from the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Serbia, Greece and elsewhere. The volunteer project is not just to offer “aid” but to speak up for people’s rights, and to support them in becoming accepted and self-sufficient, and in finding a place that can feel like home.

I believe that all government ministers should now be fully aware of the terrible conditions in the Moria camp and across the Greek islands, where it is thought 36,000 refugees are currently surviving. No country alone can solve this global crisis, but we all have a part to play. It is vital that we - politicians, governments, NGOs and the grassroots volunteer sector from across Europe - work together to find solutions. We know that there are 3 or 4 million refugees in Turkey, 1 million in Syria and 1 million in Jordan. Each country in Europe - perhaps with the exception

Foreword of Germany and Sweden - can do more to help refugees than they are currently doing. Indeed, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2015-2016 asked other EU countries to play their part and take some responsibility, many refused. The so-called Visegrad countries - the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia - as well as Croatia and Serbia, have been particularly hostile.

Unfortunately, refugees are being exploited for political gain and in many cases they are being used as pawns in a political game. Right-wing extremists are pushing governments to build walls and fences, close borders, separate families and drive people who deserve legal protection into the hands of criminals and traffickers.

That is why I am particularly pleased and honoured to.contribute a Foreword to this book. What these volunteers have done is change the way the world sees refugees and counter right-wing hostility towards them with humanity.

This book is full of examples of ordinary, not-always-“political” people who first got involved by donating a few simple items, or driving with friends across the Channel to drop»them off. What they then saw and heard, it is clear from the testimonies in this book, has changed them forever, and given them asharper and more critical understanding of the global refugee crisis and the inadequacies of our responses to it. To every single one of you who has collected, donated, sewed tents, sailed boats, kept guard, taught kids, dried tears, chopped food, put up shelters and kept your dignity-and compassion while channelling your righteous calls for fairness and change, thank you. Your stories are what keep us all involved, and‘help us to continue together.

Lord Alf Dubs, House of Lords, March 2020