Local Catholics Highlight Plight of ‘Living Ghosts’
An article from the Clifton Diocese Justice and Peace Commission.
This Sunday, 26 February, is Poverty Action Sunday. Depending on where we live it is sometimes hard to imagine that poverty still affects many people in Britain today, from people trapped on inadequate benefits, or in low paid work, to senior citizens trying to eke out their meagre pensions. Alongside these, a new group of people has emerged, destitute asylum seekers. It is the plight of this group, the so-called ‘Living Ghosts’ that Church Action on Poverty wishes to highlight this year.
The poverty experienced by this group is extreme. Once their claim to asylum has been refused all benefits are withdrawn. They have no right to work. Yet at the same time, for various reasons, it is also impossible for them to leave the UK. Destitute and homeless, they are forced to rely on friends, charity and food parcels. Who amongst us can imagine, for example, what life is like for Ms J, from Somalia, who is homeless and who was forced to sleep in phone boxes? Profoundly deaf and wearing hearing aids, she finds it difficult to communicate with her own community but in particular people who do not speak Somali. Then there is Mr P and his wife who live in terror of being sent back to Iraq, Mr S from Zimbabwe and Mrs A, a disabled mother of three from Pakistan, and many others like them.
However, these people are at least still alive. Babak Ahadi, from Iran, who believed his conversion to Christianity would have led to his death there, became so terrified and depressed when he heard his claim to asylum had been refused that he doused himself in petrol and set fire to himself. This was in Bristol last year, and he is but one of nearly forty desperate people who have committed suicide when refused asylum in this country since 2001.
“‘Living Ghosts’ refers to a very particular group of people, surely amongst the most vulnerable in our society” says Mr David Maggs, from the Churches Council for Industry and Social Responsibility (ISR). “Officially they no longer exist, that’s why the campaign refers to them as “ghosts”, but latest Red Cross figures estimate their numbers to be 33,600 across the country and we are aware of an increasing number here in the South West”.
“These people are not ghosts but fellow human beings, our brothers and sisters” says Sue Ingham, Secretary of the Clifton Diocese Justice and Peace Commission, which is working very closely with David Maggs on this Church Action on Poverty campaign. “We all know how important it is to be heard. Each one of these people has a story to tell and we need to listen to them, to understand the situations they have come from and why it is currently impossible for them to return home”.
Giving people a ‘hearing’, the opportunity to tell their stories in front of people who make the decisions about them is a central part of the Church Action on Poverty campaign. There is a ‘Living Ghosts South West Hearing’, planned for the morning of Friday 17 March at the Council House, College Green, Bristol. ‘Hearings’ and similar events have been organised so far in Sheffield, Birmingham, London and Liverpool.
The Church Action on Poverty campaign is supported by church leaders around the country. In addition to the hearings, church communities are being invited to sign cards expressing concern at current government asylum policy. The cards will be delivered to the Home Secretary in person in the early summer. They make the point that a simple policy change whereby asylum seekers would be allowed to sustain themselves through paid work or, where this was not possible, allowing them to continue to receive a basic entitlement to support from the state, would have a dramatic impact on the lives of those currently forced to survive as virtual ‘living ghosts’.
The Clifton Diocese Justice and Peace Commission is targeting parishes around the diocese, inviting them to join in this card campaign. “As those who attended the International Carols at St Bonaventure’s in Bishopston, Bristol at the feast of the Epiphany realised, ‘Living Ghosts’ are also members of our parishes”, says Sue Ingham, “and it was very moving to hear one young woman’s account of how much she relied on the encouragement and support of her parish community during this very painful time for her”.
“The small change in asylum policy suggested by Church Action on Poverty, would make a huge difference to the people concerned as well as being to everyone’s benefit”, continues David Maggs. “Not only would it stop people from disappearing into the underground economy, but it would enable them to share their often considerable skills and experience and to make a positive contribution to society as a whole.”
The Church Action on Poverty campaign in the South West is coordinated by the Churches’ Council for Industry and Social Responsibility and the Clifton Diocese Justice and Peace Commission.
Further details from David Maggs, Churches Council for Industry and Social Responsibility. Tel. 0117 955 7430. Email david@ccisr.org.uk and Sr Moira McDowall, Clifton Diocese Justice and Peace Commission. Tel. 0117 904 4450. Email moira.mcdowall@laretraite.ws.
Useful URL : http://www.church-poverty.org.uk
This Sunday, 26 February, is Poverty Action Sunday. Depending on where we live it is sometimes hard to imagine that poverty still affects many people in Britain today, from people trapped on inadequate benefits, or in low paid work, to senior citizens trying to eke out their meagre pensions. Alongside these, a new group of people has emerged, destitute asylum seekers. It is the plight of this group, the so-called ‘Living Ghosts’ that Church Action on Poverty wishes to highlight this year.
The poverty experienced by this group is extreme. Once their claim to asylum has been refused all benefits are withdrawn. They have no right to work. Yet at the same time, for various reasons, it is also impossible for them to leave the UK. Destitute and homeless, they are forced to rely on friends, charity and food parcels. Who amongst us can imagine, for example, what life is like for Ms J, from Somalia, who is homeless and who was forced to sleep in phone boxes? Profoundly deaf and wearing hearing aids, she finds it difficult to communicate with her own community but in particular people who do not speak Somali. Then there is Mr P and his wife who live in terror of being sent back to Iraq, Mr S from Zimbabwe and Mrs A, a disabled mother of three from Pakistan, and many others like them.
However, these people are at least still alive. Babak Ahadi, from Iran, who believed his conversion to Christianity would have led to his death there, became so terrified and depressed when he heard his claim to asylum had been refused that he doused himself in petrol and set fire to himself. This was in Bristol last year, and he is but one of nearly forty desperate people who have committed suicide when refused asylum in this country since 2001.
“‘Living Ghosts’ refers to a very particular group of people, surely amongst the most vulnerable in our society” says Mr David Maggs, from the Churches Council for Industry and Social Responsibility (ISR). “Officially they no longer exist, that’s why the campaign refers to them as “ghosts”, but latest Red Cross figures estimate their numbers to be 33,600 across the country and we are aware of an increasing number here in the South West”.
“These people are not ghosts but fellow human beings, our brothers and sisters” says Sue Ingham, Secretary of the Clifton Diocese Justice and Peace Commission, which is working very closely with David Maggs on this Church Action on Poverty campaign. “We all know how important it is to be heard. Each one of these people has a story to tell and we need to listen to them, to understand the situations they have come from and why it is currently impossible for them to return home”.
Giving people a ‘hearing’, the opportunity to tell their stories in front of people who make the decisions about them is a central part of the Church Action on Poverty campaign. There is a ‘Living Ghosts South West Hearing’, planned for the morning of Friday 17 March at the Council House, College Green, Bristol. ‘Hearings’ and similar events have been organised so far in Sheffield, Birmingham, London and Liverpool.
The Church Action on Poverty campaign is supported by church leaders around the country. In addition to the hearings, church communities are being invited to sign cards expressing concern at current government asylum policy. The cards will be delivered to the Home Secretary in person in the early summer. They make the point that a simple policy change whereby asylum seekers would be allowed to sustain themselves through paid work or, where this was not possible, allowing them to continue to receive a basic entitlement to support from the state, would have a dramatic impact on the lives of those currently forced to survive as virtual ‘living ghosts’.
The Clifton Diocese Justice and Peace Commission is targeting parishes around the diocese, inviting them to join in this card campaign. “As those who attended the International Carols at St Bonaventure’s in Bishopston, Bristol at the feast of the Epiphany realised, ‘Living Ghosts’ are also members of our parishes”, says Sue Ingham, “and it was very moving to hear one young woman’s account of how much she relied on the encouragement and support of her parish community during this very painful time for her”.
“The small change in asylum policy suggested by Church Action on Poverty, would make a huge difference to the people concerned as well as being to everyone’s benefit”, continues David Maggs. “Not only would it stop people from disappearing into the underground economy, but it would enable them to share their often considerable skills and experience and to make a positive contribution to society as a whole.”
The Church Action on Poverty campaign in the South West is coordinated by the Churches’ Council for Industry and Social Responsibility and the Clifton Diocese Justice and Peace Commission.
Further details from David Maggs, Churches Council for Industry and Social Responsibility. Tel. 0117 955 7430. Email david@ccisr.org.uk and Sr Moira McDowall, Clifton Diocese Justice and Peace Commission. Tel. 0117 904 4450. Email moira.mcdowall@laretraite.ws.
Useful URL : http://www.church-poverty.org.uk
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