A common theme discussed by participants was the contrast between the support provided to unplanned arrivals and those arriving in Northern Ireland under planned schemes such as those for Ukrainian, Syrian and Afghan nationals. W1 participants said that people arriving under these schemes were better supported and that the coordination between services in these schemes showed what was possible where there was funding and political will. W3 participants agreed that there was less guidance available to unplanned arrivals to help them understand and access services. CSO2 commented on the effectiveness of the Ukraine assistance centres: “… it was a great model because people could come… into the centre in the morning and they’d go out at lunchtime having got their kids registered in school, having made their universal credit claim, you know, having an appointment for a PIP application. And having got immigration advice, all in two and a half hours… of course, it begs the question if you can do it for one group of refugees why not for others” (CSO2). CSO8 referred to the resettlement schemes as a “ gold standard” : “… if somebody has come in on one of our government funded programmes, there is no doubt they have got the gold standard of resettlement because there’s the funds to supply information. You know, like the Syrians when they arrived would have received booklets full of information and then they would have, and the Afghans still now do, have a dedicated keyworker to answer questions” (CSO8). Addressing additional needs while ensuring fairness between groups in need Participants discussed some of the challenges around overcoming the barriers that asylum seekers and refugees faced in accessing public services. A very common theme raised by participants related to questions around how barriers to accessing public services could be reduced in a way that recognised the particular needs of asylum seekers and refugees but was not perceived as unfair by other sections of society. There was a fine line being trod by public services in seeking to provide “additionality” where it was perceived to be justified, while ensuring that other public service users were not being neglected. CSO2 provided an example of the way in which the Housing Executive had exercised flexibility but also highlighted the difficulties of doing so: “….the refugee team… can and… have been flexible… we’ve had quite a few instances where, you know, they’re, kind of, willing to, sort of, give people the benefit of the doubt. But as time goes on and the housing pressures become more and more acute, it’s, kind of, difficult for them, legally, to be giving people the benefit of the doubt, you know, because they could open themselves to challenge from local people that didn’t get that flexibility” (CSO2).
PB5 provided an example of how they could recognize different needs in the education context for asylum seeker families who had no “plan B”: “… a local family who needs a uniform grant will have a granny who can say ‘I’ll buy the uniform until the grant comes in and you can pay me back when you get your money’, or a neighbour or somebody. Our families coming through the asylum process don’t have that plan B. So, we try and shorten some of the roads to support the families and help them out” (PB5). PB6 gave another example of the additionality provided in the education context and of the tensions this could cause: “ I think it’s equity versus equality, isn’t it really? … there’s a bit of a, you know, misconception… that’s developing that, well, ‘how come these refugee families have someone from the Education Authority coming out to visit them and making sure the children have a school place to go to, getting a new uniform for the child because the child has had to move school?’ And those families that are from Northern Ireland, for want of a better term, are saying, ‘well, I’m not getting that support, if my child needs to move school, I have to sort it out myself. If my child needs a new uniform, I have to pay for it myself’” (PB6). PB5 also commented on this issue: “ I can’t knock on door one and provide a service for a refugee family and ignore the family next door at door two because they don’t fall under our team. And that perception of enhanced treatment which is part of where the race tensions came from, to keep that dampened down we’re really having to say ‘no, we can’t, they’re in the same pool, the same rights as everyone else’. Now, we are keeping a level of communication, but huge enhanced provision just can’t happen” (PB5). Additionality for particular groups was described as needing to provide a “bridge” to get people to a place where they could access services: “…it’s an acknowledgement that not everybody is equal, so therefore there needs to be a specialist service for people who are disadvantaged, they can’t access their service… So it’s a bridging service… it’s a bridge to get to that landing spot where the mainstream services are, that’s how I think of it” (CSO4). CSO8 commented on the need to provide this bridge to ensure equal access to services: “…there needs to be a difference in response, you know, that’s what equity is. And everyone will still get the same thing, everyone will get the GP appointment but you need to go above and beyond and have a double appointment, a double length appointment for a family if you need an interpreter because there’s two people speaking” (CSO8). One of the challenges was that many of the issues with public services sprang from fundamental resource limitations, which affected everyone across Northern Ireland, so that issues facing asylum seekers and refugees could not be considered in isolation. PB6 noted in relation to housing: “… there’s X thousand people and families that find themselves in emergency accommodation. And refugee families, children, families seeking sanctuary only make up a small percentage of that. So it is a bigger issue than just families arriving seeking sanctuary, refugee families, it’s much bigger than that” (PB6).
30 | Access to Public Services and Access to Justice for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Northern Ireland
Made with FlippingBook Digital Publishing Software