5. Raise Awareness

People don’t know what happens to me and others in my situation,  I just want to make people understand.

Blanche, destitute asylum seeker from Congo

Organise your own screening

There are some excellent short films available - Welcome/Taking Action and Still Human Still Here - that let the destitute voices of experience do the talking for you. We can guide you as to how to get the most out of your screening. Get in touch with us to find out more or preview them at www.paih.org and www.amnesty.org.uk/asylum respectively.

Organise a performance of the Asylum Monologues or Asylum Dialogues

These performances are a powerful way of telling the hard and heroic experience of people struggling through the asylum system. The Asylum Monologues use the actual words of people seeking and refused asylum to vividly show the impact of destitution. If you are interested in hosting a performance get in touch with the Actors For Human Rights network who will help you find trained performers who will give their time for free. A new development is the Asylum Dialogues that retell some of the wonderful stories of how ordinary people have worked alongside refugees seeking asylum.

Invite a speaker to talk to your group

Nearly all of us belong to one sort of organisation or another. Do you think the other members of your organisation know what is happening to destitute asylum seekers? Do you think they would be interested to find out more or may be interested to see how they can help?

Examples of groups who may want a talk

Why not arrange for one of our campaigners to come out and give a talk – this could be arranged to suit the needs of your group. Contact us with the supporters registration form at the end of this pack to arrange this.

Train to be able to give talks on destitution

Better still, why not train to be able to give talks on destitution yourself. The more people who go out and give talks, the bigger the momentum we can build behind our campaign. It’s not as hard as you think and we will support you along the way. Sign up to get more information on our next training sessions by completing the supporters registration form.

Use the media

One of the best ways of influencing public opinion is using the media to get your message across. Here are a few suggestions of how to do this.

Write to your local newspaper

Most local newspapers are in need of items to include and using the local letters page can be an excellent way of engaging with local people.

Complain about national newspaper coverage

If you see an article in a newspaper that is inaccurate, misleading or encouraging racism, then make a complaint to the Press Complaints Commission (www.pcc.org.uk). Making a complaint is free, quick and effective, but you may sometimes need to complain directly to the newspaper first. You can get advice on what to do via the Press Complaints Commission’s helplines:

England:  0845 600 2757   Scotland: 0131 220 6652    Wales:  029 2039 5570 

Contribute to Radio Phone-Ins

Asylum seekers are often debated on radio phone-ins, both local and national. Most people who phone in don’t know anything about the real situation faced by asylum seekers. For the price of a phone call, you could reach a wide audience and let them know about the suffering experienced by destitute people refused asylum.

It is not as scary as you think to take part. It is best to concentrate on getting just 2 or 3 key points across – for example, people refused asylum cannot work or claim benefits; many asylum claims are refused even when it is not safe for them to return to their country of origin, and pregnant women and survivors of torture are being made destitute as the government wants to starve them out of the country.