MORE than 700 refugees and asylum seekers have helped to create Scotland’s new support strategy.
Wearing a t-shirt in support of the Refuweegee charity, which helps new arrivals integrate in Glasgow, Communities Secretary Angela Constance launched the New Scots framework yesterday.
Endorsed by the UN’s own refugee charity, the strategy covers housing, health, employment and education and underlines the Scottish Government’s commitment to helping people “settle, become part of the community, share their skills and pursue their ambitions”.
Constance said: “For refugees leaving home is not a choice – it is a necessity and they need understanding, support and hope for their future when they settle in a new country.
“New Scots recognises the strength, knowledge and skills that refugees bring to our country and I am proud that Scotland has become home to people from all over the world seeking safety.
“As refugees and asylum seekers rebuild their lives here they help to make Scotland stronger, more compassionate and a more successful nation.”
The document updates a previous version launched in 2014 and was developed in partnership with the Scottish Refugee Council and local government body Cosla, with submissions also open to groups representing migrant and diaspora groups.
More than 700 of the 2000 people who took part had come to the UK seeking sanctuary.
Sabir Zazai, chief executive of the Scottish Refugee Council, said the result would also bring benefits to majority communities.
Zazai, who arrived in the UK in 1999 after fleeing conflict in Afghanistan, joined the national charity in August. He commented: “The new Scots who live and work among us bring a wealth of experience and talent to Scotland and the new strategy will help us unlock and develop that potential.
“At the end of the day these refugees will be our neighbours, our colleagues and our customers. We don’t want them to live in poverty, we want them to prosper and be proud of their own identities, proud of being Scottish, proud of being new Scots.”
The strategy outlines four priority outcomes, including the ability to live in safe and cohesive communities. Under the terms, services are also supposed to be “well co-ordinated” and accessible, with users able to understand and exercise their rights, responsibilities and entitlements.
Policy makers and legislators are also required to consider the impact on refugees and asylum seekers when making decisions affecting them.
The plan includes a commitment to review the processes in place to access welfare benefits for those aged 16 and over given leave to remain in the UK, as well as working to improve interpretation and translation services.
Housing providers are also expected to use third party hate crime reporting methods to increase the number of people taking experiences of criminal behaviour to authorities.
Councillor Kelly Parry, community wellbeing spokesperson at Cosla, said: “Since the first strategy was published the global context has changed in ways we could not have expected and Scottish councils have been at the heart of our response to this.
“Councils across Scotland have resettled thousands through the Syrian Resettlement Programme and the Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Scheme and helped communities welcome their new neighbours. It is a testament to this work that so many asylum seekers and refugees joined in reviewing this integration strategy to ensure the voice of experience is central to changing things for the better.”
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