Latest News - 27/09/2010
Refugee and Asylum Seekers Initiative announces new grants
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund is working to ensure that refugees and people seeking asylum in the UK are treated with fairness, humanity and in accordance with international law. Towards this aim, the Fund's Refugee and Asylum Seekers Initiative has recently awarded grants to:
Refugee Council
To work in partnership with the Scottish Refugee Council and the Welsh Refugee Council to capitalise on the influencing opportunities at the first party conferences since May's general election.
Together with the UNHCR and Still Human Still Here, the Refugee Council will run fringe events and policy breakfasts to increase political support for refugee protection and a fair and effective asylum system. The grant will also provide support for refugees to attend as delegates to take part in the lobbying process.
The Refugee Council is the one of largest national refugee agencies. It combines policy and influencing work with advice services and also works with refugee community organisations. The Fund is currently supporting the post of policy officer at the Refugee Council, which focuses on support for unaccompanied refugee children.
Institute for Social Change, University of Manchester
To contribute to the cost of including a module of questions on asylum and immigration in the British Social Attitudes (BSA) surveys for 2011. The module will be repeated in 2013 and beyond and will provide important input into the tracking of public attitudes towards asylum and immigration in the UK over time.
The Institute for Social Change (ISC) is based at the University of Manchester and will work on this project with NatCen, a leading survey research institute and the author of the annual British Social Attitudes survey reports.
This project will be jointly funded by Trust for London, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, The Equality and Human Rights Commission, and Unbound Philanthropy.
Refugee and Migrant Justice (RMJ) - grant update
The Fund is extremely saddened by the closure of RMJ earlier this year. The organisation provided vital legal advice and policy work and its loss will be felt by many.
The Fund had supported the development of RMJ's policy and strategic legal work and its legal advice service, with a focus on children and young people seeking asylum. The Fund is pleased to report the two posts it supported at RMJ are being relocated to new interim homes. The Children's Legal Centre is hosting the refugee children's policy post and the Islington Law Centre is hosting the children's solicitor post. The Fund is very grateful to both organisations for working so swiftly to preserve this important work and for working with us to consider the best long-term solutions.
