NORTHERN IRELAND COMMUNITY OF REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS Report ofihe TrnJtee8 {ID¢orporAiing thtdlrettors. report) f(Trr th¢ y￿r 31° M*r¢h 2016 The tru5tee5 ate plEa5ed to presentthEirannual diTectots' tetth tog2t￿rW1th thE f1t￿cial 5tstetn¢nts of the ¢harity fortheyear¢nding 31 March 2016. The finan¢iAI staiements comply witl th¢ Charities Act (Nl} 2008. the Memoy*odum And Articleaof As8LXiaiio￿, and A¢couniing and R¢wrtihg by Ch￿Ill¢s.. Stgtcmcnt of RLXOJnmuJdcd Ptaeti(* applicable to clthritics ptcparing their &ccounts in aceoTd*ncc with the Trinanrial Rcporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic ufireland IFRS 102) letfective I 2015}_ kEbEREtyCE AND ADMINISTRATIVK DETAILS NIC Charity r¢8lStrniion nUm￿r.. NIC103701 HMRC ch￿ilY num￿tr. xr38527 Re¥i%lerLYi otyice.. 143a Ilnivergily Siree( Relfas( BT7 IHP Advlsots Auditors Finegan Gibson L￿, Caus¢way Tower. 9James Slrtti South. Belf￿1, BT2 8DN Bank of IrelBnd, University RoAd, D¢lf&K DT7 INH Dir￿t0T￿ aDd Trmstt Th¢ direa*irs of the ¢haritsbl¢ iompdl>y Iihr iharity) lir¢ 115 trusie¢s for th¢ purw¢ tsf ¢h8riiy law. Th¢ Trusw And Off￿￿s s¢rvin8 durin8 iheyear &nd sine¢ i￿Ytar¢nd wer* as follows." Juylin l%sa Altom Miliwnl Unomoyo Sabah HasAballali Nom7Amo MAhlangu Adcka]￿l A Abayomi (ttPPOiDtcd 25 Fcbruary 2016} DL.bra Leso (appointed 25 Febnwy 20161 ChaiTPLY%On Vice C.h&irperson I'reasurer Erjc Koungou NORTHERN IRELAND COMMUNITY OF REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS VoliinlccTS ¢onlinuc to play & vcry rolc in thc runnipg of NTCRAS. VtslunlYcr4 iimtribul< dully admini.¥tralivc ￿L¥pl1￿)n lask¥. w>licy Rnd re￿arch team. dvocacy. lobby and ca[npa1￿. PIL S￿la1 Thedia and wcb51t¢. Withciul the dedica¢ion and commitinenT of i)ur Vol￿nteers. we could not hAve Aehieved the level w(*k. policy chAn8LS sitiv¢ contribthions this ycar. Jn addition. this ycar wc havc altr￿¢¢d volun¢c¢r plac¢JMcnls Jft)m l."ratiic (Mdstrr stud￿￿1} fri)m C()Il￿e. Ilcifust llull￿1￿. W¥ hav￿ p￿n￿hlP witb Qiieen Ullivetsity School of Law and Ul*er UDiversity School of Politics 4Dd S￿id1 Policy fLY Wc klicvc Ihai volllnteering b￿h wiihtn and ¢xlernal ￿ thc organi5a¢ion supports ¢ommullity builds tnutual UTKIcTStattdirt¥ brtween th05c difFtrent cthrtic thc h05t ¢tsJnmunity bockground And 5UPPOrt the dcvelopmenl of good rclalions. We value our volunteers and reco￿lse Ih¢iT %iyifiLwI n)1¢ L4Trnlr1bulic)￿ ¢1? lh¢ LJr¥xryiwliL¥n. We Ihyi lh¥ PT¢￿￿￿ viiliinleer within thp orgllnisation has encouraged more rnemtrers to volunteerelsewhere. Our newsletter is entirely written. editcd desiyed byour volunteers. ACHtEVEMENTS AND PERFORMAI¥CE Qllr moin activities Are described All our eh#rithble Activities foeus on s￿p￿)rt far L%ylum ckcrs aDd rcfugces aDd undortaknD to flffthcr ourcbaritabio objc¢tiYc&. VolUn￿[deVelOplnent'. NICRAS continued tts tneourA8t to voluntt¢r with NICRAS With volvn¢wr5 fToJn th¢ host commuiiity. meInbe￿ re8ularly sllppx¢ ihe daY-t￿daY operalion of ihe wi&itioii Ihrt)U8h uOmini¥lTBtiim cil ULlivitic¥ re￿pl1￿M) dllll￿. uM)king fnr f¢*ival. worksbops celebratioJJs. cleRning find buildin8 It￿j￿ter￿￿¢e. Seven members includi118 oiber vi?Juni¢rtS ()rL451(￿￿1 in NICKAS 25 from th¥ w1￿.r ¢[￿lMU￿lty provides help with English Language tuition. Food coll￿tIOn. the Homework Llub. lftterpretitt& OncnlatioJ4 th¢ Youth Group th¢ Womrn Group. W¢ hav¢ vvlunt¥rr WTih lJnivmi¢y B￿lf￿￿ of Law Ulster University School ot'Politic and Soct&l Policy to help with Social Pollcy resettrch britfth8 p#ptrS. We hAve developed & Vi)lunteer haJJdtrA)Dk and uplated i)ur volurJt¢er p)licy. NICRAS volunteer activities divithd in the folJowitt8 8reas.. doo&tioD and f¢￿d￿lIsing.' tvents and social: English languag¢." training aTrd cmploymcnt: campaigning." PK Sl unifonn foT r¢fuBee and asylum 5cekeT childTen kdUcatio￿ 8r8nts for fee4 knoks and travel were applied hr 8nd teceived tFus year. Educitiollo] grdllt applications have been submitted for individuals for th¢ new academic year (cov￿1￿8 fee books llnd travell wilh awarded being its th¢ tegion of £?50. Th¢ Tnajrrity of ￿ndIng was also s¢¢ur¢d for somc ¢ollrs¢s including Busine￿ Admittistr2tion, IELST, Markering, rr, Sr￿. Cthry. Access Courae. Human Rights Law and Security Trdinin& Commullity Devcloprn¢nt. NILRAS su¢¢ttsfully cam￿1gned Ibeen Universiry Belfast who has offered two under8r8duate pLwes to &sylurn ttekcrs free of char￿. Refugee W¢ek._ R¢fug¢¢ W¢¢k or8anis¢4 by a steerin8 8roup led by NICRAS illcludillg ￿￿t[thr5 a[￿ externA] Organi￿tIOns. This enabled plajming for many rnore activities throughout ihe week and al￿ for &clivities to take plac¢ outside B¢lfa5t ILondondeny. Du]wnnon, Ballyclar¢l. Thv Ih¢m¢ this yEar wa5'Welcorne'. Advice #lld Support Service:_ NICKAS ¢xtended tbe OPElliD8 hout5 of the specialist advic¢ Servi￿ to 8 K55ioos a wt¢k.. 4 1p￿￿1n￿￿ent-onIY and 4 droTrin. The advice and sUPWrt s¢rvice Continucs lo op¢]ate daily on a drop in and appointm¢nt basis frètn Mnnday t() Friday. with ¥poihtments made for more complex extensive SUPFK)rt and advice. Leg advi¢¢ is è¢ing pnivided on & seasonal basis by solicitors, pro b()no upon request. On averBge SO people a week are attending the advice Servi￿ iDcludirJ8 10-15 pwJE for e]u¢rww 5UPWrt aDd for iuih tklfasl F(￿￿ Bank vouch￿ Itnonthlyl. Members bave been sUp[￿rted with appJicetiIll￿ for Ill￿1￿¢ SupporL HousiDg Benefrt Job 5eeker5 AllowaTKe, DLA, ESA. CV, crisis loans and int¥￿7￿￿ luans, as well as refetettceg for acco[n￿￿#t1)ts, voltsnt¢¢r platemcttts &nd rcfeTr&ls to various &gencits. There has been 8A inCre￿e ID appliL#ti(Trn of dis9bility relalwi benefits du¢ lo th¢ m¢nlal 8t￿ phY$l¢￿ be4]th i$5ues endured by members fn)m Ehe wuntries ofoTigin. Durin8 th¢ y¢ar 120 Dew people ￿L￿sse41 the service. Of these, 55 per ceot had been gT&Dted Refu8ee %tatUS and 42 per cent WETe still waiting tor a decision. Nearly 70 PEr cent weJE tDale. with 44% between the ag¢s of 25 and 50 >tats and just under 75 per ¢ent 5in¥le ￿0p1¢. Almost half of those a¢¢¢ssing the *rvic¢ art itt r¢¢tipt of some forni of matostream bcrtefrt or waiting forFthcfits. This y*ar hd5 signifi￿￿1 illLTeas¥i in the numbw of Svmali aThJ SyTian nati0tsg1s ¢oming Iv Nt wilh new arrivals also comin8 from Sudan Bnd Zimbabwe. The i￿C￿ed demand is pArtly due to an increase in nuinbers of thos¢ C47mill8 to Nl to seek asylutD. some quicker d¢cisioJJs by UKBA, incrw¢ in fwnily r¢uDiynb. Key Issue5 In IrTmS of the issues dealt with advice service. 33Yo were related to provisiott of Emergeocy Supwrt; IWD related to Bccessing educational or welfare funding.. IY/o concernin8 benefits and I￿. rr¢ relatin¥ to irnrniy4tlOll lssuey. The key issue5 for tnembeTY" are destitutiort. deLqys in benefits. funduL¥ fvr ¥d￿all￿ts w¢lf8r¢ dcbt hom¢l¥ssne&q. NORTHERN IRELAND COMMUNITY OF REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS Advoca¢y & Community Ikvelopment The Advrta¢y and t)evel()pmÈnt PT()ject hss been running since the surnrner of 2016, Sup￿rti￿g mc]nbu5 of Ihc r¢fugc¢ and asylum s¢ek¢r wpulation in Northenj Ireland. Ihe ¥dvoEaGy service up¢ra*s five days a w¢¢k on an app)intm¢nt bas¢d sysi¢m_ M¢mb¢rs ar¢ provided wilh th pp)rnJnity dis¢u&£ is4lles they r¢quiring support with and a number Df optioll£ Bre then eKplored tO8dh¢r 10 d¢¢id¢ upon thc be￿ ¢ours¢ of a¢tiQD for th¢ individual involv¢d. Th¢ Advc¢a¢y S¢rvi¢t hab. Jeals With a wide ran8e af from housill& lo benefity to employment ri8hL¥ and to services. W¢ have spe¢ifJ¢ally worked on a number of ￿SeS on NASS (National Asylum Seeker Support) acwmmThlaiion supp)rtin8 members to acccss appropriate &ccomm(xlBlion and to address * i>P-going isslles. the ser¥ice has also supported a llumber of j1)e￿berS chBJlen8in8 their ¢ntiilem¢nt bentfits. suppJtin8 mernbers access to healthcare and education, &$ well gs pn)vidin8 Addition•1 supwrt to JlleD)bers with physical aDdlor mentsl health needs. We hBve also bttn workin8 knth on IBrger issues facing Tefuges and asylum seek¢TS. through oyr own work and in partnership with other organisations, we are developing r¢sour¢es to SUPWrt our m¢mb¢rs ￿ a¢ces¥ quality le￿[ services. we have worked on preventing tsll-¥oing iS5u¢s bliyking to health care provision Bnd chdlen8d the Sthnd￿ of ￿￿9Mm0da(ioft provided 10 a5yluan s¢ck¢rs. The project has also worked with NILRAS member wmrnunity ￿￿latIOnS Telat¢d ￿ NTCRAS, mcntoring and supportin8 thcsc 8roup to fijrther &velop thdr existing skills Bnd ca￿elty. This ha5 b¢¢n don¢ thTOUBh f￿used tr&￿ing pro8foD)me- Equip 8nd Explore, a prdCtic&l skills ba5¢d PTowm¢- and through on-going supwrt provided to the group5 in terms of suprrf)rt wilh funding *pplications. guidance on cornmit*e goVernanc￿sE￿ctllres ac£ess to Olltside suptx)kninittg as rt4u1￿J. eDtiDgHomelesslleJs and DeytitMtio•:_ The r￿1￿CtIon in waitin8 timcs f()T Child Tax Credit has reduced through the F&st Trdck pr(ws. Th¢r¢ ar¢ signif￿ant d¢lays in UKBA pr(Kessing applications for Section 4 support. Th¢r¢ ar¢ also a umb¢r of woplc who are in thc proecss of subMitt￿B fresh claims who hai'c b¢¢n foT Si8nifiognt periods. Assistsnce is a mixtLLre ot. ODe-OtY, short-lenn and longer-ierm. 'lTre F.meTgency Supwrt Provides f(K)d from Storehouse and $05 Bu5 weekly. while working with the individual to r¢solv¢ their situatioft. This caD ￿ClUde.. r￿dillg legal represeJJtsti0￿ So￿J[l8 hesh eviden¢¢, liai51O8 wilh b¢fj¢fits offJ¢¢s and wial services and l(x)kin8 ai options forthe futute. Embracq St Vincent de Paul, SIn￿n Community, All Sthls ChuT¢h. SioTehouse, SOS and the Red CTOSS hav¢ cotttuilled to provide sUp￿rt for tbose in neel including emergeiicy &¥¢ommodaiion. Accomm(Mt&tii)n fDT those without support is now becoming a seTiOUS problem. li h&s b¢¢ome in¢r¢85ingly diffieult io SOUTCC spllc¢s in hostels. NICJiAS h&5 met two Organi￿li9nS io look at po%sible ways of addressin8 this issue. Ow IiDks with Storehouse, knuth Be￿ast Food Bank al￿ SQS Bus enable provision of weekly f(KKI as w¢ll as TefeTrdl forclothing hoU￿hOld gLm￿S. Englislt laD2u*ge 3UPPOrt.'_ L50L Cl￿Se5 for adults contillue on a twi¢c wttkly basis at an intrtyJu¢iory aT¥J intertnedtate level. Claks av¢rd¥¢% 10 FLTrpl¢ Jnd Lan T1￿ Iii 20. run by v()lunt¢er I¢￿her5. They provide ￿ Op[￿rtUnIty for those who are noi abl¢ io ac¢es% mainstream edu¢aiion pmvision to attai iftfutmal ESOL ¢1#5￿¥ *1 tt l¢vvl suithbl¢ to Ihcir l￿d$. ID etth¢r group WO￿ or onL￿((MIne IL'S5011S. Th¢ removal of the 6 month waiting time kfore mainstream cigsses can be acce&5ed has mearti tllOTe people are able to attend college OD Brriv81 here. The NICRAS classes provide additional supp)rt for Ihose who are unable to access the 5 day o weekcourses and forthos¢ who c4llnot attend the Loll¢¥¢. NORTHERN IRELAND COMMUNITY OF REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS Provldlmg sotlxl Opport￿ni￿e5 A￿d supportiDKillteErati04 Youth Group.. Thv yvuih ¥roup works in partneT5hip with the Inclusion and Diversity Team from the Educaiion Authi)rity i>nce a week. TheTe 3r¢ iK)th and off slt¢ activitie& including arts 2nd craf drummin& MtnJnin& visits to tht¢in¢ma aDd communiiy groups and t residents￿. Si Patrick's Day". Members I￿k part in a workshup to make costwlles and IR tTr)k part ill the Bejh paradE organi5¢d by LOFAG, followed bya¢elebrat1￿ in Shaftesbury Re¢reatioJJ CentsE. Christm&%.' The Exttulive Committee owised the Christsnas pBrty this y¢3r and fimding was PTuvidLxI to buy small gifts for th¢ chilthn wbo attendd. Fwd ham￿rS w'erc PTovid¢d by East Belf85t Mis5ioJL gifts were applied for through the St Vill¢eJJl de PaUV￿VIllQn Army Chn'5tsnas AppLal. Summ¢r R¢5identiaJ.. Membcrswer¢ offettd the opwKtuRity to att¢Dd a r¢sidElltiai in Conym¢fl& Volunteers.. Thisyear we (wnis¢d duringth¢ summ¢T a thank you paTry forourvoluttteers. The buJldirt¥ bas Cotsttllued to J]¥th 4vaiIabl¢ to group5 for m¢eting& aciiwiies and training events. Women Croup:_ This Y¢￿ w¢ were able to s￿Ure a Small gry8nt to organise a Refugee and Asylum S¢eknr Wotnen IniegratioN Proj￿. The projeei aimed 10 eDJpower wiKneD th giv¢ th¢m a voic¢. Tbe proittt activilics werc d¢%igned by the wom¢n th¢rn5¢1v¢s. PeerOrieDlatioll ind the RAS Ultimate Gumt:. This yw we surrtssfully a small gT&nt from the Community follDd8tiott Nt to train t¢n Djcmkrs to assi￿ ntw 0￿￿terS alld deVelo￿d a Elalldiwk ¢lltitled.. Th¢ Ultimate Guide f( Refugees Asylutll SeekeJ5 iD NorthErn I￿1&￿] Representing refvgtts gnd seektrs:. Our ChaiTpEfson reprcs¢nled NICRAS on the All Party AssemblN Group for Ethnic MinoTltle5 at Stornont. Sar at the South Belfa￿ Community Supwrt Group, and 5UPP)rt¢d oth¢r Committee memkrs io attenditig ￿eMaI o￿tt￿gI 2nd ¢onsllltstion5, ¢llSUTing that NICRAS providtd a'Refu8ee Vol￿, in North¢rn I￿land. NICRAS sat on the Strate￿C Mi8ration Parthership. We also SAI on thr Ijwmigraiion Sllb-Group olthe Racial Equality Fonun and this pr()vided opwrtunitl¢S to rnis¢ key issues dwectly with Departments responsible fnreducalion, health and immigration. NJCRAS sal on the Strdiegic PartnErshipt lh¢ Consmunily Suppon Group. the Migranr Fonjm. tht Race Fquality sub group, ￿lf￿$t F(KyJ N¢tWOTk. Th¢ Nl HtLm8n Right5 co5￿ju￿. W¢ ar¢ a150 a member of Inwer Ormeav Consortium and Migrant Fonjm. NICRAS sai ai the Syrisn OpEraiional Pl4[￿Ing GTOUP. We Wdve evidence before the OFMDFM artd InternatioTr￿ Development ComThitt¢¢ regarding the arrival of S)Yian refugees irtNorthern IreLllt￿. NORTHERN IRELAND COMMUNITY OF REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS So¢l*l wJll¢y work:. Tbls year w¢ pr(xluced two Teports.'- i. th¢ EtT¢cts of tk5titutiott on Refi]8ees that de5eribe the enforca destibJtion faced by ttew ￿£UgeeS in Northern Ireland to the del&y processing welfare bet)efits ILOUSitLg claims. 2. Home Sweet Home? To highlight the hardship tattd by Asylum Seekers livin8 in NA88 AccoTnmodatiotts The Hotlle Sweet Home? Rep)rt ttqrned the OTgBnisation Bn invilation to ptf5elll the report findin before The Northem Ireland Execuiive Comtnittee" H Theeting SERCO. The rewmt was also di8¢uss&l ai th¢ Hlyne ()ffice 8tcomm(xlaiion Advisory Group It￿7lD8. Ihe gyoduction of th¢ two rewrt menliolled above is the rEsult of our Int￿whIP and partn¢r5hip wjth Ulst¢r Univ¢r511y th¢ C¢ntrc For Effective SEtvite. Another su¢¢c5s wfjs the dccision by the I￿part[￿t of EInplo￿¢n¢ and Learnin8 that LI￿115h {ESOLI ¢lass¢s would be free for th￿￿ ill the asylum pro¢¢s% inc1t￿L￿g those who have been reft buf hold bmrxirsry admission, and th0￿ who have been bere less thao 6 months. Addittwally. eligibtlity hgs been extended to other FurtheT Education eoursts. although ih¢5e attra¢i 8 f¢¢. This has bren a major br¢akthrou8h and Jllay be tbe first time the A.qsembty has tsken & different line to WesrninM¢r in ar¢&s related to untlli8ration. We are currently worki￿￿ on a nu]nkn trf rtP￿tt in¢luding'. thc ¢ff¢¢i of d¢5tiWiiOn on r¢fu5¢d fjsylum seekers 8nd the refijgtts and gsylum SLrkeTS skills audiL AtTrLievemerLts NICRAS has IKen suecessfvl in miny of its campaigns gaining some Si￿lf1(a￿t ￿h7¢WellIC￿ts. 2010.. NICRAS was able to hav¢ English for Sp¢ak¢ts of Otber Languages classe5 ll￿e frtt of cbarge for ￿Ylum 5¢ek¥ys. 2010.. NICRAS obtained acce55 to l¢i5urE c¢ntsr5 in B¢lfasl for r¢fuge¢s And &sylum seekers al th¢ S￿￿¢ concessioD tate Hs foi people on benefits. 2015.. MCRAS suc¢essfvlly campaigned for free access to heaJthc8re for all &￿]U￿ %eekeTS. I￿lUdingdeStitUlc a5>'lum s¢ek¢rs Who￿ Bsylllm clgims had been retused. In July 201), NICRAS were able to get the Nt Assembly to reCO￿lSe the migrant crisis in debate in the Asgembly. NICRAS convinced the Driver and V¢hi¢l¢ Lic¢nsing Agetw to change their application Procedure ioallow r¢fugee T.D. cardq io he accepted as a primary forjn of idenlificalion. NICRAS ha% partnered With IJNISON to provide free IELTS classes refu8ces and seekers WLih medi¢al qualtfications who are seeking lo work in the Tnedical profes5ion5. Th¢ union also allow￿ OUT mcmbcrs to avail ofihLir iinniigration clinics llnd lo ll￿eSS training Cour￿5. FatDily Rcullific4tion.' NICKAS successfully cbampio]Kd with other OT8anisalioHs to ensu￿ the Legal Aid for Fgmily Reunification was Dot cul. We d¢tnoftstrai¢d thai the total Cost 10 th¢ 80vernment was small, but il wollld hav¥ d bi¥ imptili On PLY)pl¥'b livts. In June 2015 successfully campaigTred the Health Lotnmiltec to ¢xtrnd frt¢ a¢ttss 11> to r¢fi]scd ￿'lurn seekers living in Northern Ir¥l8nd In DecembcT ?015 and January •016 NICR.IS sllc¢eqsfully c2mpai¥ned the Mtni%ieT of th¢ Departmcnl of EducatiOD a￿d Lcaming on bohalf of its members to extend free ESOL cl&qses to 811 refugees.