難民到立會示威張超雄到場支持：「不要氣餒」

Jul 23rd, 2013 | Detention, Immigration, Media, Welfare | Comment

inMedia reports on protest at Legco - 23Jul2013

議員學者要求政府立即改善難民政策

Jul 23rd, 2013 | Food, Housing, Immigration, Media, Welfare | Comment

inMedia refugees protest against inadequate welfare - 23Jul2013

Asylum seekers ask Legco for access to work, education, healthcare

Jul 23rd, 2013 | Advocacy, Media | Comment

Christy Choi writes for South China Morning Post on 23 July 2013

The plight of asylum seekers was laid out in the legislature yesterday amid fresh calls to grant them access to work, educational opportunities and more government help. Lawmakers heard how thousands of refugees languished in a city of affluence because current regulations prevented them from being self-sufficient. The Social Welfare Department said there was room to improve policies, but that the city also needed to prevent a “magnet” effect that would draw in more asylum seekers. Non-governmental organisations, lawyers, religious figures and refugees spoke up for their cause in front of the Legislative Council panel on welfare services.

“Malaysia, like Hong Kong, is not a party to the UN Refugee Convention, but they are preparing to allow asylum seekers to work and will train them as well,” said Professor Simon Young Ngai-man, former director of the Centre for Comparative and Public Law at the University of Hong Kong. China has ratified the convention but has not extended the ratification to the city. Julee Allen, manager of Christian Action’s humanitarian services department, said refugees lived “on a razor’s edge between destitution and not destitution”.

Young and Allen, along with representatives from the Hong Kong Refugee Advice Centre, Vision First, The Vine Church, human rights-focused law practice Barnes & Daly, and the Hong Kong Refugee Concern Network, appealed for the government to meet the basic needs of asylum seekers according to international standards. They cited best practices in other countries and slammed policies in Hong Kong as inadequate and illegal. The International Social Service (ISS), an NGO commissioned by the department that has been found wanting by civil society organisations, said its hands were tied by decisions made by the department and Security Bureau.

The ISS provides each asylum seeker with HK$1,200 in housing allowance, HK$1,000 worth of groceries a month and a small travel allowance. The department said the service was supposed to help asylum seekers find housing. Most refugees who testified at the meeting said they often found themselves unable to rent proper accommodation as the ISS did not provide a loan to pay initial rental deposits required by landlords. “We are sacrificing the mental health and well-being of 5,000 people in order for seven million of us to keep our wealth,” Pastor Tony Reed of The Vine Church said. “We must reject such a morally bankrupt policy.”

Outside the Legco building, Labour Party lawmaker Dr Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung said to more than 100 asylum seekers: “As a signatory of the UN treaty [on human rights], we are obligated to provide the basic needs of those who face persecution and come to Hong Kong as a transition. Your situation is totally unacceptable and unbearable.” Cheung is tabling a motion to undertake a thorough review of the welfare system for asylum seekers.

Ameena Butt, seven, joins the protest outside Legco. Her father fled Pakistan after switching to Christianity in 2008.

ISS crushes our lives!

Jul 23rd, 2013 | Advocacy, Media | Comment

難民到立會示威張超雄到場支持：「不要氣餒」

We are the InMedia HK, in the past week, we follow the issue of refugees’ suffering in Hong Kong. And we post four articles for that (one article is still writing). We are happy that the public starts to care about the situation of refugees, as more media are reporting it, thanks for the advocacy work of the Vision First.

（獨媒特約報導）昨日立法會福利事務委員會舉行特別會議討論在港難民困境。關注難民團體Vision First約50名難民及義工會議前到立法會門外示威，要求政府正視本地難民困境，矛頭直指港府及香港國際社會服務社（ISS）。工黨立法會議員張超雄到場支持，批評政府支援不足，並鼓勵難民「不要氣餒」。

抗議矛頭直指港府及ISS

示威人士高舉不同標語抗議，像「援助，不要壓迫！！(Assistance Not Oppression!!)」、「難民可以貢獻香港！！(Refugees Can Contribute To Hong Kong!!)」、「反對拒絕文化！！(Against The Culture Of Rejection!!)」，也有矛頭直指ISS的「ISS摧毀我們的生活！！(ISS Crushes Our Lives!!)」、「ISS在進行社會控制！！(ISS Is Social Control!!)」，並架起象徵惡劣居住環境的寮屋模型。他們聲嘶力竭叫喊，希望引起關注，向政府及立法會議員施壓。

工黨議員張超雄到場打氣。他在2005至06年探望過不少難民，有人住在旺角，也有人住新界西，不少人的居住環境惡劣，食物及健康護理皆不足，兒童甚至不能上學。「港府簽署了不少聯合國公約，有責任提供基本服務予難民，令他們不致貧困。香港是先進城市，有能力更好地照顧難民」。他形容難民的困境難以接受，敦促「港府必須盡快作出改變」。他又鼓勵難民繼續爭取權益，不要因眼前困擾而氣餒。

此時天公不造美，下起滂沱大雨，集會唯有轉到另一示威區繼續進行。來自巴基斯坦的難民John對記者大吐苦水，他是基督徒，受到宗教迫害，故於2007年到港申請酷刑聲請，但至今仍未成功。現時他和另外三名難民住在油麻地。他批評港府及ISS支援不足，「我嘗試自己找居所，但我去找物業代理時，他們第一句便問我：有沒有身份證，第二句便問：你能不能支付按金？」由於他不能合法工作，ISS資助又不包括按金，他根本不能承租。他批評，港府像在迫他回國。

（中間為John）