The Lift the Ban Coalition: What’s It All About? In the UK, people seeking asylum are not allowed to work. Instead, they must live off an allowance of just £39.63 per week, which is expected to cover everything but government provided accommodation. The government claims that asylum applications are ‘usually’ responded to within six months, but according to their own figures on asylum and [...]
An organisation like CLEAR is invaluable in creating a welcoming environment for refugees and people seeking asylum in Southampton. In spite of the ongoing pandemic, and the current lockdown meaning that the office is closed, CLEAR continues to offer a large range of services to its clients online and via phone every weekday. English classes [...]
IMAGINE Like all good charities, CLEAR looks forward to its own demise. We imagine, and strive for, a world in which there is no need for people to flee their home countries because of armed conflict, abuse of their human rights, or other impediment to their reaching their full potential. [...]
I joined CLEAR in 2016, and since my arrival I’ve framed CLEAR unapologetically as a human rights organisation. It’s common knowledge that there are now more refugees worldwide than there were in 2016, but perhaps less well known that half of all refugees are children. The overwhelming majority of these refugees (over 84%) only manage [...]
A Refugee Story What was your life like before coming to the UK? I was living a happy life in my country with my family and friends. I was busy with an administrative job for a good company in the finance industry which paid me well; it was a good company with clear policies, procedures, [...]
