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PRESS RELEASE . . . PRESS RELEASE . . . PRESS RELEASE . . . PRESS National Refugee Week in Camden Schools 14-21 June 2004 Six Camden schools have invited women from the All African Women’s Group, a group of asylum seekers based at the Crossroads Women’s Centre, to speak in classes and assemblies as part of National Refugee Week. "There are 3,292 refuge and asylum seeking children in Camden schools. 105 languages are spoken by bi-lingual pupils in Camden schools" Camden Annual Refugee Survey 2003/4. The No School Apartheid Campaign (NSA), is co-ordinating this anti-racist, anti sexist project. Women and children are 80% of the casualties of war and the majority of refugees in the world. It is estimated that 50% of women asylum seekers who come to the UK have survived rape and other torture in the countries they fled. Women’s vital struggle to keep families and communities together in the face of war and devastation remains the most hidden. Kay Chapman from NSA says: "This project aims to highlight women’s experiences as mothers, grandmothers, sisters and young girls, and their contributions to our multi-racial schools and communities, and show what they have in common with women and girls everywhere. There is no better anti-racist education for our children, so vital for a caring society, than to grow up in an integrated environment and to hear first hand what is happening to people all over the world." At the first of these presentations, two women from Eritrea and Uganda spoke to a Year 7 class at Hampstead School. Anita Y described how after she was raped and witnessed the murder of her eldest son by Ugandan soldiers, she fled to the UK but was at first denied asylum. Wede X who fled from Eritrea after she was imprisoned and raped because of her political activities against the government, described how she was left homeless and destitute in London and forced to sleep on a park bench. Afterwards children asked many concerned and sympathetic questions, including whether the women had been able to keep in touch with the children they had been forced to leave behind. The whole class then clamoured to take part in the "Welcome to Fortress Europe" street play, which exposes the often brutal reasons that the Home Office gives for rejecting women’s asylum claims. Classes and assemblies are happening this week at Ryhl Primary School, Parliament Hill Secondary School, Kingsgate Primary School, Maria Fidelis Secondary School and St Patricks Primary School where women from the Congo Brazzaville, Congo DRC, Grand Comoros Islands, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Uganda will speak about their lives and share music and dance. The No School Apartheid Campaign (NSA) spearheaded opposition to legislation which segregates children seeking asylum away from mainstream schools. The campaign brought together parents, teachers and other carers, church groups, unions, doctors and other professionals, uncovering an active anti-racist grassroots national movement of people anxious to defend the right of all children to a compassionate, non-discriminatory and multi-racial education. In October 2002, legislation was passed to detain children seeking asylum in "accommodation" centres as part of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act. The Act included other measures which require Local Education Authorities and other public bodies to provide information to the Home Secretary about suspected immigration offenders. However there is considerable opposition to the segregation of children and it is questionable how much the government will be able to implement it. Contact: Kay Chapman, No
School Apartheid 07904 255145, REFUGEE WEEK CAMDEN SCHOOL SPEAKS
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