Notts priest’s campaign for justice goes national

A Nottinghamshire priest’s campaign to improve the treatment of asylum seekers will move into the national arena next week, when it is presented to the Church of England’s General Synod in London.

Inner city priest, the Revd Canon Ruth Worsley, who also represents the Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham on General Synod, has been campaigning for better and more compassionate treatment of asylum seekers for the past few years. The Rainbow Project*, based at her former church in Hyson Green, still offers support for many who arrive in the city seeking refuge.

Ruth said: “As Christians we have a responsibility to care for the vulnerable and offer a welcome to strangers and foreigners. Asylum seekers are not immigrants, migrants or refugees, under international law everybody has the right to apply for asylum. Less than 3 per cent of the world’s refugees are hosted by the UK and we are asking the government to ensure that our country’s treatment of asylum seekers is just and compassionate.”

The motion from the Southwell and Nottingham Diocesan Synod (scheduled to be debated on Friday, February 13th 2009), asks the Synod to call on the Government to give asylum seekers the right to work, and the declaration of an amnesty for legacy cases that predate the Government’s New Asylum Model. It also asks the Government to find a practical and humane remedy to the situation of refused asylum seekers who are unable to return to their country of origin because of personal safety, health or family reasons.

Ruth and fellow campaigners will be sharing real stories of hardship caused by the current regulations for asylum seekers that have come to the Nottingham-based Rainbow Project for help.

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