SI NEWS 2006 eng Actions
From SI Exco News
Action with Asylum seekers
I read with interest the article on Servas History in the last issue of S I News, and also the report written by Servas UN representatives on the 'Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights'. One resolution passed concerned the "absolute prohibition of torture, other cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment and the unlawfulness of arbitrary, summary or extrajudicial killing of an individual in all circumstances".
These words are taken directly from the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of 10 Dec 1948, just before the birth of Servas, now celebrated as Human Rights Day. Other Articles of the UDHR include the right not to be held in slavery; the right to freedom of thought, conscience, opinion and expression; and the right to seek in other countries asylum from persecution.
Some of Servas Britain are helping and supporting Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the UK. Amongst us we work with different organisations and Refugee and Asylum Seeker Support groups. We have been trying to get other Servas members involved by setting up a network within Servas Britain, to support each other, share concerns and exchange ideas and information. We feel this is in keeping with the original Servas ethos, and extending a welcome to those seeking asylum in our country is a reflection of our logo of the 'Open Door'.
I would like to share some of our activities. I do not want this article to be political. However it must be set in the context of recognition that the Asylum process in the UK is increasingly harsh, in which the Human Rights of those seeking asylum, including victims of torture, are ignored. The accuracy and quality of decision-making over Asylum claims has been heavily criticised by Amnesty International and by the U N High Commissioner for Refugees.
Those whose asylum claims are refused can be returned to places where they face real danger and the risk of continued persecution. Even if their claim is still being considered, Asylum Seekers are not allowed to work, but 'failed' Asylum Seekers lose all their financial support and may become totally destitute, sleeping rough, and existing on charity and hand-outs for food, clothes and other necessities. Servas members in some towns in the UK support large numbers of destitute Asylum Seekers, raising money by donations and a variety of fund-raising ventures in order to provide food and a small amount of cash on a weekly basis. Others provide short-term accommodation to homeless Asylum Seekers.
Other Servas members visit Asylum Seekers who are detained in Immigration Detention Centres. The UK is one of the few countries where Asylum Seekers, including women, some with babies and children, are routinely detained in a prison environment behind high fences, sometimes for months. This is particularly traumatic for the children, and the detention of children has been much criticised by Human Rights organisations and by lawyers.
On 1 December 2005 the EU published a new directive, as a means of 'harmonising' procedures and leading to a common Asylum system for EU states, to 'protect our borders'. In Servas International we too can work collaboratively. A couple of years ago, when an Iraqi Asylum Seeking family was deported to Spain, under the Dublin Convention / Third country ruling, because the father had fled there first before coming to the UK to be reunited with his family, Servas members in Madrid were contacted and were able to meet them and help and support them.
Wherever you are in the world, it would be great to have some response from you to the points made in this article, either in the next issue, on the web, or personally to me at
saram[at]seelig.fsnet.co.uk.
Margaret Seelig - Servas Britain
Work as an Accompanier in Guatemala
I saw the advert in Amnesty International magazine – speak Spanish, have experience of developing countries, able to volunteer for 3 months working in Mayan communities. It was for me. After a week’s training in Guatemala City with 6 other women between 28 and 65 from France, Sweden, Switzerland, I got a feel for the job ahead at the monthly reunion for all 20 accompaniers who talked about their communities and concerns that they had in their work.
My community near Chimaltenango was only 2 hours bus drive from Guatemala City. Others had 7 hour bumpy bus rides. There are mountains all over western Guatemala reaching to over 3000m. My Austrian companion and I slept on the floor of the village Health Centre at 2000m, beside the school of a village of 200 people. There was no running water but there was a cistern built into the ground which collected rainwater which we could use for washing and filter for drinking. The toilet was a latrine of cement over a large pit.
Since 1962 there had been internal armed confrontation with more than 200,000 killed and 40,000 disappeared. In 1996 the Peace Accords were signed by the government and guerrillas, overseen by the UN. The survivors are demanding an end to impunity and some are prepared to come forward as witnesses. Their concerns were intimidation and threats from members of their own and other communities where massacres had taken place during 1980-82. So the project of accompaniment started. Having an international presence in the communities proved very comforting and important to these Mayan people. They are still waiting for the court cases to be heard.
We ate with a different family each day, taking a contribution of food for them. We spent the rest of the day visiting, chatting to the witnesses, joining them or their families in their daily chores: collect water, pick beans, strip the maize plants, gather firewood, learning how to weave and crochet and make chocolate. Every meal there were tortillas and either rice and beans and very occasionally an egg, chicken or cheese if they had a cow. The sweet black coffee was very weak. Houses, clinging to the forested mountainside, were made of cane and adobe with corrugated iron roof. If the family had more money (sometimes from those in the US) the house would be of cement block. We visited 3 other communities every 2 weeks, staying in witnesses’ houses and would accompany them into the capital when there were meetings. I never felt in danger except when I went to the capital and that was probably because I read in the papers of people disappearing and women being murdered. Because I was European I felt safer.
I visited Antigua on several occasions I met up with an English host there who gave me an insider’s view of Guatemala. His love and enthusiasm for his adopted country were very infectious. He’s lived there since the ’76 – he came just after the earthquake – and has travelled and worked extensively all over Guatemala. His opinions and his experiences of previous governments and existing corruption were thought provoking. An escapee from 1960 California and his Guatemalan wife have developed an organic macedamia nut farm and were fascinating day hosts to visit. I had an opportunity to spend the day with the coordinator of SERVAS Guatemala who worked in and drove me round Guatemala City. This was a different kind of life to my accompaniment work, her world seemed a million miles not just 2 hours drive away.
Guatemala is a magnificent country blessed with charming, colourful Maya people, the majority want to provide their families with the basics of life and retain their precious culture. But the country has massive problems, not least the wave of violence in the capital, apparently perpetuated by impunity. Until the Government and Army shake themselves rid of corrupt individuals and create the political will to see that justice is done, that racism is eradicated, and that there is greater social equality, I see a bleak future for Guatemala.
Dorothy Wilson Craw, England
