New group invites people to help welcome refugees to Chichester and Bognor

Sanctuary in Chichester, a local branch of the National City of Sanctuary Movement and a community wide network and charity launched on Monday.

Sanctuary in Chichester is working with West Sussex County Council and district councils for Chichester and Arun to help implement the Government’s Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme.

Under that scheme 20,000 people from Syrian refugee camps will be settled in the UK by 2020.

Sanctuary in Chichester is a community group that facilitates action by ordinary citizens whose compassion motivates them to show practical care in co-operation with Local and Central Government.

Individuals and faith and community groups are joining together to take action.

The coordinator of the Chichester group, Roger Pask, said: “We are witnessing the greatest refuge crisis since 1945.

“The people of our area want to play their part. From fundraising to the provision of much needed furniture and supplementing food; from welcoming refugees at the point of entry to sustainable befriending over the long-term; from advocacy and language support to help with transport and other aspects of integration – we all have a contribution we can make that will have a lasting impact on the lives of refugees seeking sanctuary in the UK.”

Sanctuary in Chichester is a network of over 50 citizens from all walks of life, who are already beginning to make a difference to the future lives of asylum seekers in Chichester and the UK.

Sanctuary in Chichester aims to welcome up to ten families in the next two years to our area.

All of these families will have been health and security screened and any specific needs will have been assessed in the refugee camp on Syria’s border.

They will have official refugee status under the criteria set by the United Nations for refugees and will be entitled to stay in the UK for five years and later to apply for full citizenship.

They will be entitled to benefits normally available to UK citizens and to apply for work.

In the early period they may have many needs which ordinary people can help them meet, including applying for employment. The state provision will be basic so there will be lots of scope for help of various kinds.

“We aim to work in partnership with charities serving similar causes such as Children of Calais, Children on the Edge (who are based in Chichester and provide education in Syrian refugee camps in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon) and the Rural Refugee Network with a very similar vision to settle refugees in West Sussex and Hampshire,” added Mr Pask.

To help in small or large ways in this work readers are invited to contact Roger through [email protected]

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1) Make our website your homepage at www.chichester.co.uk/

2) Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ChichesterObserver

3) Follow us on Twitter @Chiobserver

4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!

The Chichester Observer - always the first with your local news.

Be part of it.