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Tai Tam prison to reopen for asylum seekers

Jan 28th, 2021 | Advocacy, Detention, Government | Comment

The Standard - Tai Tam prison to reopen - 22Jan2021

We are not allowed to work

Jan 21st, 2021 | Advocacy, Refugee Community, RU updates, programs, events, Welfare | Comment

We, asylum-seekers and refugees in Hong Kong, are officially called “claimants” according to the Immigration Department’s Unified Screening Mechanism (USM) implemented to assess asylum claims in the city. All asylum-seekers are banned from working under Section 38AA of the Immigration Ordinance. 

However, substantiated claimants (i.e. recognized refugees) may apply for a temporary six-month work permit issued upon the discretion of the Immigration Department. This applies to very few refugees as only 272 cases were substantiated (i.e. recognized) by the Immigration Department among 24,447 USM claims determined between 2009 and September 2021. The mathematical success rate is: 1.11%

The Government provides us with insufficient assistance, namely: $1500 rent, $1200 food coupons, $300 utilities and $200 transportation – for a total of HK$ 3,200 per month. There has been no increase since January 2014. The Government claims it is sufficient to prevent refugees from working. We call this a big lie because there is no provision for clothes, shoes, haircuts, SIM cards, shaving cream, lady products, baby products, cleaning products or toilet paper – items reasonably considered essential.

What about the big expenses everyone pays in Hong Kong? Rent and rental deposits for example. The cheapest, windowless, 10 m², rundown, subdivided room costs $4000. Two refugees can share a room but they only receive $3000 for rent. The Refugee Union helps us with its limited resources. It is the only group that hands out cash to refugees. Now you can help us directly by donating cash to “Drink For Justice” – a registered charity that pass 100% of your donations to us.

Please click this link to donate: https://bit.ly/3qYFq5u

This Press Release states the government position: “The Government implemented the Unified Screening Mechanism (USM) in March 2014 to screen non-refoulement claims on all applicable grounds in one go. The United Nations’ Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol have never applied to Hong Kong, and hence illegal immigrants seeking non-refoulement in Hong Kong will not be treated as “asylum seekers” or “refugees”. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government maintains a firm policy of not granting asylum and not determining or recognising refugee status of any person. Regardless of the outcome of their torture/non-refoulement claims, claimants are not permitted to remain legally in Hong Kong. If their claims are rejected, the Immigration Department (ImmD) will accordingly remove them to their countries of origin.” (20 May 2020)

Immigration data was collected from: https://www.immd.gov.hk/eng/facts/enforcement.html

December Roundup

Dec 25th, 2020 | Advocacy | Comment

Refugee Union was founded in 2014 with the vision to safeguard the rights and protection of the asylum seekers and refugees stranded in Hong Kong. Since day one, we have been working closely with our partners in the community and organising diversified programmes to improve the well-being of our members.

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Many Hands Make Light Work

To start with, this month we are thrilled to announce that the Facebook page of our centre has reached 10,000 followers, meaning that more and more people would like to learn more about the challenges of seeking asylum in Hong Kong. Thank you all, your support means a lot to us.

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This month we are also delighted to have Ms Sophia Zhang from ESF Sha Tin College organising jewellery and craft workshops for our members. These activities belong to the project ‘Refugee Connect’ initiated by Ms Zhang and in partnership with our centre, which aims to empower asylum seekers and refugees stranded in Hong Kong. Please click here for more details about the project. We thank Ms Zhang for her great support of the local refugee community throughout the years.

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New Year, New Hope, New Opportunities

It is December this month, in this festive season, we wish everyone of you a Merry Christmas. Projecting the coming year, we see new hope and opportunities at our centre.

First, may we send our warm welcome to photographer Ms Karling Hamill (@littlekarstar) for visiting our centre. Ms Hamill will be taking photos of our members for an upcoming programme at our centre. Stay tuned for more information.

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Second, we are also looking forward to collaborating with the wonderful volunteers at Hands On Hong Kong in the coming programmes at our centre.

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Donations Keep Going

Last but not least, we would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to all our Donors for lending us a helping hand. This month we received donations of wide-ranging items, which include but not limited to necessities, personal protective equipment and digital devices. As usually, we promise to deliver all donations we received to our members who are in need. Thank you very much for all your generous support!

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Please stay tuned to our official website and social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) for the updates, and feel free to contact us by visiting our office or sending us an email at info@refugeeunion.org should you have any enquiry. Happy New Year!

Changes to Hong Kong immigration law could re-victimise those fleeing torture and persecution

Dec 16th, 2020 | Advocacy, Immigration, Media | Comment

SCMP - Changes to Immigration ordinance - 16Dec2020

November Roundup

Nov 29th, 2020 | Advocacy | Comment

Refugee Union was founded in 2014 with the vision to safeguard the rights and protection of the asylum seekers and refugees stranded in Hong Kong. Since day one, we have been working closely with our partners in the community and organising diversified programmes to improve the well-being of our members.

Fundraising Platform Launches

This month we are thrilled to announce that we have launched our fundraising platform on SimplyGiving. It also marked the beginning of our #beahero fundraising campaign. The fund raised will be spent on supporting the daily operation of our centre and serving our members. Don’t be a bystander, let us be a hero!

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Happenings in Our Centre

On 13 November, we were glad to have Harmon, Holly and Leslie from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) teaching children Cantonese at our centre. Thank you for helping our kids to integrate into Hong Kong, where they were actually born.

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On 15 November, we were delighted to have Sophia from ESF Sha Tin College organising a jewellery class for ladies at our centre. Thank you so much for your time and efforts.

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On 17 November, we were honoured to have an opportunity learning how to make soap with Soap Cycling. We are most thankful to your teaching.

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Donations Keep Coming

We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to all Donors for lending us a helping hand in times of the coronavirus pandemic. This month we received donations of wide-ranging items, which include daily necessities and personal protective equipment. We will be delivering all of them to our members who are in need. Thank you very much for your generous support!

Please stay tuned to our official website and social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) for the updates, and feel free to contact us by visiting our office or sending us an email at info@refugeeunion.org should you have any enquiry.

October Roundup

Nov 18th, 2020 | Advocacy | Comment

Refugee Union was founded in 2014 with a vision to safeguard the rights and protection of the asylum seekers and refugees stranded in Hong Kong. Since our commencement of service, we have been working closely with our partners in the community and organising diversified programmes to improve members’ psychological and social well-being.

Blog Update

New articles for this month are now available:

Zhang, Sophia. ‘Crossing the red line.’ [Read here] (28-10-2020)

Chow, Vania. ‘When wasted time is the only certainty.’ [Read here] (18-10-2020)

Beck. ‘I will keep trying and never give up.’ [Read here] (11-10-2020)

We would like to send our acknowledgement to our writers for their great contributions.

Happenings in Our Centre

On 10 October, we were glad to have Sally coming to our centre and giving kids a drama class. Thank you for your time and efforts. We all enjoyed the class.

Drama-Class

 
Community Engagement

On 4 October, we were honoured to host Project Spark HK at our centre. We appreciate their passion for providing quality education for children and look forward to the programmes they will be offering with our centre.

Project Spark HK

On 21 October, the sixth anniversary of our centre, we were delighted to host Maggie from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Claire from the Hong Kong Baptist University at our centre. We appreciate their efforts

CUHK x BU

Donations Keep Coming

We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to our donors for lending us a helping hand in times of the coronavirus pandemic. This month we received donations of different items, which include daily necessities and protective equipment for our members. Thank you very much for your generous support!

Please stay tuned to our official website and social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) for the updates, and feel free to contact us by visiting our office or sending us an email at info@refugeeunion.org should you have any enquiry.

Live Like A Refugee Challenge

Nov 5th, 2020 | Advocacy, Refugee Community | Comment

This December 6th, Asylum Action will be hosting the “Live Like a Refugee Challenge” in which you will have the opportunity to try to live according to the budget of a refugee or asylum seeker in Hong Kong.
 
Through this challenge, we hope to raise awareness for the challenges experienced by the refugee community on a day to day basis.
 
Sign up for more details!
The sign up link is available on:
 
@asylum.action Instagram

September Roundup

Oct 10th, 2020 | Advocacy | Comment

Refugee Union was founded in 2014 with visions to safeguard protection claimants’ rights and to ameliorate their prospects. Since our commencement of services, we have been working closely with our partners in the community and organising diversified programmes to actualise members’ psychological and social well-being.

Profiles of Asylum

New articles are now available on our blog:

  • “Anna’s choice” by Vania Chow 06-09-2020 (read here)
  • “Burned out of their homes” by Vania Chow 13-09-2020 (read here)
  • “Learning to let go” by Vania Chow 20-09-2020 (read here)
  • “Frozen in place while time moves forward” by Pedro Cortes 27-09-2020 (read here)

Thank you to all contributors for their time and efforts.

Virtual Engagement

We, asylum seekers and refugees, are active learners. We cherish every chance to learn even in times of immobility. This month we would like to show our acknowledgement to volunteers for organising an online Cantonese course (a total of four sessions) for both adults and children. Thank you for your efforts.

Donations Keep Going

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our donors for lending us a helping hand in times of the coronavirus pandemic. This month we received donations of different items, which include daily necessities and protective equipment for our members. Thank you very much for our donors’ generous support!

Please stay tuned to our official website and social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) for the updates, and feel free to contact us by visiting our office or sending us an email at info@refugeeunion.org should you have any enquiry.

Cover (Sep)

August Roundup

Sep 12th, 2020 | Advocacy | Comment

Refugee Union was founded in 2014 with visions to safeguard protection claimants’ rights and to ameliorate their prospects. Since our commencement of services, we have been working closely with our partners in the community and organising diversified programmes to actualise members’ psychological and social well-being.

Blog Updates and Coverage

This month we are honoured to have a guest contribution on our blog — a piece entitled “Profiles of Asylum: From the Ancient City of Mosul to Hong Kong” which recorded an asylum seeker’s experience taking refuge in Hong Kong, adjusting to tremendous uncertainties in a state of limbo.

We are also thrilled to be featured on Table of Two Cities’ blog — drawing from an everyday life example, Vania Chow in her piece “The Taste of Ice-Cream: Vignettes from Refugee Union” depicted the plight of asylum seekers and refugees in Hong Kong.

Virtual Engagements

In times of COVID-19 pandemic, we are all forced to put face-to-face interactions on hold. With technological advancement, however, social distancing is never a barrier to our solidarity.

This month we would like to send our acknowledgement to the Hong Kong Outstanding Tertiary Students’ Services Association (HKOTSSA) for bringing us the Film Screening Night in a virtual format. We had a nice evening with you all.

There will be more virtual engagements happening soon, please stay tuned for the updates.

Donations Keep Going

In a difficult time, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to our donors for lending us a helping hand. This month we received donations of different items, which include daily necessities and protective equipment for our members. Thank you very much for our donors’ generous support!

Please stay tuned to our official website and social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) for the updates, and feel free to contact us by visiting our office or sending us an email at info@refugeeunion.org should you have any enquiry.

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JULY ROUNDUP

Aug 5th, 2020 | Advocacy | Comment

Refugee Union was founded in 2014 with visions to safeguard protection claimants’ rights and to ameliorate their prospects. Since our commencement of services, we have been working closely with our partners in the community and organising diversified programmes to actualise members’ psychological and social well-being.

Our Featured Articles

This month we are thrilled to be featured in two articles. Sophia Zhang from Shatin College wrote about the stories of asylum seekers and refugees in Hong Kong based on her interviews with our members. Her article has been published on our blog. Ka Wang Kelvin Lam, our volunteer and a researcher of the Department of Sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), highlighted the importance of the refugee community. He wrote about the ways asylum seekers and refugees here cope with hardship in times of COVID-19 pandemic by using our organisation as a case study. His article has been published with Routed Magazine and the blog of the University of Oxford’s Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS).

Stop Indefinite Detention

We are aware of the indefinite detention happening in the Castle Peak Bay Immigration Centre (CIC). Without a reasonable justification, such an act sharply differs from the general practice of the Immigration Department on arrest and detention, not to mention other issues (say, hygiene and delayed medical treatments) the detainees are suffering from. Among them, some are asylum seekers and refugees. They are currently in a hunger strike going against CIC’s indefinite detention. All lives matter. With the CIC Detainees Right Concern Group, we the Refugee Union always stand with the detainees and condemn all inhuman treatments.

Donations Keep Going

The coronavirus disease continues to surge Hong Kong and across the globe. In this difficult time, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to our donors for lending us a helping hand. This month we received donations of different items, which include daily necessities and protective equipment for our members. Thank you very much for our donors’ generous support!

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Please stay tuned to our official website and social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) for the updates, and feel free to contact us by visiting our office or sending us an email at info@refugeeunion.org should you have any enquiry.