What does it mean to be a City of Sanctuary?
Submitted by Craig Barnett on Mon, 30/07/2007 - 11:04.
Following the recent announcement of Sheffield becoming the first City of Sanctuary, we now need to work out a shared set of practical goals for Sheffield’s engagement with asylum-seeker and refugees. We will be asking for the views of all our supporters and aim to hold a consultation event in 2008, leading to a plan that we can all share responsibility for working towards.
On returning to Birmigham uk
#338. Anonymous, replying to original post.
Tue, 21/08/2007 - 15:40
On returning to Birmigham uk from Birmingham US on a fact finding tour,I noticed that nearly every other city in the US is a City of Sanctuary, in the UK the number is 1 !,are you aiming for the same system as the US, or is this simply a one off in Sheffield?
Thanks,
US Cities
#340. Craig Barnett, replying to #338.
Thu, 23/08/2007 - 10:29
The 'Sanctuary Cities' movement in the USA is slightly different from what we are doing here. It originated there in the 1980s as a response to the US government-sponsored violence in Central America, which led to many Central American people fleeing to the USA. At that time it was almost impossible for these refugees to obtain asylum in the US. This situation led to a large scale 'Sanctuary' movement by citizens and faith groups to protect them. One development of this was the creation of 'Sanctuary Cities' which made a commitment not to return refugees to the situations they had fled from.
The current situation in the UK is rather different - our City of Sanctuary initiative aims to build a culture of welcome and hospitality for asylum-seekers and refugees rather than offering a substitute for the national asylum system. We are keen though for this movement to spread beyond Sheffield, in order to demonstrate that many people in this country are not hostile to asylum-seekers and are proud to offer asylum to people in need of it.