Latest news with #SabirZazai
The National
04-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
Sabir Zazai: Scotland dodged riots as refugees better integrated
Swathes of England descended into chaos in July and August last year after the fatal mass stabbing of children at a dance class in Southport, Merseyside – following fake online rumours that the perpetrator was a Muslim refugee. But riots never spread to Scotland, something the Scottish Refugee Council's chief executive, Sabir Zazai puts down to the country's approach to integrating migrants. Zazai, himself a refugee from Afghanistan, told the Sunday National: 'We have taken a rights-based whole-society approach to integration in Scotland and since 2013, the New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy is heralding a new course to building and expanding diverse and integrated communities across Scotland.' The strategy aims to ensure that refugees are 'included in and contribute to society and to their communities' from the first day they arrive in Scotland. He said the strategy meant refugees were seen not as 'a threat or a burden but as people who have so much to contribute to our society'. Asked whether this had helped Scotland avoid last year's riots, Zazai (above) said: 'Partly that, partly how we work together, partly it is the framework that has been created as part of the successful delivery of New Scots engaging with the police, engaging with other authorities, when the riots were happening we were here, speaking with the police, speaking with local authorities, speaking with others, looking at how we avoid a situation like this. 'I'm not getting into Scottish exceptionalism, we do have our own issues here as well, the riots could have been worse here, too but we do have those frameworks.' Scotland has proportionately lower rates of immigration than the rest of the UK, taking in around 6% of the total number of immigrants compared with a population share of 8%. The country also has more positive attitudes about immigration than the UK, with data showing that 38% of Scots said more people should come to the country, versus 22% of people in the UK as a whole. When asked whether it should be reduced, 28% of Scots said immigration should be reduced against 48% of people across the UK. Zazai called on the UK Government to follow Scotland's lead, saying: 'In Scotland, we have that strategy, it's world-renowned, it's been flagged by the [UN Refugee Agency] as the best model for integration and the UK Government has got an opportunity to learn from that. 'We do have an opportunity in the UK to learn from the devolved government's approach to refugee integration, to create a UK-wide integration strategy and invest in that. Integration needs investment, you cannot expect people to sound like us and be part of our society when you put them below the poverty line and expect them to rebuild their lives.' As well as being beneficial for society, Zazai said there was a moral imperative for Britain to take in asylum seekers, adding: 'When people arrive, fleeing from some of the most dreadful conflicts around the world, it's everyone's responsibility to help them rebuild their lives.' Zazai also accused Labour of aping the far-right with some of their policies, especially a new policy to publish the ethnicities of criminals awaiting deportation, which critics say will result in 'league tables' of the worst-offending groups. After British nationals, the worst-offending groups are Albanians, Poles and Romanians – none of which are in the top nationalities of people claiming asylum in the UK. He said: 'Whether it's the criminal league tables or preventing refugees from seeking citizenship, the UK Government has announced a number of headline-grabbing measures. These are hostile statements which only increase divisions and fuel misinformation in our communities.' (Image: Henry Nicholls/PA Wire) Zazai added: 'We've got to take that whole society approach and not divide communities by labels in that way. That is what the far-right does.' On 'league tables', Zazai said that they would create the impression that foreigners were responsible for more crime than in reality, adding: 'The criminal league tables, the Government would never do an achievement league table of refugees.' He also blasted Labour's citizenship ban on asylum seekers who arrive in the country illegally – such as by arriving in small boats – saying that getting his British passport was a major moment for him in feeling part of society. He said: 'Citizenship was an important moment in my own journey. That sense of belonging and that sense of being part of a society starts at that moment.' The UK Government was approached for comment.
The National
24-04-2025
- Politics
- The National
Refugee charity hits out at Glasgow's call for asylum seeker pause
The Scottish Refugee City has hit back after Scotland's largest local authority said it was struggling to cope with the number of asylum seekers who were sent there. Glasgow is the UK's most significant 'dispersal centre' for asylum seekers outside of parts of London and council bosses have said the numbers are putting a strain on its already stretched resources, especially in housing. They have demanded that the Home Office, responsible for UK migration policy, stop sending asylum seekers to the city. But Sabir Zazai (below), the chief executive of the Scottish Refugee Council said that the city must find an alternative solution which including continuing to welcome asylum seekers. (Image: Eloise Bishop) He said: 'We believe that any decision by Glasgow to pause receiving people seeking asylum in the city would do more harm than good, and potentially lead to a rise in people sleeping on the streets. 'We don't know how long a 'pause' Glasgow is seeking or what conditions the council would need to see met in order to restart welcoming people. There is currently no clarity around what the benefits of a decision like this would be.' Zazai argued that migration had brought many benefits to the city, adding: 'Local areas have benefitted from new businesses, cultures, skills and expertise. Having supported refugees in Scotland for 40 years, we have seen first-hand how Glasgow and other parts of the country evolved to embrace people rebuilding their lives here. We don't want to lose that progress.' And he said that his organisation understood the pressures facing councils, which he said were mirrored in the Scottish Refugee Council's work. READ MORE: Piers Morgan stunned following American journalist's Gaza genocide response Zazai added: 'Homelessness and housing make up a quarter of the calls to our helpline.' However, the charity boss said that these pressures were not caused by the 'people themselves' but rather by 'bad political decisions' – the responsibility for which lay both with local and central government. He added: 'Glasgow and other cities declared a housing emergency several years ago, yet the chronic lack of social housing in the city remains inadequately addressed. 'Hundreds of people, many of whom have been traumatised by the asylum process, are still living in unsuitable temporary accommodation with no path to somewhere safe and settled to live. 'The UK Government fails to meaningfully engage on this issue, despite a clear and pressing need for action. The current asylum system creates social and economic barriers for people trying to rebuild their lives. 'It does not allow people to provide for themselves and their families, and it does not recognise the vital role that local communities play in supporting people. A piecemeal approach to problems and no desire to fundamentally improve an inhumane and ineffective asylum system is what has led us to this point.' Zazai said that a 'failure to protect vulnerable people at risk of homelessness' would be a 'devastating dereliction of duty for all government officials', adding: 'We hope that an alternative solution is given the attention that it is urgently required.' Glasgow City Council and the Home Office were approached for comment.
