Right To Remain: Toolkit Festival
On Tuesday 21 February 2023, the Migration Justice Project at Law Centre NI welcomed Eiri, Yumna, Leah and Esther from Right to Remain to Belfast for the first of their “Toolkit Festival” events – celebrating 10 years of their famous Toolkit.
Right to Remain are a national charity who produce accessible resources and deliver community training so that people can navigate the UK asylum and immigration system and take practical action in their legal case. The most well-known resource is the Toolkit: an online, free and translatable guide to the asylum system.
With an increasingly “Hostile Environment” for migrants, a scarcity of immigration legal representation, and rocketing caseloads where representation is available, it is vital that people can access reliable information and take knowledge into their own hands and into communities.
This one-day workshop welcomed 50 participants from 30 third-sector organisations who work in Northern Ireland supporting asylum seekers and refugees, as well as individuals from the community with lived experience of migration. Attendees took part in several interactive workshops on navigating the Toolkit, the impact of the new Nationality and Borders Act 2022, and the difference between Legal Support Vs Legal Advice.
In the afternoon, Niamh Rowan, Community Engagement Officer for the Migration Justice Project introduced the newly released Refugee Transition Guide (Click ‘HERE’ to view) to a very familiar audience. The Guide explains the key processes and concepts that a newly granted refugee needs to know upon exiting the asylum system. It is also a useful guide for organisations and communities to understand refugee rights and entitlements.
The digital Guide, available in 5 languages, was commissioned by Belfast City Council and will be continuously updated through a process of community engagement and as processes change. There are also plans to expand the number of languages available, and to provide a read-aloud function.
The day was wrapped up with a panel discussion on the topic of opportunities and challenges in the legal advice sector in NI, with conversations by Mimi Unamoyo, Bomoko NI (The Northern Ireland Refugees and Asylum Seekers Women Association) and Sinead Marmion, Solicitor at Phoenix Law and the chair of the Immigration Practitioners’ Group.
Eiri Ohtani, the Director at Right to Remain, left all attendees with a powerful message:
“We would like to thank everyone who joined us at our Toolkit Festival Belfast yesterday. It was amazing to be able to connect with many heores and heroines of Belfast, all working towards migration justice!”
In solidarity – Eiri, Yumna, Leah and Esther.
This event was a wonderful opportunity for networking and was centred on honouring the collective power of migrant communities, empowering individuals and organisations who offer legal support to individuals at different stages of their asylum journey.
More dates for the Toolkit Festival will be announced all over the UK in the upcoming months and we at the Law Centre are wishing our colleagues at Right to Remain all the best for this joyous celebration and hoping for a long and fruitful collaboration between our organisations.
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