For our Welfare and not for our Harm (Jeremiah 29) – Report by Dr. Anna Rowlands.

Giving voice to the voiceless in a report launched online 27 June 2019, leading Catholic Theologian, Dr. Anna Rowlands, writing about the experiences – including faith experience- of people living in asylum destitution and the experiences of the refugee support community at the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) UK.

The report analyses barriers to justice and dignity faced in the UK by destitute and detained asylum seekers. The report draws upon interviews with JRS staff and volunteers and especially asylum seekers at the Jesuit Refugee Services UK who have struggled to gain asylum as refugees, many of whom have experienced detention.

The report finds that asylum seekers in destitution and detention feel dehumanised by the asylum system but find strength through community membership, faith and volunteering.

For our Welfare and not for our harm: a faith-based report on the experience of the refugee and refugee support community at JRS UK 2017-2019 is available at: http://www.jrsuk.net/

Prepared by Anne Kelleher, RENATE Communications.