The DUP has blocked 'city of sanctuary' refugee status for the Ards and North Down Borough, with a councillor claiming the body behind the campaign is an “encouraging illegal immigration”.
The Lord Mayor, DUP Councillor Alistair Cathcart, cast the deciding vote in a tight poll during the recent monthly meeting of the full Ards and North Down Borough Council. The DUP came up against Alliance, the Green Party and the SDLP, while the UUP abstained from the vote.
DUP Councillor Carl McClean proposed that the council “does not at this time apply to join the City of Sanctuary UK network, or further engage with the organisation, but commits to doing everything reasonably practicable within our communities, and within our dealings with the NI Executive and the Home Office, to effect the efficient and compassionate management of issues pertaining to refugees and those who gain asylum”.
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This reversed a proposal made at committee level for the council to look into joining the City of Sanctuary network with an officer’s report. City of Sanctuary is an umbrella organisation working with over 125 local grassroots groups to create communities welcoming to people fleeing violence and persecution.
A council report states: “CoS supports the development of local refugee frameworks that are joined-up, coherent, and effective in supporting people to rebuild their lives from day one.
“The Sanctuary Award process is a strategic framework for cultural and institutional change within local organisations (councils, schools, universities, colleges, libraries etc.) which ensures that they contribute to the creation of a welcoming environment for people seeking sanctuary in local communities, and that they play an active role in the wider movement for safeguarding and promoting the rights of people in need of sanctuary in the UK.”
In 2020 the City of Sanctuary Network established the Local Authority Network and the related Council of Sanctuary accreditation. Any local authority can now become a formal member of this network, following a list of public commitments.
In April 2022 Belfast City Council agreed a motion forwarded by former UUP Councillor John Kyle that the local authority should become a 'Council of Sanctuary', supporting the initiative to have Belfast recognised as a City of Sanctuary.
At the recent meeting of the full Ards and North Down Council, 15 elected members voted for the DUP proposal to reject the the City of Sanctuary Network, that was all 13 DUP members and two independents, while 15 elected members voted against the DUP proposal, that was from Alliance, the Greens, the SDLP and one independent. Eight UUP members abstained.
The poll was forced to a casting vote from the Lord Mayor, DUP Councillor Alistair Cathcart, who voted with his party, and the proposal was adopted.
DUP Councillor Carl McClean said at the meeting: “The (CoS) charter says they want changes to the law, and the changes they say they specifically want to see are as follows: “that people can seek safety in the UK no matter how they came here.”
“That is very explicit, and that signs us up, in my mind, to as a group corporately supporting illegal undocumented immigration, and people who have arrived in the UK illegally, particularly those who have arrived almost exclusively via very dangerous Channel crossings, organised by the worst of all people, the human traffickers.”
He added: “I don’t question the good faith of the organisation or its founders, or people who disagree with me on issues around immigration, but it is a pro-immigration charity hoping to change UK immigration law, and they are well within their rights to do that. But it is an advocacy group and I believe they are encouraging illegal immigration and will be asking us to do the same.”
Independent Councillor Ray McKimm said: “Go speak to the people in Belfast, bring them here to us - they have been making this work. Belfast City Council hasn’t signed up to illegality, they haven’t signed up to breaking the rules. They have signed up to warmth and kindness.”
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Green Party Councillor Barry McKee: “We should be offering newcomers to the UK support based on their need for protection, and not how they arrived. If more people knew the trauma and sacrifice that newcomers to NI can find themselves going through to reach safety, they would surely show the compassion and care that these people need.”
UUP Councillor Pete Wray said his party would abstain on the vote, and he proposed the City of Sanctuary organisation to come to Ards and North Down Council “to hopefully come and persuade my colleagues in the DUP that they are wrong”.
Alliance Councillor Victoria Moore said: “Everyone in this chamber wants to show our borough to be the forward thinking, compassionate and outward looking place we know it to be. The attacks on Newtownards Islamic Centre in August shows we need to not just condemn perpetrators but actively support those that are affected.
“Borough of Sanctuary is about us as an anchor organisation creating a supportive culture in our borough.”
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