ASYLUM SAFETY (Pg 1)

Sunderland has been home to a regular influx of asylum seekers for over 18 months. Annette Crummack considers the timing of their arrival and what they symbolize in a changing city. A city that's changing too fast for some.

Cosmopolitan. Moving forward. Embracing its new multicultural population. These are all tags slapped on Sunderland's lapel in recent months, and certainly, the city looks different these days. Every week it seems that another redevelopment programme is celebrated, another initiative is launched to further the construction of the city's new identity. This rather vague identity lies at the crux of Sunderland's ability to make a certain peace with itself, to take pride in its heritage but move on, to find comfortable place in the present and to take a brave step into a largely uncertain future.

Following the decline of its traditional industries it is stoically, and at times rather desperately, rebuilding itself. Gleaming shopping centers, state of the art leisure facilities and sleek call center complexes are being built, with hope, optimism and pride holding the bricks together. But whatever the bonding, bricks and mortar don't build an identity. It is the people of a city that make it what it is and the people of Sunderland are changing. Alongside the oversea students and factory workers there is another group contributing to the shifting persona of the region. They are the asylum seekers who have been making Sunderland their home, where their presence is keenly felt.

Approximately six hundred asylum seekers/refugees have been placed here, and it is estimated that the figure will double by Christmas 2000. Although Sunderland is a named cluster area of Iranians and Iraqi Kurds, we also receive asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Angola and the Sudan, plus Roma (Gypsy) groups from the Czech Republic.

The majority are young single men, while families are unusual and lone women very rare. Most single women and families couldn't even contemplate the sort of trip most asylum seekers endure to reach the UK. Maureen McCann of the Asylum Seekers Network explained to me how they make tremendous journeys across Europe using illegal transport systems. The nature of this transport means that they are unsure of reaching their destination safely or at all. As fugitives they are vulnerable to blackmail and abuse, making their escape attempt more traumatic then they could ever have anticipated. Because, of course, no-one who went before has returned safely to tell the tale and forewarn them.

The circumstances that brought them here are largely political, with oppression and a lack of political and personal freedom being a common factor.

Many asylum seekers are not radicals or even political activists, but are astute educated people with a more accomplished view of the modern world than some ruling powers would wish.

"These aren't stereotypical refugees, barefoot peasants with carrier bags," says Maureen. "We have doctors, lawyers and accountants here. Remember it takes considerable know-how and money to escape the system and get this far.Most ordinary workers just couldn't manage it financially or logistically."

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