Lucy Student Rabia Nasimi on the challenges refugees face during lockdown and why the Covid-19 response could become a defining moment.
The Covid-19 pandemic presents major challenges for us all, but in the UK vulnerable people and socially isolated communities whose first language is not English are feeling its worst effects.
“After the world faces the grim coronavirus pandemic, our response which follows can be defining. Focusing on the refugee response, I discuss how refugees can be vital assets to any country and how we can identify new solutions to problems of integration”.
Read Rabias’ full blog here.
How to support refugee integration in the UK and beyond? Despite all its challenges, the Covid-19 response is also creating an opportunity for governments and civil society to take stock, reset our approach to refugees and foster mutual respect among cultures and people. There is a need to work together to accelerate systemic change and to start thinking about how to offer new solutions to old problems.
About Rabia Nasimi
Rabia Nasimi (MPhil, Sociology) is a former Afghan refugee who fled Afghanistan with her family in 1999 and arrived in the UK in the back of a refrigerated container. In 2001 the family established the Afghanistan and Central Asian Association (ACAA), a charity dedicated to improving the lives of Afghans and all refugees in London. She volunteered with the organisation from the beginning, and became the Strategic Development Manager responsible for designing and shaping the organisations long term strategy as well creating and launching new services such as the ACAA's supplementary school for struggling refugees or the ESOL for Integration programme. In 2015 she was nominated for the Afghan Professionals Network Aspire Award for outstanding contributions to the Afghan community in London while in 2017 she was nominated for the Lewisham Mayors Award for contributions to Lewisham. In 2018 she was nominated for the WeAreTheCity Rising Stars Award shortlisted for the Women of the Future Award, and for the Asian Voice Charity Awards in the most inspiring young person category for her work advocating refugee rights both in the UK and Afghanistan.