Decency.

I don't want to live in the kind of world where we don't look out for each other. Not just the people that are close to us, but anybody who needs a helping hand. I can't change the way anybody else thinks, or what they choose to do, but I can do my bit.

-- Charles de Lint


Yesterday I became aware of an article in The Glaswegian newspaper which expressed the Scottish Refugee Council's concern that Glasgow 2014, the company created to organise the Commonwealth Games, has a policy which denies Asylum Seekers the right to volunteer to support the Games.

It is completely beyond me how they reached this policy. Their reasoning is that all Volunteers must be eligible to work in the UK, the issue being that whilst a claim for asylum is being processed, you have no right to work ... But UK Immigration Law actually does allow Asylum Seekers to volunteer so why has Glasgow 2014 excluded a valuable part of the community from within its own city?

Ironically, the theme for the Games is friendship.

I don't think they thought that one through.

There is now a huge backlash on their Facebook and Twitter accounts, and the only response today was a copy and pasted corporate-lingo statement which only served to show their ignorance.

I was fortunate to work for the Scottish Refugee Council for a while, so maybe I'm biased, but I think that if someone wants to offer you their time, their skills, their passion and their dedication for free, then you don't throw it back in their face. You say thank you.

It is short-sighted, foolish and, quite honestly, makes me very angry.

They don't have a legal or a moral leg to stand on.

For the article that kick-started this campaign click here, and then give us your voice by commenting here or here.

Thank you.