Scottish Refugee Council is an independent charity dedicated to providing advice, information and assistance to asylum seekers and refugees living in Scotland. We also provide specialist services in areas such as housing and welfare, women's issues, community development, the media and the arts.

We play a leading role in policy development and campaign on refugee issues to ensure that Scotland plays a full role in meeting the UK's legal and humanitarian obligations under the 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees.

Asylum: Getting the balance right

March 2010

Scottish Refugee Council welcomes the first in-depth inspection of the UK asylum system by the Independent Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency (UKBA). His report, “Asylum: Getting the Balance Right?”, was published on Friday 26 February 2010.

The report found that, based on current staffing levels and the complexity and volume of asylum cases, the UK Border Agency’s target of concluding 90 per cent of asylum cases within six months by December 2011 is unachievable.

Asylum: the facts and a guide for journalists

March 2010

Do you need to know more about refugees and those seeking asylum, or need some basic statistics and facts? Our handy little guides could be for you.

Asylum: the facts contains information about the asylum system, sets out facts about refugees and asylum seekers living in Scotland and highlights the benefits they are bringing to the country.

Fair play: A guide for journalists has been produced by Scottish Refugee Council, Amnesty International, Oxfam and NUJ. The guide helps journalists to cover the subject in a balanced and truthful manner.

Click here to read Asylum the facts (813KB PDF)

Click here to read Fair play (2.7MB PDF)

A League For All football tournament

February 2010

A new children’s football league, called A League For All, has been launched in the north and west of Glasgow. Scottish Refugee Council is a partner organisation in the tournament, along with Glasgow City Council, Show Racism the Red Card and The Jags Trust.

Partick Thistle Football club is also a partner, and three former Partick Thistle players, Jim Duffy, Chic Charnley and Derek Ferguson, took part in the launch. The five-a-side tournament will take place in May, in the form of a round robin event.

How to use the health service in Scotland: New DVD from NHS Scotland

February 2010

A new DVD from NHS Scotland called 'How to use the Health Service in Scotland' is now available. Scottish Refugee Council was involved in the development of the DVD. The DVD comes with a soundtrack in 17 languages and is of particular use to people newly arrived in Scotland who do not speak English as their first language.

There is also a supporting website , containing videos in all 17 languages. Order the DVD via this NHS site or phone 0800 22 44 88.

Visit the How To Use The Health Service Website

New fundraising campaign

January 2010

To coincide with our quarter century milestone, we have launched a campaign to secure more individual supporters for our future work. This is our first step in a long-term effort to increase the number of individual supporters we have and generate much needed resources that will allow us to do other work.

Read the campaign leaflet (217 KB PDF) and consider pledging your support.

Visit our donate page to make a donation.

Annual Review 2009

Our Annual Review for 2009 is now available. Working together with people and partners who share our values, we have been influencing change, working in communities and offering advice and support. Thank you for working with us to make Scotland a place of sanctuary for those fleeing persecution.

Download the annual review here (1.55 MB PDF)

A high resolution version of the review is available on request.