Crossing Borders

News

New Committee

It is time for those wishing to apply for national committee postions to start thinking about their canditature forms. Positions are: national coordinator Seretary Treasurer national education coordinator National project coordinator National campaigns coordinator Website Publicity and marketing

Details will be sent to the crossing borders mailing list. If you do not think you are on this list but would like to find out more please email jldevereux@gmail.com

* Crossing Borders wins best Human Rights and Peace project of the IFMSA*

Now an international project, crossing borders won this award at the IFMSA's General Assemby in Montreal earlier this August. We also featured in the IFMSA Projects Bulletin because we were shortlisted to the last ten for the Rex Crossley Award for 'Best project in the world!'. Congratulations to Marrow who won 2nd place, EuWHO who won a Project Presentation award and Healthy Planet who picked up first place for the Project Fair award. Success for Medsin all round!

Crossing Borders is awarded IFMSA transnational project status!!

The IFMSA is the International Federation of Medical Students Association. As a transntional project "Crossing Borders to Health" as it will be known in the IFMSA will unify efforts of students working across the world in this field. It means an international team will be created to coordinate the sharing of resources, funding applications and publicity. This will benefit Crossing Borders UK through the provision of new partnerships and hopefully more funding! For our members it means even more opportunities to be involved in coordinating Crossing Borders. As a transnational project there will also be two guaranteed places at IFMSA general assemblies. For more information on the IFMSA look at the medsin externals page. Just another reason to get involved with crossing borders at your university or set up a branch! P.s. You do no need to be a medical student to do this!

Are you a London Student? We are setting up a network of Crossing Borders within London. If you are studying there (you don't have to be a medical student!) and are interested in getting involved, email Jennifer - crossingborders@medsin.org with "London" as the subject title and introduce yourself. We will be recruiting at the Nottingham conference and at Medsin events and a meeting of all interested people will follow. It is also a fantastic opportunity to become part of a commitee.

AGM/ Mini conference** The crossing borders AGM/ Mini conference was held on Saturday November 21st at Birmingham University. Representatives from Nottingham, Brighton and Sussex, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Barts and Imperial attended. Activities at the IFMSA Macedonia were presented as well as how people could get involved. National Coordinator of Medsin Entitlement campaign spoke about the rules of access to healthcare and explained the background to the new laws. Livia Ottsilva from Medicine du Monde spoke about Project London and what was happening in practice with access to healthcare. Workshops on "education" "campaigns" and "projects" and "how to set up and run a branch" were run to explain each aspect of crossing borders The first consitution was debated and created The new newsletter/ feedback reports schemes were explained. How to... update your page and share resources through the website was demonstrated National commitee positions - 'Creative director''fundraiser'and 'National project coordinator' were opened.

* Crossing Borders wins international award!*

At the International Federation of Medical Students Association (IFMSA) August General Assembly, Crossing Borders was awarded 2nd Prize for The Best Human Rights and Peace Project in the World.

About us:

Crossing Borders is a national network of students interested in refugee healthcare issues. We work to improve the health of refugees and asylum seekers through practical action, education, awareness raising and campaigning.

Campaigns

We are working with GhAP on the Medsin Entitlement Campaign which you can find out more about by visiting their Medsin page by clicking here. It aims to ensure free healthcare for refused asylum seekers.

Projects

We have a variety of voluntary projects across the country; from helping refugee doctors retrain to practice in the UK to running introductory sessions on the NHS for refugee groups.

Education

We work to get refugee and asylum seeker health issues into medical school curricula across the country. If you want your med school to teach you more about these issues then get in touch, we have resources and advice that can help you.

Interested?

For more resources, details or information contact Jennifer Devereux.

Or visit crossingborders.org.uk for more information.

Who are Refugees?

A refugee is defined by the United Nations Convention relating to Refugees as 'any person who, owing to a well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of their nationality and is unable, or owing to such fear, is unwiliing to avail themselves of the protection of that country.'

There is estimated to be over 40 million refugees and displaced persons worldwide. People leave the world's trouble spots for many reasons. The experience of becoming a refugee is not a pleasant one, with long-term physical and psychological problems a well-documented feature.

What is the "Refugee Experience"?

Each person has individual and differing physical, psychological and social experiences of having to flee their homeland. This depends upon the circumstances of their departure, reason for leaving and many other complex factors. 40% of refugees are estimated to have suffered severe trauma, such as witnessing killings - often of their own family members. Many have survived detention, physical violence, rape and perilous journeys. Two-thirds of refugees worldwide are women and girls, whose husbands, brothers and other male relatives may be caught in conflict, already dead or have simply disappeared; however the majority seeking asylum in the Western world are male.

Two important definitions:

Asylum seeker: a person that has applied for asylum whose application is currently being reviewed. Such people do not have an indefinite right to stay and may have their application accepted or rejected as decided by the Home Office.
Refugee: an asylum seeker who has successfully been granted asylum by the Home Office according to criteria laid down by the UN. Exceptional leave to remain can be granted by the Home Office if it considers it dangerous for the applicant to return to their country at this moment in time - but this is not asylum.