Amnesty International Scotland and the Sunday Herald are inviting entries for a competition for the best article by a student in Scotland on the theme of ‘asylum and persecution’.

The award aims to promote accurate balanced reporting on asylum and it will reward creative and innovative approaches to the issue. The winning piece will be published in the Sunday Herald at the beginning of Refugee Week 2005 (June 20th-26th). Rosemary Burnett, Programme Director for Amnesty International Scotland said:

“As the general election approaches we are increasingly seeing asylum being treated like a political football. Myths and misrepresentations of refugees and asylum seekers are widespread.

“We want to encourage top quality reporting on refugee issues – writing which gets behind the polarised and often hostile debates on the issue to the root cause of asylum – the human rights abuses that force people to flee their homes and end up in Scotland”.
Refugee Week is a UK-wide programme of arts, cultural and educational events. It aims to challenge negative stereotyping of refugees and asylum seekers, and celebrate the enormous contribution that refugees have made and continue to make to Scotland and the UK’s social, cultural and economic heritage.