Equality Means the Right To Vote
This year marks the first time that refugees in Scotland are able to vote in the Parliamentary elections. This comes following a law passed in February 2020, which extended the right to vote in Scottish elections to all people who are over 16 and live in Scotland, including everyone people with refugee status. In this article, published in Issue 2, Ahlam Al-Bashiri wrote about how she campaigned for that right. If you are eligible, you have until 19 April to register to vote.
By Ahlam Al-Bashiri
I never thought I’d be a refugee. I didn’t choose this situation. Nobody does. We should take that as a fact and treat people equally. What does equality mean? It means having the same rights as every other person in Scotland.
I was working for the Yemen embassy in London when the war broke out in 2014. It was impossible for me to go back, so I moved to Glasgow and applied for asylum. Back in my country we host over a million refugees, mostly from Africa. But I never really paid them any attention. I never imagined that one day I would be in their situation.
When I first arrived in Scotland, I was a little afraid. I’m a Muslim woman and wear the hijab. In London you see many people in a headscarf, but it’s not the same here. I didn’t know if I would be welcome. And then there was the weather – it was even worse than London!
One day I was at a bus stop, reading on my phone and feeling sad about what’s happening in Yemen. There was an older Scottish woman sitting there and she saw how I upset I was and offered me some chocolate. I’ve come to realise that Glasgow is a really friendly city. I feel at home here.
I was one of the lucky ones. For some reason, I really don’t know why, when I was seeking asylum, I wasn’t stripped of the right to work. So I thought that all asylum seekers were allowed to work. I didn’t realise until later how rare that is. And my claim was processed in just five months. I’ve since met people who have been in the system for years. They’re stuck at home, unable to work, to contribute to society. They’re losing their skills and even any sense of themselves. I found the process traumatic. Can you imagine the impact it has on their mental health?
A couple of years ago, I went to an event at the Scottish Parliament which was encouraging more women from minority ethnic backgrounds to stand in elections. It was then that I found out that, as a refugee, I didn’t even have the right to vote. Then I learned that my neighbour, who was a refugee from a Commonwealth country could vote. I couldn’t understand how that could be the case.
I learned about the Scottish Refugee Council’s campaign for the right to vote and joined the committee of representatives from refugee communities. We were invited to the Scottish Parliament and they asked us why we thought refugees should be given the vote.
For me, it’s simple. As an asylum seeker, you don’t have right to work, you don’t have the same right to education – you have a lot of rights taken from you. You are waiting to get refugee status. Then when you get that, you are waiting for the right to be a citizen.
We should all be treated equally. If you give people the right to vote, you empower them. You let them have a say in the future of Scotland. It shows New Scots that that they are welcome here. It makes people more likely to engage with, and integrate in, society. It can have a huge impact on people.
I am so happy that this year I will be able to vote in the Scottish Parliamentary elections for the first time and the day when the Bill giving refugees the right to vote was passed was one of my happiest moments. This is a very important step forward for equal rights in Scotland. But we are still campaigning for asylum seekers to have the right to vote.
Ahlam Al-Bashiri works with Saheliya Organisation. She is a Voices ambassador. Ahlam was a Yemeni diplomat. She co- founder of To Yemen With Love, an initiative to raise awareness about the Humanitarian crisis and the war in Yemen, and to highlight Yemeni culture and traditions in Scotland. She campaigned for the right to vote for New Scots.
This article was originally published in Issue 2 of the Greater Govanhill magazine. You can pick up a copy for free locally, or order one here.
