Shadow Social Justice Minister and President of Colwyn Bay based NWAMI, Networking for World Awareness of Multicultural Integration, Mark Isherwood MS, has highlighted initiatives aimed at improving social cohesion across the UK and asked what action the Welsh Government is taking to support such initiatives.
During a question in yesterday’s Welsh Parliament Plenary meeting on making Wales a ‘Nation of Sanctuary’, Mr Isherwood, who has done much work on this agenda, spoke of NWAMI’s South Asian Heritage Month celebration this summer and reiterated his previous calls for barriers to understanding to be broken down.
He said:
“I was pleased to sponsor and speak at the second ‘Sanctuary in the Senedd’ event with the Wales Refugee Coalition five years ago now, but as I said here in January 2019, ‘integration is key to making Wales a Nation of Sanctuary’, noting that ‘unless we can break down barriers to understanding at home, then no matter how well we seek to integrate our new neighbours, those barriers will persist. So, it is very much a two-way process’.
“South Asian migrants to the UK have come for different reasons, including those escaping civil war or forced migration. As president of NWAMI, Networking for World Awareness of Multicultural Integration, I spoke at their South Asian Heritage Month celebration this summer. Launched in the House of Commons in July 2019, South Asian Heritage Month, 18th July to 17th August each year, aims to raise awareness of the profile of British-South Asian heritage history in the UK and to help improve social cohesion across the UK and its Nations. What action is the Welsh Government taking to support such initiatives in Wales?”
Responding the Minister for Social Justice, Jane Hutt MS, described Mr Isherwood’s support and engagement in terms of promoting and delivering on the ‘Nation of Sanctuary’ as “strong” and said she had recently attended the launch of the Wales Association of South Asian Heritage, which “focused on many of the points that you’ve made”.