THE Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District has called for radical changes to allow people seeking international protection status in Ireland to be allowed to work.
Councillor Lillian Barr, who became the first public representative to be afforded a civic reception by a municipal district in Clare, said people seeking asylum in Northern Ireland are expected to live on £38 a month and are not allowed to work.
A lot of services may not be accessible to people seeking asylum until they are successful with their asylum application, which she believes needs to be tackled.
“The housing crisis is affecting everyone. If people seeking asylum were allowed to work they could pay rent and we could build more houses. The negative attitudes of racism and hate crimes is dividing our community. We need to focus on the contribution that migrants make when they come to the community,” she said.
Asked about criminal damage caused to centres earmarked for international protection applicants in various locations throughout the Republic of Ireland, Councillor Barr said it was wrong to suggest migrants were coming to the country to take away jobs and other services from locals.
“I have seen real poverty in Ireland, our policies need to deal with that. Some politicians are reckless in their language by inciting local communities. Some people believe what they are saying,” she said.
“We need to invest in people, deal with drug addiction, the lack of jobs and the housing crisis. When we do that we will deal with racism. Migrants are not taking any one’s jobs, if you want a job you can get it.
“A lot of people who live on the streets are not working. Many migrants are not accessing social welfare. People who are seeking asylum are fleeing their country because of violence, destruction and war.”
The Killaloe MD recently hosted a Civic Reception for Councillor Barr in recognition of her election as Mayor of Derry and Strabane District and her achievements in promoting social justice, equality and human rights.
Northern Ireland’s first black mayor, who officially launched the Scariff Harbour Festival, has been a lifelong human rights campaigner with experience fighting for Maasai women and girl’s rights.
In 1999, she co-founded the Maasai education discovery-brides rescue project to rescue young girls from early forced marriage and female genital mutilation.
She worked with others to challenge the Kenyan government to introduce laws that protect the rights of women and girls and access to free primary education for deprived communities.
Born in Narok, Kenya, Councillor Seenoi-Barr was initially raised in the village of Ol Ombokishi with her five sisters and eight brothers, and attended the village school until primary stage four.
“I came from a very good family. My father was a doctor and my mother was a businesswoman. We had a big family around us, my aunt helped my mother to bring us up. Maybe my older brothers may have had a different experience, but for me we never saw poverty,” she said.
“We had cows and goats and drank a lot of milk. The village of Ol Ombokishi was very safe and we could go out playing with other kids. I was number 11 in the family so my experience is totally different than my older brothers and sisters.”
Asked what prompted her to take up human rights work from an early age, Councillor Lilian Barr recalled she was very lucky her parents took her to school and noted her grandfather had eleven wives.
“When I went to a boarding school, my cousins were not going to secondary school. I never had a lot of Massai girls at school. This started me to question why don’t we have many Massai girls in education,” she said. “When I asked that question, I realised my parents took us to a boarding school to protect us from the Massai culture so we would not be influenced by peer pressure.
“Girls were being circumcised when they reached 12 years of age. That is the age girls are supposed to go to secondary school and can get married at that age. This is part of the Massai culture.
“I am very proud of the Massai culture that is why I am wearing the Massai traditional costume to show the positive parts. However, we have negative practices within the Massia culture.”
These practices motivated her to study women’s reproductive health so she could educate women and give them a voice to make their own choices rather than being forced into something that they never invented but was always there.
“Education is now changing. It is 14 years since I left Kenya. So much progress has been made, which I am so proud of. Women are achieving tremendous achievements and they are going back home educating young girls,” she said.
She became a prominent campaigner for gender rights among Massai women, focusing on forced marriage and female genital mutilation, but had to leave Kenya along with her son following threats to their safety because of her work with Maasai women in Kenya.
“Going out became very dangerous. I was working going to villages educating young girls and rescuing those who wanted to go to school,” she said.
“I used to receive a lot of calls from girls who said I don’t want to be circumcised and I want an education. I worked with a lot of donors who were sponsoring those girls. We rescued more than 5,000 girls, we have really wonderful educated women who have built hospitals and have shown what women can do in society.
“I became a threat to the tradition and culture of the Massai people. I began to receive threats sent to me when I had my son, who is Autistic, which is a challenge in Kenya where children with complex needs are seen as a bad omen. It was a case of double trouble for me.
“Hundreds of men with spears and machetes were threatening to kill me. It didn’t just end when I was rescuing young girls, it just followed me home. That is why I had to leave Kenya.”
People from the Changaro Trust who witnessed the personal threats and intimidation against her and helped to build schools in rural Kenya brought her to a new home in Northern Ireland in 2010, which is why being elected as a first citizen is so “special”.
“I am giving back to the people who gave me back my life. I am determined to change the lives of people in Derry for the people who changed my life,” she said.
Asked what she could do to tackle the deep divisions in the North between nationalists and unionists, Councillor Barr replied sectarianism is a big challenge in Northern Ireland.
“What makes the news is bad news. The good news is the people who have elected the first black woman and who have rejected violence. We have made so much progress in Northern Ireland,” she said.
“Young people don’t want division. I am so hopeful for Northern Ireland as a whole entity. We have a new generation of young people who want politics to build a new society see our economy growing and to create more jobs.”
Her objectives as Derry Mayor are to foster a society that embraces diversity and to reduce poverty and marginalisation by supporting deprived people.
East Clare correspondent, Dan Danaher is a journalism graduate of Rathmines and UL. He has won numerous awards for special investigations on health, justice, environment, and reports on news, agriculture, disability, mental health and community.