My role as a policy and advocacy officer
Philip Amaral, Policy & Advocacy Officer, JRS-Europe, Brussels
Most of my workdays are spent in front of a computer. This is not a complaint; merely a mere statement of fact. As a policy and advocacy officer for JRS-Europe, my tasks are more research- and policy-intensive than people-intensive. Of course, part of my job is to meet policymakers. But if I were to spend all my time doing that, then I wouldn’t be able to fulfill my other tasks – and for that I must sit in front of a computer.
I am a social worker by training. Prior to JRS I treated persons with severe and chronic mental health illnesses. While I had that job I used to ask myself, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a quiet office job?” Now that I have a (relatively) quiet office job I ask myself, “Why am I sitting in a computer chair all day?”
This has led me to reflect on two important points. Firstly, everyone has a role – or roles – to play in life. Secondly, if you look for it, every role has a meaning. Two experiences put this in perspective.
Last year JRS-Europe organized an event in the European Parliament. We invited three refugees to come and mingle with MEPs. Two of these refugees – two women, in fact – volunteered to offer a five-minute testimony of their experiences as refugees in Europe. One of the women was detained for 12 months before being granted protection, and the other was left destitute for several months before she got her life going. Both spoke with a level of clarity, passion, dignity and courage that captured the attention of all who were present. They were better advocates for themselves than any NGO worker like myself could have been. My role was to put these two women in the same room as the MEPs; they did the rest.
I am currently writing a report about asylum seekers and irregular migrants in detention. It is based on 685 one-on-one interviews with detainees collected from 21 EU countries. I coordinate the project, analyze the data and write the report without having interviewed one single person. I only see their words on my computer screen. But these words speak volumes. Each “case” has a name and a story and a lifetime of heartache. My role is to put the words of these detained persons onto paper and to ensure that people who make detention policy read them; they do the rest.
Philip Amaral
Policy & Advocacy Officer JRS-Europe
Brussels, Belgium [email protected]
