If the mass movement of people to Europe was the immigration tale of 2015-16, the story of 2017 is what happens to those people now. What does the future hold for the more than a million people who have ended up in Europe, asking for refuge? Is Europe keeping its promises to refugees? How they are changing European society and how is it changing them?
Journalist Kate Lyons will share some of the challenges of reporting on refugees and asylum seekers in a country incredibly divided by immigration, some of the issues thrown up by the British asylum system and how they compare to what’s going on in Australia and will share some of the stories of the refugees she has met, to whom the New Arrivals series tries to give a voice.
About the speaker: Kate Lyons is a commissioning editor for the Guardian’s Special Projects desk, which is responsible for running topical news series and special investigations.
She is currently the commissioning editor and lead reporter for the Guardian’s New Arrivals series, a long-term project focusing on the experience of asylum seekers and refugees in Europe, run in collaboration with Der Spiegel in Germany, Le Monde in France and El Pais in Spain.
She joined the Guardian after moving to the UK from Australia, where she previously wrote for the Sydney Morning Herald and Daily Mail Australia.
About PEACE: PEACEtalks is a monthly event hosted by Paddington Anglican Church aimed at serving the community by promoting and cultivating deep conversations about life, the world and everything. ‘PEACE’ stands for ‘political, ethical, artistic & cultural engagement’. As such, our events seek to take all of these areas of our shared humanity seriously in a world where such things are often marginalized. We also seek to demonstrate the ways in which spiritual and theological reflection enable us to look at all of these important areas afresh. All welcome!