The leader of a cultural organisation has said it is “devastating” and “traumatic” for refugees from the Middle East now living in Northern Ireland to see the destruction in Israel and Palestine.
ArtsEkta is a Belfast cultural organisation that works to develop intercultural relationships and was founded by Dr Nisha Tandon OBE, in 2006 on the principles of inclusivity, creativity and openness.
Dr Tandon and several members of ArtsEkta were invited to meet the Queen of Jordan during her visit to Belfast at the beginning of October.
During the visit, Queen Rania spoke to refugees from the Middle East who had built new lives for themselves in Northern Ireland, supported by organisations like ArtsEkta.
Dr Tandon said the experience was “amazing”.
“Queen Rania was just so down to earth speaking in their language, which you know that English is not their first language and how comfortable they feel talking in their own language and they could relate their issues and their promises about Belfast as where their home is, that what they have got out of Belfast was something very positive,” she said.
“And that was something which Queen Rania really admired – such a small country that has welcomed people from different parts of the world.”
Queen Rania’s visit took place on October 3, just before the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and the subsequent bombing in the Gaza Strip that has killed tens of thousands.Dr Tandon said for refugees living in Belfast, it is “devastating” to see the violence impacting their home countries.
“I have two artists who are from Gaza and Palestine border and one of them was here and he showed me the videos of his family, how they have been traumatised leaving their own homes,” she said.
“And the status he has is that he can only do a very limited amount here, in a sense limited help.”
Dr Tandon said the current situation was “very very traumatic” for those who had experienced and escaped conflict in the past.
“The Syrian ladies when they come here every Tuesday and Thursday for their art class and English class, they just are very traumatised themselves because they remember what happened in their own part of the world,” she said.
“And they can only sympathise, we can only sympathise and if we can do them any comfort is just to embrace them and say, ‘what else can we do for you and how can we support?’”
Dr Tandon praised the community in Belfast for how it had welcomed minority communities.
“I think that there’s a lot of charity in Northern Ireland and especially in Belfast, there’s a lot of goodwill, people will go out a mile to help their neighbours and I think that’s something which we should commend,” she said.
There were a number of hate crime incidents against migrant or Muslim communities in Northern Ireland in 2023, but Dr Tandon said such attacks were not representative of the majority of the community.
“It’s sad that in this day and age that is happening, but there is something behind that too, it just doesn’t happen,” she said.
“It’s not an ordinary person in the street who would be wanting that, it is what they are getting from their leaders or whoever you want to call, and I think that’s wrong.
“Already that community has gone through such a trauma and on top of that they have come to a country which had gone through trauma, and now we are in that peace, and we should be really helping that peace within those new communities as well.
“Because they are starting with their new home, they’re not going begging. They are business people, they are contributing, they are bringing good to our economy, they are paying their dues, so why not? They have that equal rights, just as the person from the local community has.”
Dr Tandon said her simple hope for 2024 is that everyone would be treated equally.
“I think education, education in all aspects, is very, very important. It’s not about ‘oh, we are going to be bringing 100 nurses who are going to do this, 100 IT people,’ these people who are coming from either the resettlement scheme or from their asylum status, they are also well-educated and well-equipped people,” she said.
“Why can’t we use their expertise and bring them back and integrate them into the society?
“So my hope is that equal rights and human rights are also put in place for every citizen.”
ArtsEkta is home to the Belfast Mela – the largest celebration of cultural diversity on the island of Ireland.