Through the Eyes of Young Migrants

Children of migrant families in Northern Ireland have called for action to address their experiences of racism, which is preventing them from seeing the society as their home.

The finding emerged from a report based on a two-day residential organised by Belfast-based human rights activist Sipho Sibanda as part of an SCI Fellowship.

The event included 20 young people whose families migrated from Poland, Somalia, Sudan, Zimbabwe and Mauritius.

"They hold on to a dream that it is better where they came from or where their parents came from," the report finds.

"This hope is also driven by a sense of a lack of belonging they said is due to their everyday experiences within schools and the community. They dream of being somewhere they won’t be picked on, where there are ‘more people like me’."

The report highlights racism experienced by the young people and calls for more determined action from government and society to address the issue.

• Download the report: Full text of the poem 'You're not black'.pdf