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Wales, and continue in an ongoing capacity in advising his staff on issues
related to Christians of the Middle East.
Advocacy and Justice. I have been asked twice in the last year to testify in
immigration tribunals in the cases of Middle Eastern Christians whose
applications for asylum have been refused. There is often a deep lack of
knowledge in the legal representatives of the Home Office, which can involve
weeks and months of preparation of background documents in defence. The
last case in which I testified (in Bradford) had a defence case briefing of over
280 pages of evidence.

Strategic Review

While 2015-16 has been an extremely busy year with ever closer co-operation
between the Churches of our different traditions, 2016-17 promises to be even
busier, with the AECA taking a more strategic role in taking forward the vitally
important work of relations between Anglicans and Orthodox. A major
strategic review of our work is planned for the autumn of 2016, of which more
anon in the year ahead.

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