Asylum in the news
Asylum in the news
A round-up of asylum news for the week of 15th February 2010.
Child Commissioner releases highly negative report on child detention
In his 2009 annual report Sir Al Aynsley-Green, the Children's Commissioner for England, drew specific attention to the sub-standard healthcare provided and insensitivity to the trauma suffered by children as a result of their isolation in UK immigration detention centres.
The Royal Society of Paediatricians, GPs and Physiatrists agrees with Aynsley-Green’s assessment, saying that the system itself is synonymous ‘with physical and psychological harm.’ The UKBA has robustly defended its standard of care and insists that the report’s evidence provided is flawed.
Further articles on Sir Aynsley-Green’s report can be found in last week’s Guardian and Times online editions.
Prejudice on the increase despite 25 years of work
The Scottish Refugee Council was founded 25 years ago in order to provide a support network for refugees in Scotland from all over the world. It is now renewing its call for vigilance in response to what it perceives as prejudice directed at asylum seekers.
A Kurdish man who has benefited from the organisation’s care confirms this worrying trend. He has lived in Scotland for 25 years and has recently been the victim of racial slurs.
This example as well as others is representative of deterioration in attitudes towards asylum seekers, say the Council. Such conclusions tie in with the recent findings of Professor Heaven Crawley, Head of the Centre for Migration Policy Research at Swansea University, who says that perceptions have reached a new low.
Further information can be found on the BBC website.