Asylum in the news

The Home Secretary Theresa May has rejected appeals by the religious and human rights communities in favour of Florence's and Precious Mangho’s right to remain in the UK. In support of her decision to refrain from using her influence, the Home Secretary has opted to uphold the previous decisions of UK courts and seems intent upon avoiding perceptions of soft-touch asylum policy. MPs and religious figures such as Alex Salmond have expressed disappointment at what they see as a triumph of legalism over practical compassion. Read more in the Evening Times.

 

Alice Sachrajda, correspondent for The Guardian, makes a sober case for intelligent reform to the legal aid system. She aruges that, on the one hand, cuts are understandable because the amounts spent are considerable. However, she further aruges that without accompanying structural reform they are likely to have very harmful effects on an area of the legal profession that is already weakened by the previous government. If implemented in tandem with reform designed to improve the conduct of the initial stages of an asylum claim, the system could move towards the fairer and more efficient process that would benefit asylum seekers and the country. Read more in The Guardian.

 

The organisation Medical Justice will launch its report entitled ‘State Sponsored Cruelty’ on 9 September 2010. The report reveals how children suffer harm in the detention process. A high proportion (92 out of 141 of the children surveyed for the report) were said to have suffered ‘physical harm’ and 50 were psychologically affected, having developed a paranoia of being locked up. Amidst fears that the government will not follow through on its promise to end child detention, the UKBA has insisted that it continues to look for alternative means to detention for children. Read more in The Independent.