Asylum in the news

A round-up of asylum news for the weeks of 14 and 21 June 2010.

Regressive deportation policy for children asylum seekers

Plans drawn up by the Home Office indicate a heavily qualified approach to ending the detention of children.  It seems that the UK intends to revisit a policy adopted in 2006 of repatriating unaccompanied minors, entrusting them to the care of orphanages known as ‘reintegration centres’.  The Guardian recently reported that the government’s alternative to domestic child detention literally delivers these vulnerable children into the ‘jaws of the lion they escaped’ and, in so doing, negates the whole purpose of offering asylum.  The government cannot guarantee these children safety in these countries, where frequently they are prey to traffickers and other human persecutors.

Excessive scepticism in the UKBA

The Guardian has drawn attention once more to the naivety of UKBA officials, this time with regard to enforcing domestic violence immigration rules.  Colin Yeo, a barrister at Renaissance chambers who moonlights as the blogger of Free Movement, explains how he has often encountered an unwillingness to believe the tales of abused women and a predisposition to suppose their stories are fabricated among colleagues at UKBA.  In addition, cases are dismissed if ‘independent and objective’ means of verification are not met. This emphasis on evidence reveals a fundamentally misguided perception of the private nature of domestic violence and victims’ reluctance to divulge their mistreatment out of embarrassment or shame.

Latest Red Cross report demands humane system

The British Red Cross has published a new report entitled Not gone but forgotten: the urgent need for a more human asylum system. It highlights the growing problem of destitution affecting many thousands of asylum seekers in the UK.  The report reveals that destitution results from the employment prohibition placed on asylum seekers and the fact that financial support is withdrawn 21 days after the failure of an application or subsequent appeal.  The report reveals that when faced with a choice between destitution in the UK or persecution in their country of origin, asylum seekers will chose destitution. The report sets forth strong recommendations on how to reform the asylum system.

Child refugees tell stories of journey to UK

As part of Refugee Week The Guardian published a piece on the stories of various refugee families who have started new lives in Britain after escaping conflict zones.  The chain of events that brought the Dzhavatkhanovs from war-torn Grozny in Chechnya to Britain started when their young son, Hamzat, lost his leg after stepping on a landmine.  When sponsored by a charity to travel the UK to receive a replacement limb, the family claimed asylum.  They now live in East London and Hamzat is currently taking his AS levels.  Susan and her son Mohammed fled Saddam Hussein’s Iraq under covers in the back of a truck after Mohammed’s father was hauled to prison in front of them.  Mohammed is now studying for his GCSE’s and has ambitions to study science. Hazmat’s and Mohammed’s stories have now been published by Frances Lincoln Publishers as children’s books.

Photo taken from the BBC website.