What should we do about destitute refused asylum seekers?

Jan Shaw is the Refugee Programme Director at Amnesty International UK and author of 'Down and Out in London: The Road to Destitution for rejected asylum seekers'.

In January 2006 I attended a meeting about destitute refused asylum seekers. Although no one could put an exact figure as to how many people there were in this situation we knew that it involved hundreds of thousands, a life of abject poverty, living a hand to mouth existence on the charity of others.

During the first six months of last year, I carried out research on the affects of such destitution on refused asylum seekers from Iraq, Iran, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Eritrea and Sudan.  All of them were destitute, at the end of the asylum process and all expressed a fear of returning home.  They faced the prospect of living in poverty indefinitely, or until their departure to their country of origin was enforced as none of them would return voluntarily.

The Amnesty International report “Down and Out in London: The Road to Destitution for rejected asylum seekers” was published in November 2006.  All of those interviewed said that before coming to the UK they know nothing about the asylum process here and indeed, many did not even know they were being brought to the UK as their travel was arranged by an agent.  A number said they had been tortured in their own country.  They were shocked and upset that the Home Office had not believed their story and most complained about the poor quality of legal advice and representation and inadequate interpretation at all stages of the asylum process.

The people I interviewed found the asylum process overwhelming, they did not understand what was happening to them.  They thought they had arrived in a place of safety where they would feel respected yet many complained about being treated with disdain.  With no money for even the most basic of needs they lead aimless lives although many had been professionals in their home country.  I interviewed lawyers, accountants, teachers, journalists who preferred to remain destitute in the UK rather than return to an unsafe country.

Once in this situation there was no legal way out for the majority of destitute refused asylum seekers except to say they would return home voluntarily.  Their stories illustrated how so many people reach the end of the asylum process but remain in limbo, destitute in the UK.

In practice it is really difficult to enforce a removal to a country where there may be serious safety concerns or where there is a difficulty in obtaining a travel document to return.  It is estimated that it would take the Government up to 18 years to clear the backlog of refused asylum seekers.

After publishing our report, Amnesty International invited a number of organisations to work together.  The coalition has grown and since the beginning of the year has become the “Still Human Still Here” campaign, working to end the threat and use of destitution as a tool of Government policy against refused asylum seekers.