Asylum seekers have to wear ‘food bands’
ASYLUM seekers have been forced to wear coloured wristbands which they say expose them to abuse.
The red, silver or blue bands have been given to those staying at a Cardiff hostel to show they qualify for free meals.
The controversy follows the row in Middlesbrough where a company housing asylum seekers painted their front doors red.
Those asked to wear the wristbands in Wales said they have been taunted by passing drivers and subjected to catcalls of ‘refugee, refugee!’.
The wristband system is operated by housing firm Clearsprings Ready Homes, which provides food and housing for asylum seekers under a Home Office contract.
Wearing one gives the right to three meals a day at Lynx House, a hostel where asylum seekers are accommodated before being allocated homes in the city.
Asylum seekers are entitled to £36.95 in cash each week for every person in their family to buy food and necessities. Extra money is available for mothers of young children and pregnant women. However, the bands have been given to asylum seekers in order to allow them to claim food at Lynx House.
One refugee who was at the hostel last year, Eric Ngalle, told the Guardian: ‘My time in Lynx House was one of the most horrible experiences in my life. I hated wearing the wristbands and sometimes refused to wear them and was turned away from food. If we refused to wear the wristbands we were told we would be reported to the Home Office.
‘Some staff implemented this policy in a more drastic way than others. I made a complaint about the wristbands to Clearsprings but nothing was done.’
Mr Ngalle, who was granted refugee status and now works as a writer on a theatre production backed by the Arts Council of Wales, added: ‘We had to walk to Lynx House to get food. Sometimes drivers would see our wristbands, start honking their horns and shout out of the window, “Go back to your country”.
‘If you take off the wristband you can’t reseal it back on to your wrist so if you want to eat you have to wear it all the time. Labelling them on a daily basis with silver, red or blue tags only serves as a reminder that they are still wearing the garments of an outcast.’
Mogdad Abdeen, who is waiting for a ruling on his claim for refugee status, said: ‘This wristband is discrimination, clear and simple. No band, no food. We are made to feel that we are second-class humans. Sometimes when we are standing outside Lynx House queueing for food people shout out of their car windows “refugee, refugee”. When we complain about the wristbands nobody listens to us.’
The complaints of the refugees were highlighted by human rights activists and lawyers. The Home Office declined to comment.
No one at Clearsprings Ready Homes was available to comment. But the firm told the Guardian: ‘Those clients in the self-catering units receive a weekly allowance in the form of supermarket vouchers and those in full-board accommodation are issued with a coloured wristband that bears no other logo or text identifying its use or origin. Full-board clients are required to show their wristbands in order to receive meals in the restaurant.’
The red door policy in Middlesbrough, involving a subcontractor for security firm G4S called Jomast, was rapidly revised after asylum seekers said they had been subjected to attacks because their homes were easily identifiable.