Government urged to ‘right the wrongs’ of UK’s asylum system
A CHARITY boss has called on the Government to “right the wrongs” blighting the lives of refugees by overhauling the way decisions are made on asylum claims.
Freedom From Torture chief executive Sonya Sceats said delays in processing applications “have to be tackled” and all refugees should be allowed to work while their claims are considered.
She also said that Ministers should address the “paltry amount of money” given to help asylum seekers make ends meet while they are housed in “potentially unsuitable” temporary accommodation as they await a decision.
She said the Windrush scandal was a “watershed moment” which exposed the “real perversities and injustices caked into our asylum and immigration system”, adding that it was vital the new Government “commits to righting
the wrongs that have blighted the lives of so many survivors of torture and other marginalised migrant groups in this country” by investing in the asylum decision-making system in order to “get it right first time”.
Ms Sceats claimed the “predisposition to refuse” applications is “rife” in the Home Office and called for a change in the department’s culture which is “resulting in a lot of human misery and misspent public funds”.
There is a tendency in the system to “assume” applicants are lying in order to falsely claim asylum in the UK, she said, adding that too often assumptions are made that those fleeing torture are “economic migrants in disguise”.
For those who have survived torture this is the “greatest insult imaginable”, she added.
There were 34,354 asylum applications in the UK in the last year – 22 per cent more than the previous year and the highest level since the year to June 2016, according to Home Office figures.
Responding to the claims, a Home Office spokesman said: “Our staff work tirelessly to provide a service which is fair, compassionate and safeguards the most vulnerable.”