The Plight of Asylum Seekers in the UK and Ireland

…it’s no life at all. We just live by the day… We are grateful for the food, for the accommodation, most for our children going to school… but people are wasting in the name of the asylum process...” (Anonymous Resident Mosney camp, Seaview documentary)

Enveloped in a global recession, that has severely impacted upon the whole of the EU, albeit to varying degrees, most of us have suffered some form of decline in our income and standard of living. In this respect, neither the UK nor Ireland has escaped the worst of the economic fallout. As unemployment increases, job opportunities fall and wages decrease. However, it is the most vulnerable members of our society - the disabled, single parent families, pensioners and children – who are facing the worst deprivation. To these groups, one more can be added, namely asylum seekers.

The lot of asylum seekers is an extremely harsh one. In addition to the mental and emotional trauma many of them have endured in the past, which resulted in their fleeing their homelands to seek asylum in the UK and Ireland, they have generally arrived without even the most negligible of economic resources. To compound this situation, the socio-economic support to which asylum seekers are entitled is extremely limited.

Yet for many in both the UK and Ireland, asylum seekers are frequently judged in highly negative terms. They are regarded as being no better than ‘illegals’ who have come to scrounge off the domestic social welfare system, benefiting from government largesse that is in some inexplicable manner not available to the country’s own citizens. However, even the most cursory of examinations is required to reveal the untruthfulness of these assertions.

For instance, as noted in the UK-based Refugee Action report - The Destitution Trap - some 40% of the asylum seekers and refugees that contacted Refugee Action for advice in 2005-6 were “destitute asylum seekers”. A further study by the Asylum Support Programme Inter-Agency Partnership in 2006 revealed that some 44% of those accessing the services of refugee agencies were destitute with more than 25% of these destitute cases consisting of people pursuing a claim for asylum and so likely to be legally entitled to support.

It has been estimated that as many as 280,000 asylum seekers who have had their leave to remain refused are living in poverty in Britain. Even in the case of those still awaiting an initial decision on their application, the reality is grim with the vast majority prohibited from either working or attending vocational training, leaving them totally reliant on state assistance, set at 70% of income support for national citizens.

In Ireland, the introduction of the ‘Direct Provision’ policy in November 1999 has resulted in adult asylum seekers receiving a meagre allowance of only €19.10 a week, on top of their basic food and accommodation needs. For children, the derisory sum of €9.60 is the sum of their entitlement. Furthermore, Ireland is the only EU state that has made it illegal for asylum seekers to seek employment or engage in any business, trade or profession to supplement their allowances.

Asylum seekers in Ireland have also no access to local authority housing lists. Instead, they are placed in shared hostel type accommodation centres that often suffer from severe overcrowding. Entire families can find themselves confined in this manner with little or no privacy for several years, as they wait for their asylum claims to run their course. According to Reception and Integration Agency statistics, 6,650 asylum seekers were in direct provision accommodation in November 2009 with 1,597 (24%) having been in there for one to two years, 1,276 (19%) for two to three years and 2,161 (32.5%) for over three years. Therefore, in total over 75% had spent over a year in direct provision accommodation.

Given the miserly allowances provided to asylum seekers as well as their ‘punitive’ living arrangements, it would appear that the British and Irish governments, like many of its sister administrations in Europe, is applying a ‘deterrent’ motive as their policy guideline, rather than adhering to their international human rights obligations. As the chief executive of Refugee Action in the UK, Sandy Buchan explains with respect to the UK:

It seems the Government is using destitution as an instrument of policy. It's no accident. It's very much a deliberate tool of government. It's morally unacceptable to force people into utter destitution, and the most desperate and degrading circumstances when people are frightened of what awaits them when they return home.

In this regards, it should be noted that of the EU’s 27 member states, only Ireland and Denmark have availed of the ‘Reception Directive’ opt out clause to avoid bestowing certain rights amongst asylum seekers, such as the right to enter employment after a period of one year while awaiting a decision on their status.

Harsh and callous though these conditions are on adults, their effect is even worse on children, as their childhood years are stolen from them. Frequently they are also deprived of an education, a stable and secure living environment, and the social contacts so important at a young age in facilitating their development into well adapted and contributing members of society.

Added to their lack of economic resources, asylum seekers and refugees are also confronted with a rising politicisation of their position, due to events completely outside their control. September 11th, the London and Madrid bombings, and the attempted blowing up of passenger aircraft as happened recently in the US together with the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have all served to elevate public concerns and anxieties with respect to immigrants. Despite the fact that asylum seekers have had nothing to do with any of these incidents, a veil of suspicion has been cast over them.

Unforgivably certain politicians and elements of the media have seen fit to manipulate the security concerns that have arisen and engage in attacks on the virtually defenceless community of asylum seekers in both the UK and Ireland. Given their effective lack of voice and inability to respond, asylum seekers, given their status of virtual ‘non-citizens’, tend to be excluded from this ongoing debate despite the consequences it entails for them.

Indeed, asylum seekers are significantly dependent on the goodwill and support of their host communities. It is therefore essential that we work to generate awareness of the discrimination and difficulties asylum seekers have faced in their prior lives together with the current hardships and dilemmas they are facing. Similarly, host communities should be provided with the opportunity to express their concerns and feelings as to how they envisage asylum seekers might best be integrated.

Through the adoption of such innovative approaches, it might be possible to develop a mutually beneficial dialogue, based on reciprocal understanding, respect and recognition, between asylum seekers and their host communities. Such a process would necessitate the bringing together of asylum seekers and host communities on neutral grounds, whereby there will be the chance to develop an enhanced appreciation and respect for each other’s rights and ways of life.

An interesting example of how this might be achieved was the ‘Challenging Myths and Misinformation about Asylum Seekers and Refugees’ workshop held in Dublin (Ireland) by Ismale Khurdi in August 2008. This workshop, organised by the artist Anne Kelly and facilitated by Commonplace provided an opportunity to

...question definitions of refugee, asylum seeker and economic immigrant; challenge stereotypes and offensive labels applied to these groups; look at the meanings and perceptions of ‘home’; and facilitate the exchange of personal and professional experiences.

Another promising initiative, which was implemented in the UK by the Independent Asylum Commission between 2006 and 2008, was Citizens Speak. Citizens Speak convened hearings throughout the UK where members of the public were able to discuss the positive and negative aspects of their asylum system.

As the Commission Co‐chair Sir John Waite remarked:

For the public to have faith in an asylum system, it has to reflect their values – they have to feel that they have been listened to and understood. Many consultations only hear from the experts – but it is as important to know how ordinary citizens feel about asylum as it is to know how the system itself is operating. It is a heart as well as a head issue, and so I say to those who have an opinion on asylum but feel their view is ignored – we are here to listen...

The CITIZENS SPEAK commission’s work has now concluded with more than 180 recommendations “to safeguard people who seek sanctuary” in the UK, “while restoring public confidence in the UK’s role as a place of sanctuary for those fleeing persecution.”

While this approach is a significant step in the right direction, the inclusion of asylum seekers and even recently accepted refugees alongside the general public and professionals involved in the asylum process in these discussions would assist in the development of improved links between the two communities. In the long term, such assemblies and encounters might lead to eliciting greater public support for improved economic and social support for asylum seekers. Most importantly of all, it is crucial that asylum seekers are furnished with the opportunity to present their cases and develop relationships with the general public.

At the wider level, we need to all work together - not just in the UK and Ireland - to ensure that the current recession does not see the drawbridges of ‘Fortress Europe’ raised even higher to deprive those in desperate need of a chance to lead a new and better life.
 

Justin Frewen*
Galway, Ireland

*Justin Frewen has worked as a Consultant with the UN since 1997 and is currently a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of Galway, Ireland. (Read more about)

The Destitution Trap

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