The Independent Asylum Commission on Thursday recommended that the UK conducts a ‘root and branch review’ of its detention policies, and that it should stop detaining the children of asylum seekers entirely.
The recommendations came as the Commission published its final report, Deserving Dignity which is its third report of recommendations, and marks the end of the most comprehensive inquiry into asylum in the UK ever undertaken.
It also makes over 90 recommendations to the UK Border Agency to improve the way they treat people seeking sanctuary.
The Commission’s report, built on an evidence-base of hundreds of interviews and testimonies identifies a number of areas where the dignity of those who seek sanctuary is currently compromised – especially in detention centres, and in the treatment of particularly vulnerable asylum seekers such as children and torture survivors – and calls for urgent action to remedy the situation.
An estimated 2,000 children of asylum seekers are detained in the UK every year, and although the UK Border Agency is piloting alternatives to detention, the practice continues.
The Deserving Dignity report calls for the end of the detention of children, a view supported by a majority of the British public (53%) in an opinion poll released alongside the report.
The Commission also calls for the UK Border Agency to ‘treat children as children’, by ensuring that their best interests are paramount, and by piloting a guardianship programme for young people seeking sanctuary in the UK without their parents.
The Commissioners also warn against the use of X-rays to assess the age of young asylum seekers and urge the government to repeal legislation that can be used to deny support to families of refused asylum seekers and to take their children into care.
Following a recent government announcement that the number of detention centres will increase, the Deserving Dignity report recommends that there should be an independent root and branch review of the detention of asylum seekers, from the starting point that detention is appropriate only for those who pose a threat to national security or where there is absolutely no alternative to effect a return.
The team of twelve Commissioners, including former Chief Inspector of Prisons, Lord Ramsbotham, argues that the basic safeguards that exist in the criminal system should be applied to detention and that detention should be time-limited, for clearly stated reasons, and subject to judicial oversight.
The Commissioners also suggest that the Detained Fast Track asylum process should be phased out because it is unfair, contrary to the spirit of the Refugee Convention, and can lead to unjust decisions.
Deserving Dignity also makes a number of recommendations to ensure that women, torture survivors, those with health needs and LGBT asylum seekers are treated with dignity.
It suggests that survivors of torture, sexual abuse or other forms of trauma should be clearly identified as ‘at risk’ during their passage through the asylum system in order to avoid detention and the Fast Track process.
The Commissioners also urge the government to allow those who seek sanctuary in the UK to support themselves through work if their case takes longer than six months to resolve.
The opinion poll released alongside the report shows that 51% of the public support people seeking sanctuary being able to work while their claim is being processed.
Commenting on the Deserving Dignity report, Commission Co-chair Sir John Waite, formerly a High Court Judge and a past Chair of UNICEF UK, said: ‘All those who seek sanctuary in the UK deserve to be treated with a dignity over which mere administrative convenience must never prevail.
‘The people we met during our review were not the scroungers, troublemakers and ne’er-do-wells that are presented to us in media stereotypes, but decent people trying to maintain their dignity in difficult circumstances.
‘The way we treat the most vulnerable in our midst is a true gauge of our values as a nation and a people.
‘The public rightly expects fair and humane treatment of asylum seekers, befitting of a civilised society.
‘Our review has found that there is a considerable distance to travel until the reality of how we treat women, children and torture survivors who seek sanctuary in the UK matches that aspiration.
‘We hope that policy-makers will take note and look again at ending practices such as the detention of children.
‘I hope we can all find common ground in agreeing that, whatever happens, the best interests of the child must be paramount.’
Ifath Nawaz, President of the Association of Muslim Lawyers and Commission Co-chair, said: ‘We think that depriving a person of their liberty – particularly if they have not committed a crime – is an extremely serious issue.
‘And the public agrees: 70% of the public think that people should not be detained unless they have committed a crime or are a risk to society.
‘And yet a person who is seeking sanctuary from persecution can be detained without time-limit and without judicial oversight.
‘That is why we think there should be an independent root and branch review of detention, that the government should be investing more in alternatives to detention, and the whole process should be more transparent and accountable.’
The Deserving Dignity report was released yesterday (Thursday, July 10th) at the ‘Refugee Rights and Realities in Wales’ conference organised and hosted by Swansea University’s Centre for Migration Policy Research.
The Commissioners recommend ‘Five Consensus British Values to Underpin Asylum Policy’ which are:
1. People fleeing persecution should be able to find sanctuary in safe countries like the UK.
2. The UK should have an effective system for controlling our border that lets people seeking sanctuary in, as well as keeping irregular migrants out.
3. The UK should have a fair and effective decision-making body that takes pride in giving sanctuary to those who need it, and denying it to those who do not.
4. People seeking sanctuary should be treated fairly and humanely, have access to essential support and public services, and should make a contribution to the UK if they are able.
5. Once a decision has been made, the UK should act swiftly, effectively and in a controlled way – either to assist integration or effect a swift, safe and sustainable return for those who have had a fair hearing and have been refused sanctuary.
Key poll findings are:
• 53% think that the children of asylum seekers should never be detained.
• 70% think people should not be detained unless they have committed a crime or are a risk to society.
• 51% think asylum seekers should be able to work while their claim is being processed.
