JRS UK News, July 2004

Good news!

Section 55, the provision in the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 which withdrew financial support and accommodation provided by the government from in-country asylum applicants has been suspended following a landmark Court of Appeal decision at the end of May this year.  In a test case involving three asylum seekers with different cases and different personal circumstances having led to s.55 being applied to them, the court gave a landmark ruling declaring basic shelter from the elements to be a human right.  The court also suggested that the circumstances in which section 55 could lawfully be applied and not cause a breach of human rights are very limited (lasting only for the course of a few days and only where an asylum claim had been made to frustrate removal directions from being operated). 

The Home Office has until August to decide whether to make an appeal to the House of Lords against the decision. 

In the meantime the thousands of individuals who had been left relying on charity  since 8 January 2003, have some respite:  they are entitled to have their applications for NASS support considered again.

Louise Zanre

 … and now for the bad

The Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc) Bill is drawing to the end of its passage through parliament.  As we go to press it is at Third Reading stage in the House of Lords, before returning to the House of Commons for a final consideration of any amendments laid. 

 Just before the local elections in June a raft of new amendments to the Bill were laid before the House of Lords.  These include:

·                New procedure for marriages which include one person from outside the European Economic Area. 

·                Backdating of benefits.   This amendment removes the entitlement of individuals to claim for back benefit once they have been granted full refugee status.

·                Withdrawal of single additional payment .  At the moment asylum seekers whose cases have taken more than 6 months to be determined are entitled to an extra payment of £50.  This is to be removed.

·                Tying financial support for failed asylum seekers to enforced community service. 

·                Accommodation provision for refugees.  Refugees will need to provide proof of local connection when applying for council housing, a requirement they have not had previously due to the dispersal policy.

A minor victory has also been achieved:  the removal of the judicial review ouster.  Although appeals are still being streamlined, recourse to judicial review will still be permitted.

For further information on the Bill and its likely effects on asylum seekers and refugees please contact the JRS office.

Seeking Asylum in the UK

What follows are the impressions of what it was like to be an asylum seeker in the UK as experienced by one refugee from Zimbabwe, now living in Bradford.  Now he has full refugee status, which has brought its own challenges (finding accommodation, applying for benefits and looking for work).  At the moment he is attending college.   

“One of the few things I managed to take with me when I left Bulawayo was a framed picture that stood on the mantelpiece in our family living room.  I hoped to display it in a new, safer place.   

Leaving behind my home, my family and my friends was the most difficult thing I had to do.  Would I be able to make a new home?  Could I make new friends? 

I had just found my bearings after a month in London when I was informed I would have to be settled in Bradford.  I was to be met at the coach station by a housing provider who would take me to where I would live.  A most uncomfortable 5 hours followed my arrival.  They did not seem to know which houses they rented had any bed space!  Going from house to house, being told by other refugees “there is no room here”, while they blocked the doorway, I could tell they had been through this routine before.  As dusk came I finally was given a room in an attic.  It was clean and so I was relieved.   

I had come to England in February and felt the cold!  The heating in the house I was dispersed to was temperamental.  I woke up my first night nearly frozen.  The curtains in my room were lined and heavy.  I unhooked them and put them over my bed.  They did help me to keep warm.  In the morning I hung the curtains up again.  I did this every night until I could get warm bedding.   

There were many daily trials to go through – like shopping!  Only certain stores took the vouchers we had to use as currency for a time.  Till operators used to groan or sigh loudly when we took vouchers out to pay with.  Except for one lady who smiled and would ask us where we were from, how our family were back home, as well as helping some people with working out exact amounts to pay as no change was given.  At her counter there would always be a longer queue of asylum seekers, like me, who would gladly wait to be allowed to keep some dignity.”