Asylum - Human Rights Ignored

posted: 09/03/2010

A new report for the Equalities and Human Rights Commission lays bare the UK government’s abuse of the human rights of asylum seekers and refugees living here, including many who are living with HIV. People seeking sanctuary in Britain are denied vital healthcare whether they are in detention centres or living in the community, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has found. Hundreds of rape victims, people living with HIV, and traumatised children are missing out on treatment and basic medical help.
 

Institutional failures

The report, from the University of Kent, warns "There is evidence of an institutional failure to address health concerns about asylum seekers in detention. More specifically there are concerns about children's health, mental health, treatment for those with HIV and access to female GPs, especially for women who have suffered rape and sexual violence."
 

Asylum and medical charity workers said the findings confirmed the experience of hundreds of refugees. A spokeswoman for Medical Justice said: "Sadly and unsurprisingly, findings of these failures accord with what our volunteer doctors have been seeing on the hundreds of occasions they have visited immigration detainees and seen their medical notes."
 

Time for action

This EHRC report sets out problems of poor treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK. There are some serious failings. We’ll be checking to see what action the Commission now takes to end the government’s mistreatment and denial of people’s human rights.

HIV, health and social care
Inadequate HIV healthcare is one of the points highlighted in the healthcare section of the report. There are specific concerns around vulnerable groups. For women asylum seekers and refugees there is evidence of poor antenatal care and pregnancy outcomes. There is little evidence of the commissioning of services for disabled asylum seekers (such as everyone with HIV) and no clear guidance exists on local authority responsibilities towards asylum seekers with care needs. Mental health problems including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety are prevalent among asylum seekers and refugees, and the provision of mental health services for survivors of torture and organised violence is widely regarded as inadequate.
 

The vulnerability and ill health of asylum-seeking and refugee children is an area of particular concern, as are the health needs of older refugees. There are also concerns around the provision of healthcare to asylum seekers in detention with communicable diseases and with HIV/AIDS.
 

Poverty, destitution and access to accommodation and financial support
Asylum seekers are vulnerable to poverty and destitution (defined as not having adequate accommodation or support for themselves and their dependants for the next 14 days) as a result of a number of factors. These include: the circumstances in which they and their dependants arrive in the UK (often without money or accommodation), the complexity of the rules for entitlement to financial and other support for asylum seekers and those refused asylum, the occurrence of administrative and casework errors, and the fact that the vast majority of asylum seekers do not have permission to work.

Evidence indicates that refused asylum seekers are the most disadvantaged group and evidence of destitution appears to run counter to Section 11 of Chapter 42 of the Human Rights Act 1988 and Council Directive 2003/9/EC.
 

Care needs gaps
Asylum seekers with care needs are particularly vulnerable to poverty and to falling through the gaps between Home Office and social services support. Other vulnerable groups include single women and those with children.
 

There are concerns about the specific requirements that asylum seekers must meet when lodging a claim in order to be eligible for support. The incompatibility of the Section 55 and 9 provisions with Articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) remains a key concern, as do the conditions that asylum seekers must comply with in order to receive Section 4 support. Complex issues surround the provision of support for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, and there are doubts as to whether the UK’s responsibilities under domestic legislation and international human rights principles are being fulfilled.
 

Key issues for action now by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission
There is an ongoing tension between policies relating to immigration control and those concerned with welfare. This lies at the heart of many of the concerns regarding the equality and human rights of asylum seekers and refugees.

• Processes for removal involving detention and deportation have been the subject of sustained criticism on human rights grounds.
• Living conditions and support received by asylum seekers and refugees in the UK also cause concern. There are general inefficiencies within the system: many people do not know or understand the process, and receive different and conflicting advice from different agencies. On accommodation and support, the impact of the Section 55 and Section 9 provisions has been of considerable concern and, despite various clarifications and revisions by the government, may continue to have an adverse impact on asylum seekers. The quality of housing remains problematic and in some instances appears to conflict with the respect for family and home required by Article 8 of the ECHR.
• There is evidence of problems of access to healthcare. There is a serious lack of clarity with respect to the healthcare entitlements of asylum seekers and this feeds into confusion at ground level.
• Policies and practices within the asylum system covering the seven equality areas, as well as the treatment of vulnerable groups, also cause concern. The provisions put in place by UKBA in order to meet its legal requirements to take gender, race and disability into account have been criticised, and there is clearly a need for more rigorous and widespread equality impact assessments of the various aspects of the asylum system. Furthermore, less consideration is given to those equality areas not subject to the current equality duties. Ideally, the introduction of a new single equality duty covering all seven strands should help to initiate consideration of the issues affecting gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans asylum seekers, as well as those of different ages and with different religion or beliefs.

EHRC report (pdf) - Refugees and asylum seekers : a review from an equality and human rights perspective

Source 
Equality and Human Rights Commission
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