END ASYLUM DESTITUTION.

       

     I suppose the measure of a civilised society is the way it treats strangers and how it helps those in need.  By these measures it would seem that we fall very short of the measure. Below is a page taken from a very infomative booklet called "TAKE ACTION, TO END ASYLUM DESTITUTION." produced by  Training Campaigns Advice and Positive Action in Housing, January 2008. It is certainly worth a read to see just how we treat strangers and those in need.

Could you survive on £6 per day?

This is how much a single adult asylum seeker has to live on. It is £6 more than someone who is destitute has.

How many destitute asylum seekers are there?

Nobody knows the precise number. Scottish charities are seeing ever increasing numbers, including many who are pregnant, disabled or in poor mental health. Refugee Survival Trust give out around 100 destitution grants per month to people in crisis in Scotland. The National Audit Office estimates that there are 283,500 refused asylum seekers living in the UK, who have not been removed – so the scale of the problem is huge.

Why are refused asylum seekers not removed?

In many cases it is simply not possible to remove people back to their home countries – for example there may be no safe route, no functioning airport or it is impossible to get travel documents from their country of origin. This raises the question, if it is not safe or possible to remove someone, why was their claim for protection refused?

Mary from Uganda was destitute for three months with twins aged 3, after fleeing a dawn raid. Eventually she won leave to remain – just one of the many refugees who faced injustice.

Why can’t destitute asylum seekers just go back to their home country?

Many refused asylum seekers are too afraid to go home voluntarily, not least as they are from countries - such as Iraq, Zimbabwe or Somalia - torn apart by conflict or where human rights abuses are rife. They consider starving and sleeping on the streets in Britain to be a safer option.

How long are people destitute for?

Refugee Action recently interviewed 125 destitute asylum seekers in England. They found that just under half had been destitute for up to a year, and of the rest, most had been destitute for between one and two years. On average people had spent 21 months being destitute.

Where do most destitute asylum seekers sleep?

We’ve met asylum seekers who have slept in parks, phone boxes, behind bins, in doorways or just travel on night buses. Others are taken in by friends who are mainly fellow asylum seekers; moving from floor to floor so that they don’t become too big a burden. What makes things even more difficult is that asylum seekers aren’t allowed to have people staying over in their NASS flats so by helping they are running the risk of having all their own support stopped as well.

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