news > news releases

Letter to the Guardian

2 April 2007

Worsening plight of asylum seekers

The suffering of rejected asylum seekers in the UK has again been laid bare in a new report from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. A survey of 118 refused asylum seekers in Leeds found that one in four people interviewed had slept rough on the city's streets, while a third had been destitute for a year or more. Melanie McFadyean (Desperate Measures, March 28) also described the alarming rate of self harm among those refused protection and forced into destitution.

The government now has a wealth of evidence and testimonies about how desperate the situation has become across the UK, with many asylum seekers unable to be returned to their country of origin in the near future, forbidden from working and left without means to feed or house themselves.

The government must find more humane and effective ways of treating rejected asylum seekers.

Sandy Buchan
Chief Executive, Refugee Action

back to top