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The balance has swung too far against asylum seekers

June 30 2005 - Letter to the editor published in The Independent

The plight of Zimbabwean hunger strikers in British detention centres has rightly prompted widespread concern. Yet these cases highlight an even more fundamental issue - namely that our asylum system is increasingly failing to offer protection to asylum seekers from countries which are clearly unsafe and where persecution, torture and human rights abuses are commonplace.

From January to March of this year more than 90 per cent of Zimbabwean asylum applicants were refused asylum. In addition, 140 rejected asylum seekers were returned to Iran, where arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, floggings and executions continue. Of applications from that country, 86 per cent were refused.

Since 2002 the proportion of asylum seekers rejected each year has risen from 50 per cent to 73 per cent. Many of these people - some fleeing the world's most tyrannical regimes - will be deported. Those who are not removed will have all support severed, forcing them to sleep rough in degrading conditions. Like those Zimbabweans currently in detention, they would rather starve than return to a country where they believe their lives will be at risk.

As well as dealing firmly with those it believes are abusing the system, the Government should put resources into improving the quality of Home Office decision making and ensuring that asylum seekers fleeing terror are able to get a full and fair hearing of their case.

All the evidence suggests that the balance of the system has swung too far in favour of deterrence, detention and removal, and that we are in danger of losing sight of the real and defining purpose of our asylum system. A robust and efficient system is one that is based on protecting refugees, not punishing them.

Yours sincerely

Sandy Buchan
Chief Executive
Refugee Action

** Statistics sourced from Home Office Asylum Statistics 1st Quarter 2005, 2nd edition

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