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Eshe

“I don’t have happy memories of childhood. I remember the sound of people being beaten, and
women screaming.”

The outbreak of civil war in Somalia in 1991 robbed Eshe of any chance of a normal childhood. Her village suffered indiscriminate attacks by militiamen, who murdered Eshe’s father when she was very young. Eshe’s mother taught her at home because it was unsafe to attend the village school.

One night in May 2003, when Eshe was 16, her mother was raped before her eyes and she and
her sisters were savagely beaten. Eshe’s mother, fearing her oldest daughter would be abducted, arranged for Eshe to flee to the UK. Eshe arrived in the UK in February 2004. She applied for asylum eight days later and was denied state support under section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. Section 55 meant that asylum seekers who did not claim asylum within three days of arrival could be left destitute while they awaited a decision on their asylum claim. Eshe remembers:

“I lived on one tin of food each day. I was so hungry I would cry."

By the time Eshe came to Refugee Action’s offices in Liverpool she was ill and exhausted. After Refugee Action presented medical evidence to demonstrate that Eshe was in desperate need, the Home Office reinstated her support. “Refugee Action treated me like a human being. The caseworker was kind and encouraging and I would go to see him every day.”

Refugee Action found Eshe a counsellor to talk to about her traumatic experiences and introduced her to a local network of Somali women. In August, Eshe was granted refugee status. Says Eshe: “That day I was so happy. I could sleep again.”

Section 55 made it unlawful for Refugee Action and other agencies to use the Government funding they receive to provide emergency accommodation to newly-arrived asylum seekers who had been refused support. Since January 2002, Refugee
Action has worked with 550 clients who were refused support under Section 55. Refugee Action challenged many of these decisions and succeeded in getting support reinstated for 73 of our clients. We also referred 47 cases for judicial review
in the High Court. Refugee Action set aside extra funds from its reserves to help the most vulnerable. We also worked with regional stakeholders who could provide food, clothing, bedding and shelter.

Alongside other refugee agencies, we campaigned vigorously against Section 55 and in April 2003 published a joint report highlighting its injustices.
The agencies also jointly challenged the legislation in the courts. In June 2004, following a Court of Appeal decision, the Home Office announced that it would reinstate basic levels of support to asylum seekers who do not make their asylum claim immediately.