New laws to restrict the right rto asylum will criminalise refugees, argues JANE KELLY
t is 2020 and you are a seventeen year
old on the run. Born in Britain, now
governed by a pro-American, christian fundamentalist government, your parents, radical and left wing, are now dead.
Trade unions and all opposition parties are banned. Women cannot go out on their own and can no longer work outside their homes.
Students, trying to organise opposition to this oppression of women, set up Women's Right to Work' a small but vociferous campaign which at first had some small successes - girl children were readmitted to school until their 13th year, women were allowed to work in women only businesses.
But before any more demands could be laid, the group was arrested and imprisoned. Many were tortured to obtain names of other activists and those who had not been picked up in the first round fled the country. You were one of them.
So now you are in a small country in the continent of Africa. It is poor, with elements of democracy, but suspicious of strangers. You do not speak their language, their customs are alien to you and no-one is very friendly. Many are scared of you - you are white and they feel frightened of you because of past experiences of members of your race.
Because you arrived disorientated and fearful, you failed to register with the right authorities in the requisite time and as a result you are not eligible for any support -•••• The statement, which can be http://www.ncadc.org.uk/letters/newszine30/joint.html is supported by the following organisations: Council, Shelter. no housing, no food, no right to work, no help of any sort.
You are not sure what will happen, it is possible they will lock you up and deport you back to where you came from, despite the political situation in England.
Alternatively you may go on the run in this new country, try to learn the language and get some informal work to keep alive: as a woman it is always possible to earn money as a sex worker. Either way, the future looks grim.
It may sound unlikely! But putting ourselves in the position of asylum seekers is a good way of understanding the inequities of the new Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act (2002) which came onto the statute book on January 8th.
Section 55 of the new Act says that unless you apply for asylum at the port of entry you will not be eligible for even the meagre support available to those accepted into NASS. (Nationality and Asylum Support Service). In defending this draconian new law, Beverley Hughes, the minister in charge of immigration, argues it is to deal with those here working illegally who, when caught, apply for asylum.
But the real victims are newly arrived asylum seekers who, for some of the same reasons given above in the fictional account, fail to apply for asylum in the requisite time. In fact two thirds of applications are made incountry and 65 percent of successful claims are made that way too.
The new law will lead to asylum seekers either put into detention camps and deported without any hearing, or, if they fail to find help in their own communities, will be on ..•.. Amnesty International UK, Crisis, Jewish Council for Racial Equality, Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, Maternity Alliance, Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, Migrant Helpline, Oxfam, Refugee Action, Refugee Arrivals Project, Refugee the streets begging or reduced to criminality to survive.
Homeless and destitute refugees on the streets of our cities will of course only foster the racism which the government has done everything to encourage through their refusal to treat people fleeing persecution and terror with the dignity and support they deserve. Let us hope none of them ever have to face a similar situation!
Already in the first week of its implementation, Section 55, which also demands that asylum seekers provide independent or physical evidence of how and when they ..... ....... coaches provided by the Home Office to keep some of the people out of the cold were rejected by people in the queue for fear of being driven off.
It is now also clear that local authority workers in Housing and in Social Services will have to report anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant, and will have to ask questions such as when and how did you enter the country?
It will be a criminal offence if they fail to act as immigration police. UNISON will need to act quickly to defend anyone refusing to do this as they will be disciplined and/or prosecuted .... ••• of the new rules, are lodging Judicial Reviews in the High Court on! 3th January 2003. An early day motion (46l) (See box) is also circulating which everyone should get their MPs to sign up to. • Several campaigns (CAS, Barbed Wire Britain, NCADC) are planning a conference in defence of asylum seekers in March or April and are asking for anyone interested in helping organise it to contact them.
[email protected]. Five things you seekers • In 2002 there were approximately 19.8 million 'displaced peoples' - one out of every 300 people globally. Approximately 12 million are classified as refugees. • Figures for Palestinian refugees are covered by a separate UN mandate. There are an estimated 3.9 million Palestinian refugees. • The majority of refugees come from Palestine, Afghanistan, Turkey, Iraq, Yugoslavia, and China. • War and imperialism have caused the displacement of more than 9 million, including people from; Palestine, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia
• The main host countries for asylum seekers are Pakistan: 2.2 million, Iran; 1.9 million and Germany; 988,500.