Asylum seekers' treatment "inhumane"

LONDON (Reuters) - Government ministers are deliberately pushing asylum seekers into destitution to try to make them leave the country or not come to the UK in the first place, according to a parliamentary report.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights found that the policy of refusing them permission to work and an "overly complex, poorly administered" support system meant many vulnerable people ended up with no benefit and reliant instead on charity or support from friends.

Committee chairman, Labour MP Andrew Dismore, said the overall conclusion was that there appeared to be a policy of doing this to get people to leave the country or to deter others from coming at all.

"We know asylum seekers don't attract a great deal of public sympathy," he told the BBC.
"We pass no verdict on who is or is not or who should or should be an asylum seeker. The question is, when people are here, are they treated with decent common humanity and our view is that in the end what's going on is inhumane and degrading."

He also brushed aside the popular perception that asylum seekers received benefits to which they were not entitled. "Many people don't get what they are entitled to which is in fact very little, contrary to what the tabloid press would have you believe."

"We're particularly concerned about the position of children," he added. "We heard some terrible stories of, for example, the dawn raid, the 6 a.m. knock on the door, children woken up by the immigration officers ... and the terrible, traumatic effect it has on them, children in detention for many weeks and that is not good."

A spokeswoman for the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, a migrant rights organisation that gave evidence to the committee, said the report had uncovered many misconceptions.

"The report has exploded a lot of myths by showing that people can't claim benefits, they can't work legally and they are not here for an easy ride."
As a result, he said, many immigrants were vulnerable to exploitation and live a precarious existence." "We don't lay the blame for whipping up immigrant hate at the door of the popular press, rather it's at the door of politicians from all parties," the spokesman said.
"They could provide a lot more leadership to people in the UK about the truth about immigration and how it interacts with other policies.

"There are claims that immigrants claim a lot of services they're not entitled to. But if there are issues of shortages it is down to a range of factors, not asylum seekers. "There are further restrictions coming, for example one to restrict immigrants' access to health yet there's never been any analysis to show how many people not entitled to it are using the health service."
The Home Office said it will study the report's conclusions and recommendations.

In a statement, however, it added: "We simply do not think that it is right that those without any right to be in the UK should be given the right to work or access other services."