In Glasgow last year there were 279 racially motivated crimes were reported in ‘E’ Division of Glasgow, which covers Sighthill, Springburn, Royston and Barmulloch, where a high proportion of the city’s 6,000 asylum-seekers live. The figures included one murder, four serious assaults, 62 common assaults and 144 cases of racially aggravated conduct.
I sent an email to Nader who is 17, who family fled Iraq with his family he said this, "As soon as the sun comes out, the trouble starts. Everyone starts staring at us and calling us ‘black bastards’. Even now, on Saturday nights, these people start throwing bottles and stones at us."…This shows that the abuse is constant they fled their country to move to what they thought was a peaceful land…but how wrong they were. This is obviously not true in all cases some lead happy lives and enjoy the rest of their lives.
This is what the asylum seeker has to go through before he/she can enter the country officially.
- Fast track processes mean that some claims are dealt within about four weeks. Asylum seekers may be detained for all or part of that time.
- All claimants have a responsibility to co-operate with the authorities considering their claim. They must:
- Tell the truth about their circumstances;
- Obey the law. It is a criminal offence to submit a claim involving deception, the maximum penalty for which is two years imprisonment;
- Keep in regular contact with the authorities considering their claim.
- Leave the country if their claim is ultimately rejected.
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Support is provided to asylum seekers while their claims for asylum is being considered. Accommodation is provided on a "no choice" basis in parts of the UK where there is less pressure on accommodation than in London and other parts of the South East. Asylum seekers are given money in order to purchase food and other goods.
- Some claimants are removed to another EU countries to pursue their claim, if that country is responsible for the claim. Some other claimants are removed in order to pursue their claim in a safe country outside the European Union;
- Those who are unsuccessful on appeal will be required to leave the UK. If necessary, they will be removed.
- Those who are recognised as refugees will be granted immediate stay in the UK and will be helped to build a new life.
- Escaping persecution, this can be on account of many reasons including political difference with government, discrimination on account of their race, religion or to escape a war or famine in which they are not likely to survive. This is the most common reason for legitimate asylum seekers to seek refuge in another country such as the UK.
- Economic factors for example the person may not be satisfied with what he or she is currently earning and chooses to seek betterment in the UK. These groups are technically will not be given refugee status and are treated as bogus asylum seekers.
- There may be geographical hardship in the region such as flooding or drought. This is a less common factor for refugees and relatively few of them come to the UK choosing instead to go to neighbouring countries.
People have the stereotypical views on asylum seekers, as it is a well-known fact that tax pays for everything that the asylum seekers needs. We pay for food, accommodation, health service and clothes. Also some feel that any person that is Muslim is a terrorist. This blatantly is not true, but some still carry on believing this! I think that the asylum situation is progressively getting worse as more and more are going to be coming to Europe. I feel that the real problems will come when all the bad jobs are taken and they start taking the well-paid jobs. This will anger many people because if they weren’t there they would have got the job!!
There are many reasons why asylum seekers come to the UK here are some of them:
- The principal aim of asylum seekers is to reach a place of safety.
- Asylum seekers choosing the UK did so because of the presence of relatives or friends; their belief in the UK as a safe, tolerant and democratic country, links between their own country and the UK including their ability to speak English or desire to learn it.
- Agents played a key role in channelling the asylum seekers to particular countries. Some asylum seekers had no choice and were sent to particular countries by their agent.
What do the asylum seekers receive when they get to the UK?
They receive support for their essential needs. Every week they are given an allowance, which is:
- People over 25 or over £37.77
- People aged 18-24 £29.89
- Couples £59.26
- Single Parent £37.77
- Child 16-17 £32.50
- Child Under 16 £33.50
- Also they get accommodation when they arrive normally a B&B.
- The children receive an education. They attend mainstream schools and sometimes have a translator with them.
- The Asylum seekers have the right to work so they can earn their way or just live of benefits.
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The best thing that I think that asylum seekers receive is free health care. They have the same status as most UK citizens.
- GP
- A dentist
- Family planning
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Social services
- Everything that I have mentioned above comes free to them. Our Tax is paying for them!!
When an asylum seeker leaves his/her country there are normally three main reasons:
- War, civil conflict, human rights violations, colonial domination and persecution for political, religious, ethnic or social reasons;
- Severe breakdown of economic and social conditions that endanger traditional communities;
- Environmental devastation.
Public opinion on asylum seekers in Britain has been shaped by the worst possible images: of young men, with their faces masked, breaking out of the French asylum centre at Sangatte, risking their lives to make their way through the Channel Tunnel.
Today, Britain ranks 9th amongst EU countries in terms of asylum seekers per head of population. With 1.7 asylum seekers per 1,000 national population. The majority of asylum seekers flee to neighbouring countries. Iran hosts 1.9 million refugees and Pakistan hosts 2 million.
In 2001 Britain received 72,000 asylum applications, and accepted around 50%. Earlier this year the Government presented to Parliament a White Paper, with proposals to change asylum procedures and introduce new controls, such as biometric smart cards.
The new legislation assumes that Section 128 of the Immigration Act, allowing for detention, can still be used against asylum seekers, when the High Court has said it should not.
To try and improve the situation for the asylum seekers, the government has made many attempts to propose better facilities in a special centres for them. This would give them a comfortable safe place to stay whilst their applications were processed. They choose the town of Lee to test this idea out. They were going to take over an old naval base and turn this into the “Asylum Heaven”.
But, the local community had very strong views about the centre being built. They had a strong belief that the asylum seekers would ruin their lives because they would be causing crime and were all terrorists!! They were also scared for their own safety and that of their families’ safety. They were worried that they would be mugged or attacked. Also as they were coming from LEDCs they were worried that they would be carrying tropical diseases and many other fatal diseases like HIV, cholera and typhoid.
Britain has been given the title of being the European Asylum capital. Some say this because Britain is sometimes referred to as being “Too Soft”. Enock Powell warned everyone about the asylum problem. Enock Powell was an MP who was a controversial right wing MP. He warned about the immigration problem back in the 60’s!!
The village of Lee’s main way of trying to prevent the centre going forward was peaceful protests. They put up banners and signed petitions to have the centre idea abolished. This small village all joined together and protested for what they believed in. The house prices in the area began to drop dramatically and more and more people were leaving the area!! All the protesting paid off and the government withdrew plans for the centre to go forward. The government said this was due to technical difficulties!!!!!
Now the government is going to try to open other centres in different locations in the UK. Nottingham and Oxford have been put forward as places where they may open other centres!!
Conclusion / Evaluation In my opinion the asylum seeker situation is being controlled pretty well. The UK is trying very hard to accommodate all the asylum seekers that arrive seeking refuge. However, many people who are totally against this idea populate the area that they are intending to keep them in. Also many people stereotype them all to be terrorists and they receive abuse for this and everyone is judging them before they even know them.
From my assignment I think that it was lacking official court laws that protect the asylum seekers. If I had more time I would have written off to the Home Office to ask them for some of these laws. Some of the information that I obtained maybe biased in some way, some favouring asylum seekers and some opposing asylum seekers. I couldn’t find a good timeline to show the key events of the asylum world, but I could have made one by myself. I could have researched some main events and produced a timeline. I might have found a special website with the timeline or printed in a book.
The information was accurate as I felt I used reliable sources and good books. Some of the information may have been extreme cases and be over biased. I think that the main view that people had was that we are paying for them and they didn’t like that. I mentioned that on several occasions throughout the assignment. The information may have been biased because the people that wrote the book may have included some of their own views.
Using the Internet searching for information was hard because when searching on a site mainly press stories where coming up I had to find a special site dedicated to highlighting issues concerning asylum seekers! To improve my essay I could have used a wider variety of sources e.g. more books.
Some of the information that I used may have been biased because my opinions are slightly biased. Also some of the websites I used may have been biased also. Whilst trying to do my research on the net I struggled to find many asylum seeker websites. All the ones I found were about how to claim asylum. To make this assignment better I would have tried to find an asylum seeker in Leicester an interview him/her. This would give me a primary source of evidence and would be able to tell me his story. This assignment has been a good eye opener for me.
