Failed Asylum Seekers Mistreated
Hackney Gazette
In the last week of Parliament before the Christmas recess I held a debate on allegations of abuse against failed asylum-seekers during the deportation process. In October my attention was drawn to the case of Beatrice Guessie, an asylum-seeker from Cameroon whose application had failed and who was living in Yarl’s Wood detention centre. On account of the hardship and trauma Beatrice had suffered during her escape from Cameroon and during her application for asylum in this country, she was suffering from mental health problems. Being detained in Yarl’s Wood awaiting deportation did not help her mental health and when the time came for her to be deported she was very unwell. During the deportation process Beatrice claims she was injured by private escort officers paid by the government to carry out deportations. When she arrived in Cameroon, the Cameroonian immigration officials refused her entry to the country because of her injuries. Beatrice claims the British escort officers also passed on letters to Cameroonian officials which incriminated her. Beatrice was returned to the UK and taken straight to hospital where she was treated for her injuries.
As shocking as Beatrice’s story is, it is not unique. Investigations by voluntary groups working with asylum-seekers estimate there are currently around 200 similar cases. Back in 2004 the Medical Foundation published a report in which they argued that the use of gratuitous force and assaults on detainees were systematic within the deportation process. They found cases of asylum-seekers who had been punched, kicked and dragged along the floor. They also found that some of these people had been tortured in their home countries before escaping to the UK. These people found the process of forced deportation particularly distressing as it reminded them of the torture they had experienced. The Medical Foundation recommended that a medical examination take place as soon as a deportation attempt has gone wrong and the asylum-seeker is brought back to the UK. This would help in any later investigations. Unfortunately this still does not take place.
Of course many asylum-seekers who have been abused during the deportation process are now back in their country of origin. It has been pointed out that cows leaving the EU are better monitored and cared for than people are. Once asylum-seekers have been deported there is no systematic procedure for checking what has happened to them. Any abuse that does take place during deportation is therefore very difficult to investigate and record.
Allegations of physical, psychological and sexual assault, as well as racist abuse must be taken extremely seriously. The fact that it is failed asylum-seekers who are the victims of this abuse does not change the action that needs to be taken. Asylum-seekers whose claim has failed and immigrants who have been suffering with mental health problems are vulnerable people who should not be subject to the often traumatic deportation process. I do not believe that vulnerable people like families or the mentally ill should be targeted for stays in detention or for forced deportation. I think the answer lies in creating better facilities for voluntary return for those who have reached the end of the immigration process. Where a forced removal is necessary, it must be carried out in a civil and non-violent way. There is no reason at all why anyone should be harmed during the deportation process and I want to see safeguards put in place to ensure these abuses stop.
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