News Release

Issued 17.7.09

Bishop calls for asylum overhaul 

The Bishop of Ripon and Leeds has called for an overhaul of the asylum system and for asylum seekers to be given the right to work,  following the publication of major report by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust exposing a worsening crisis for refused asylum seekers with many from the most troubled parts of the world living in conditions of homelessness and destitution. 

Bishop John Packer was speaking at the  launch of “Still Destitute”, the third report by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust on the destitution being experienced by asylum seekers in Leeds. The report concluded that there were high levels of destitution among asylum seekers, looking particularly at the plight of  'un-returnable' asylum seekers who had mainly fled from Zimbabwe, Eritrea, Iraq and Iran. It focussed on the plight of 232 individuals including 30 children who sought help from four Leeds voluntary agencies helping refugees and asylum seekers during April and May this year. Among its findings was that more than a third of all refused asylum seekers had been homeless for more than a year, sleeping on borrowed floors or even outdoors at night, all were reliant on voluntary, charity and church groups to support them and many were suffering ill-health, either physical and/or psychological as a result.

Bishop Packer said the rule preventing asylum seekers from working should be reversed, and said that the government's New Asylum Model was not working and should be overhauled as a matter or urgency:  “I am very grateful to Hannah Lewis and the Trust for the work that has gone into this third report. It is important that we are aware that this is a continuing problem, particularly because one of the things to take from the report is that the New Asylum Model is not working. The Government’s assertion that it is needs to be challenged as often as we can.”  He added, " The right to work seems to me to be the biggest single contribution that could be made to alleviate the situation."

Bishop Packer said many families were slipping through the net because, through no fault of their own, they could not return home. "One of the most bizarre situations is that we can request people to return to countries we know are unsafe and the Government knows are unsafe and to which they cannot be returned anyway." Children he said needed protection. “One of the values shared by people of all faiths and none is that every individual matters. But a teacher put it to me this way: ‘The government’s policy is that 'every child matters' unless they are the child of an asylum seeker’”.

The Report calls on the Government to grant temporary leave to remain for those who cannot return to their country of origin, make continuation of support automatic until an individual leaves the UK ands ensure access to proper legal representation at all stages of the asylum process.

The launch heard from staff at PAFRAS (Positive Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), one of the voluntary church-based agencies trying to alleviate suffering by providing advice, food and clothing  based at  St Aidan’s, Harehills, Leeds. Jon Burnett, their research officer, said that their  resources were being stretched to breaking point with increasing demands on their voluntary service - 2000 visits in 2006 rising to  6,100 last year.  “People are malnourished and hungry and we find people who have been eating from bins or off the floor – babies are born malnourished, “ he said. Founder of PAFRAS, Christine Majid added “Behind the statistics are real people and people’s lives are being destroyed by destitution. We shouldn't even be discussing destitution in the 5th richest country in the world – I have no words to express how I feel, We cannot allow this to go on in our name- it has to stop”.

ENDS

Issued by John Carter (Rev)
Press and Communications Officer, Diocese of Ripon and Leeds

jhgcarter@aol.com
01423 530369 or mobile 07798 652707

7 Blenheim Court
Harrogate, HG2 9DT

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