‘Windrush’ victims left failed, uncompensated in UK plan: HRW

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
17 Apr 2023 08:45

A recent report by a leading human rights organization reveals that those affected by the "Windrush" scandal continue to receive insufficient compensation offers and long waits.

Thomas Tobierre, 69, applied to the Home Office’s Windrush Compensation Scheme as a primary applicant in 2023 (HRW)

More than five years after the unlawful deportation and detention of Britons of Caribbean ancestry was made public, a rights group revealed that the British government's scheme to compensate victims of the "Windrush" scandal is failing.

Thousands of immigrants who came to the UK between 1948 and the early 1970s had to fulfill unapplicable government standards to prove their right to be in Britain even though they had been living and working there for decades.

Due to their inability to provide documentation, many people lost their houses, jobs, health insurance, pensions, and benefits. Others were forced to return to the Caribbean.

Former Prime Minister Theresa May apologized to Caribbean leaders on April 17, 2018, and in 2019, a compensation scheme was prepared.

Human Rights Watch, however, stated that the program established to support victims was "failing and violating their right to an effective remedy for human rights abuses they suffered at the hands of the Home Office (interior ministry)."

"Five years after the Windrush scandal came to light, the Home Office compensation scheme is compounding its injustice by denying claimants their right to redress for the life-altering losses and negative effects it has had on their lives for years," added Almaz Teffera, an HRW researcher on racism in Europe.

"The UK government should hand over the compensation scheme to an independent body that guarantees each claimant a fair and independent hearing," Teffera said.

Known as the "Windrush" generation -- after the Empire Windrush, one of the ships that brought them to the UK from the West Indies -- they were invited to work in Britain due to shortages of key workers in the aftermath of World War II.

They were granted indefinite leave to remain, but many who did not apply for passports found themselves targeted by immigration laws designed to create a "hostile environment" for illegal immigrants.

After the right-wing Conservative Party regained office in 2010 when May served as Interior Minister, the hardline policy was pioneered.

Subsequently, many found themselves accused of being illegal immigrants.

It's not the first time the compensation scheme has been denounced.

In 2021, British MPs criticized what they said were "truly shocking" delays in compensation.

A cross-party home affairs committee reported that 23 claimants had passed away without getting any compensation and suggested that the Home Office be relieved of its responsibility for managing the claims.

The MPs said claimants faced a "daunting" application process and "unreasonable requests for evidence" and were "left in limbo in the midst of inordinate delays".

Only 12.8 percent of the estimated 11,500 qualified claimants had received compensation as of January, as per HRW.

It added that the scheme should be independent and provide legal aid to claimants to help them navigate the "complex application process."

Earlier this year, a UN group on people of African descent acknowledged that the "Windrush" generation had endured "irreparable harm" and that redress was "imperative".