UK uses Rwanda deportation card as threat against asylum seekers
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If asylum seekers dare to complain about the subpar accommodations provided by the Home Office and their extremely harsh living conditions, they are threatened with deportation to Rwanda.
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Refugees crossing from mainland Europe to the UK via the English Channel (Reuters)
Asylum seekers who complain about the subpar accommodations provided by the Home Office have been threatened with deportation to Rwanda, a new report revealed.
The report from the charity Refugee Action, entitled Hostile Accommodation: How the Asylum System Is Cruel By Design, is based on 100 in-depth interviews with asylum seekers conducted in hotels in Bradford, Manchester, London, and the West Midlands.
It comprises in-depth casework records pertaining to issues in hotels and other asylum accommodations, interviews with single individuals and families, and freedom of information requests to council environmental health departments.
Asylum seekers were also warned not to complain about their subpar living conditions lest they be sent back to Rwanda and that the police would be called if they did. The report added that they were also instructed not to photograph the food in order to document its caliber.
The system of housing asylum seekers, which presently houses more than 50,000 people in hotels, is described in the report as "a nationwide system of racialized segregation and de facto detention."
It is also worth noting that hotel stays for asylum seekers are getting longer and longer. More than one in four families with children and one in three adults stay in hotels for longer than a year. In one instance, a family of six spent more than a year living in one room. According to the research, things will get worse if the new immigration measure that is currently being debated in parliament is passed.
The following are some of the issues raised in the report
More than half express dissatisfaction with overcrowding, lack of privacy, and extended stays in hotels. Several single adults stayed in motels for more than 2.5 years.
Three-quarters of people reported experiencing hunger or malnutrition, complaining about receiving low-quality or unsuitable meals. A comparable number are struggling with mental health issues.
People of color make up the majority of the charity's beneficiaries seeking asylum. There are countless instances of mothers who are no longer able to breastfeed because they are undernourished from hotel cuisine. Some kids have lost weight.
One-third of families reported that their kids have been denied access to education.
Shocking revelations
The report also highlighted specific instances, such as a wheelchair user who was stuck on the 11th floor of a hotel due to a broken lift and an accommodation contractor who urged a doctor not to write a health support letter for an asylum seeker advocating for a transfer because it might put stress on the contractor's housing system.
Rodent and pest infestations, as well as dampness, mold, and floods, were frequent. A youngster was brought to the hospital on two separate occasions when a ceiling collapsed, one of which involved a woman holding a newborn.
Instead of the current group of private contractors who profit millions of pounds from Home Office contracts, Refugee Action is urging the government to fund councils and NGOs to offer housing and support.
