Church condemns ‘intolerable’ plight of asylum seekers

|PIC1|The Church of England has condemned the Government’s refusal to allow asylum seekers the right to work and warned of the destitution faced by refused asylum seekers unable to return to their countries of origin.

The call came in a debate in the Church’s General Synod on Friday on a motion put forward by the Rev Ruth Worsley asking the Government “to find a practical and humane remedy to the intolerable situation of destitute ‘refused’ asylum seekers who are unable to return to their country of origin because of personal safety, health or family reasons”.

Rev Worsley said that while the National Audit Office needed to deal with 10,000 cases a month, it was not able to resolve more than 6,700 a month at present.

Unable to work, she said most asylum seekers were left to get by on only £35 a week in vouchers, with no cash support.

“In my experience, I know of no case completed within six months,” said Rev Worsley. “The financial cost to our country as well as the human cost which leaves people in limbo for years, not knowing what their future might hold seems unconscionable.”

The Rev Canon Jonathan Alderton-Ford said that asylum seekers did have some rights but were often prevented from accessing them because of the inadequate legal services available to them.

Some legal firms charged asylum seekers huge fees only to “take the money and do nothing”, he said.

Rev Alderton-Ford called for greater legal protection for asylum seekers, accusing the immigration officers of “manhandling” refused asylum seekers by “pretending to be policemen and doing what the police would do”.

The treatment of children also came under scrutiny in the debate on Friday morning. The Rev Canon Kathryn Fitzsimons said many of the 3,000 children detained each year were left traumatised by their experience.

“They are the only children in this country who can be detained … and without ever having committed a crime,” she said.

The Church of England is one of the many organisations backing the Still Human Still Here campaign urging the Government to allow asylum seekers to work while they remain in the UK.

The Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkins said the Government needed to listen to the concerns of churchgoing voters.

“It is all God’s world,” she told Synod. “All we’re asking for is that when they [asylum seekers] come here, they are not treated in a way that makes them feel less than human. We need to allow their dignity.”