UN criticises UK asylum system – together with ‘legislation breaking and detaining torture victims’

Significant failings within the UK’s asylum system have been highlighted by the UN’s refugee company, together with torture victims being detained and legal guidelines not being “complied with”.

In a scathing report, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees famous “numerous risks to the welfare of asylum-seekers” after its investigation between 2021 and 2022.

It warned that officers had been being compelled to do “too much, too quickly, and with inadequate training”.

However, the Home Office stated “significant improvements” have been made for the reason that audit passed off.

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The report warned the system they noticed might result in “well-founded” litigation if individuals had been sent to Rwanda.

It stated: “The current registration and screening systems expect staff to do too much, too quickly, and with inadequate training, facilities, guidance and oversight. As a result, much of their hard work is wasted, and the system frequently fails to achieve its goals”.

The audit stated the company “observed or was told about numerous risks to the welfare of asylum-seekers, including instances of trafficking and vulnerability being overlooked and teenage children and victims of torture and trafficking being detained”.

“Registration and screening records were often incomplete, inaccurate, or unreliable, and laws and published policies were not complied with.”

Interpreters had been left to take care of “central aspects” of the screening interviews.

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There was additionally no manner for the standard of the work finished to be checked, nor a standardised system throughout the board.

“For all of these reasons, there is a real risk that decisions based on information collected at screening will be flawed,” the report stated.

The UN physique stated plans to make asylum claims “inadmissible” if the applicant got here via a secure third nation imply screening processes must be dependable and truthful.

If the identical system they noticed was used, it “will lead to errors, causing distress to individuals, delays, and well-founded litigation” when individuals get faraway from the UK.

Vicky Tennant, UNHCR consultant to the United Kingdom, stated: “Fair and efficient asylum systems help ensure that refugees are able to access the protection they need and to start rebuilding their lives.

“Equally essential, they assist preserve public confidence by permitting governments to pursue preparations for the return of people who find themselves discovered to not have worldwide safety wants.

“Flawed and inefficient screening procedures are currently undermining the UK’s asylum capacity – placing vulnerable people at risk and adding to the pressure on public resources.”

Some 28 suggestions for reform of the system to make it fairer, extra dependable and environment friendly had been put ahead.

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A Home Office spokesman stated: “This report is based on an audit that took place in 2021 and early 2022. Since then, significant improvements have been made to the processing of small boats arrivals.

“Tug Haven [processing centre] is now not in use and specialist amenities have been made accessible to accommodate younger individuals, together with unaccompanied asylum-seeking kids.

“Our staff are working relentlessly to safely register and screen unprecedented numbers of migrants arriving in the UK illegally.

“We are happy that their professionalism was praised and thank the UNHCR for his or her report.”

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The UNHCR report exposes a number of failures in Home Office preliminary asylum processing which are holding up the system and contributing to the damaging delays. Yet Conservative ministers have nonetheless rejected insurance policies comparable to fast-track triage for clearly unfounded circumstances which Labour has demanded for months.

“The home secretary needs to stop posturing and start fixing the asylum system she and her party have broken. Labour has set out plans for a cross-border police unit, fast-tracking to clear the backlog and a proper deal with France on safe returns.”