UN criticises UK asylum decision-making
| UN Refugee Agency concerned over asylum decision-making LONDON, July 1 - The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has today issued findings from its fifth audit report on the UK asylum system, focusing on asylum decision-making in detention centres, where some individuals are held while their applications are being decided in accelerated procedures. UNHCR’s latest audit highlights serious concerns with the UK Border Agency’s ‘fast track’ refugee status determination process in Yarl’s Wood and Harmondsworth detention centres, and found that the emphasis on quick decision-making does not allow caseworkers to reach well-reasoned decisions on some individual cases. “The tight time-frame for decisions - which are usually made within three days of an asylum seeker’s arrival at a detention centre - often results in cases not being given full consideration”, said Jacqueline Parlevliet, head of UNHCR’s office in London. According to UNHCR, some decisions within the Detained Fast Track demonstrate a limited understanding of key concepts in refugee law and do not engage sufficiently with the specific facts of the individual claims, for example in relation to gender issues. Whilst the Home Office does have mechanisms in place to safeguard the most vulnerable applicants, UNHCR is concerned that UK Border Agency staff are not using the discretion available to them to extend the timescale for decision-making in order to consider applications in greater detail. In one case, the audit found that an asylum applicant claiming a history of rape, trafficking and prostitution was deemed eligible for fast track detention, illustrating UNHCR's position that some unsuitable cases are being referred to the Home Office’s fast track process. The UN agency recommends the implementation of more rigorous screening procedures in order to avoid the detention of the most vulnerable applicants and those applicants with complex cases that cannot be decided within short timescales. “Having to make a decision on an asylum claim in short time frames combined with increasing targets for UK Border Agency staff, highlights the urgent need for increased training for asylum caseworkers on, at a minimum, the correct approach to assessing credibility of asylum applicants and the identification of complex claims not suited to accelerated procedures,” said Parlevliet. In addition to highlighting key areas of concern, UNHCR’s study welcomed progress made by the government in improving the quality of asylum decisions across the UK. Initiatives such as the Solihull Early Legal Advice Pilot, which helps to facilitate better quality and more efficient status determination, and the creation of a Home Office quality audit team are evidence of the government’s openness and willingness to engage with UNHCR’s recommendations. At the government’s invitation, UNHCR has audited the Home Office's first-instance asylum decisions since 2004 under a project called the Quality Initiative. UNHCR will continue to work with government to address the issues highlighted in its report and to improve the overall quality of asylum decisions in the UK. |
