Wednesday, November 03, 2004
You made the problem yourself, Mr Blair
See BBC NEWS | Business | Half of refugees 'miss job help'
Jane Kennedy, junior work minister, has said that the government had to better to integrate those given refuge in the UK, after figures showed that only half of the accepted refugees are given the support they need to find work.
But the problem of refugee integration is one that the government has exacerbated itself - if not created. Since before the 2001 election, Labour and Tory politicians have talked tough about asylum seekers, propagating the myth that Britain is a soft touch and that we take more than our fair share of refugees. Legislation such as the infamous Section 55 have made it progressively harder for asylum seekers to survive the fraught process of application and appeal.
As an example of what asylum seekers have to go through, anybody who fails to declare themselves at Liverpool or Croydon within 48 hours of arriving in the UK forfeits the right to benefit while they make their application. But for most people arriving in this country through 'agents', or, more accurately, people smugglers, it can take several days to discover this piece of information - let alone find away to fulfil it.
Britain takes about half the proportion of asylum seekers that France does, and we treat them far worse through the process.
If an asylum seeker is granted refugee status, they can still be deported as there is no effective process for the various parts of the system to inform each other that the individual has a right of residence.
Labour's own policies for discouraging asylum seekers treat victims of torture and persecution like criminals. Is it surprising that government agencies then struggle to win their trust and integrate them into society?
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