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JRS United Kingdom -
www.jrsuk.net
 

Political Developments

In July 2006, the Home Secretary announced that all outstanding asylum cases (the back-log) outside the New Asylum Model would be resolved by July 2011. These cases are known as Case Resolution Cases and it was originally estimated that there were 450,000 such cases.

The Home Office reported to the Parliamentary Home Affairs Committee in May 2008. They reported that they had concluded 90,000 of those cases by that time. This figure includes dependents. There have been 20,000 removals; 39,000 decisions to grant some form of leave to remain in the UK; and in 32,000 cases the files were closed because it was an error or a duplicate.

To give some sort of idea of how long people have been waiting in the back-log the following statistics provided by the Home Office are useful:
 Of the 20,000 removals, 21% (4,200) had been waiting for under three years; 54% (10,800) for between 3 and 7 years; and 25% (5,000) for more than 7 years.
 Of the 39,000 grants of leave to remain, 41% (16,000) had waited under 3 years; 51% (19,900) between 3 and 7 years; and 8% (3,100) over 7 years.

The longer someone has been in the country, the more likely they are to have been left with no status, no permission to work and no recourse to public funds. The Home Office provided no statistics on how many people were destitute, nor a breakdown comparison from the whole of the Case Resolution Cases of how many people had been waiting in total for up to three years, between 3 and 7 years or for more than 7 years.

There are growing concerns that all of the Case Resolution Cases will not be concluded by July 2011.

During 2008, two prospective new Bills were announced: a Borders, Immigration and Citizenship Bill and an Immigration Simplification Bill. Both are due to be considered during the current parliament. The details of neither Bill have been fully announced yet, nor has full consultation taken place yet. However, there are concerns that the new Bills will continue with the drive to create tougher border controls and more difficult conditions for asylum seekers in the UK.



JRS Activities


Detention

During 2008 JRS continued the programme of detention visits by staff members and a small volunteer team. Each volunteer visitor made a commitment to visit one or two people each week on JRS’ behalf over a six month period, and to liaise with solicitors, health care professionals, etc. as required on behalf of the detainee they visit.

The detention outreach worker provided training, support, visited detainees and was also responsible for advocacy work on this issue. In addition, a member of the JRS team acts as a Catholic chaplain at
Colnbrook and at Harmondsworth detention centres (near Heathrow). In this way, JRS was able to give more support to especially vulnerable detainees through follow-ups with health professionals and legal advisors.


We have access to between 40 and 60 detainees a week on average, mainly because Harry is able to visit the centres as a Chaplain.


Destitution
Increasing numbers of asylum seekers, who received final refusals in their claims, came to JRS in our new office premises in central London for support and help. The office received visits from around 130 people a week seeking transport grants; help with grant applications for emergency relief grants to other small charities; hygiene packs; solicitors; the JRS hardship support (max of £200 per person) for daily living needs; and clothing when available. In total about 600 people at any one time were getting help from JRS.

Many migrants in the UK received a weekly £35 voucher if they were able to reopen their asylum claim, were seriously unwell or had agreed to leave the country. Some people received vouchers for two years or more. JRS started an exchange scheme to allow for greater choice for individuals and families to purchase cheaper food from street markets. The supermarket voucher exchange scheme gained much popularity, exchanging over £7,000 worth of vouchers every month. Because of the increased demand, JRS ran two day centres in London: on Tuesdays at Forest Gate in East London and on Thursdays in Stamford Hill in North London.

In September 2008 a small legal charity, Asylum Aid, started offering legal advice at the JRS Office at London Bridge on a Tuesday (on an appointment only basis) for those who had problems getting good legal representation and were destitute. Besides the practical assistance offered, JRS used the quantitative and qualitative data to lobby for better legal representation and more public funding to increase access to good legal representation.

Outreach work
The JRS UK staff and volunteers continued to give talks and lead workshops for church and secular groups in order to raise awareness about the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK. Requests for JRS guest speakers have increased steadily over the year, with JRS looking to organise more events each year.

Advocacy work
JRS worked very well in coalitions, undertaking lobbying work and campaigning work on destitution and detention issues.

JRS helped set up the Independent Asylum Commission (a people’s inquiry into the asylum process in the UK). The Commissioners included human rights experts, members of the House of Lords, a theologian and a refugee. Over the course of 2007, public hearings were held across the UK and written evidence was requested. The findings were published in 2008 in one large report; conclusions and recommendations were published separately. The reports were well received and provide a good basis of information to help lobbying for the new Immigration Bills being considered in this parliament.

JRS was involved with the asylum working party of the Centre for Social Justice (a think tank in the UK) which published a report in December 2008 on destitution of asylum seekers; making recommendations for the improvement of the asylum process and the asylum support system in the UK.

JRS UK also started its Speak Out project in the autumn of 2008. This project provided training in presentation skills, radio interview techniques and writing articles for newsletters, websites and other publications. The project was aimed at asylum seekers and refugees wanting to help JRS with advocacy work, but who felt they needed some training and support to help their confidence and to be effective in doing such things for JRS. The first small group of six refugees just completed the course at the end of the year. They were from Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea and Cote d’Ivoire.

Volunteer programme
Apart from the team of volunteer detention visitors, JRS had a small team of volunteers who help with administrative tasks, reception and welcoming duties, producing publications and event organisation in the office.

 

 


Contact Details

Ms Louise Zanré, Country Director
6 Melior Street, London SE1 3QP
Tel: +44 -20-7357 0974 - Fax: +44-20-7378 1985
 



 

uk(a)jrs.net

To send an email, just replace the (a) with @.


 
 

Jesuit Refugee Service Europe - Rue du Progrès (Vooruitgangstraat) 333/2 - B-1030 Bruxelles - Belgium
Tel: + 32 2 250 32 20 - Fax: + 32 2 250 32 29 - Email: europe(a)jrs.net