A blow to Blair's asylum policy

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, SEPT 8. The Blair Government's beleaguered asylum policy, attacked both by liberal and right-wing groups, has been thrown into disarray after a court ruled on Friday that it is illegal to hold asylum seekers in detention centres pending a decision on their applications.

The court held that detaining people who had lawfully applied for asylum, and when there was no risk that they would abscond, amounted to a violation of their human rights in terms of the European Convention on Human Rights which is now a part of British law. The ruling, seen as a blow to the administration, opened the floodgates for compensation claims by asylum seekers raising fears that the Government could be saddled with claims running into millions of pounds.

The Home Office said it was ``deeply disturbed'' by the verdict which followed an appeal by four Kurds who had claimed that they had been unlawfully held at Oakington centre in Cambridgeshire, a block of former Royal Air Force barracks ringed by barbed wires and patrolled by security guards. While human rights groups hailed it as a ``landmark'' judgement and a ``credit to British justice'' the Government said it would appeal against it contending that the Oakington facility was not a detention camp but a ``reception'' centre with 24-hour legal aid and interpretation facilities available to its residents.

The centre was set up in March last year as a ``fast track'' facility and only such people were sent there whose asylum claims were very weak and likely to be decided within seven to ten days. The idea, it is stated, was not to clog the system with applications which could be decided quickly and it was also thought this would act as a deterrent to others with weak claims.

The logic was that once people knew they could be detained if their claims looked patently unfounded, they would think twice before entering Britain. Incidentally, of the four Kurds who are being hailed as ``heroes'' by civil rights groups only one arrived legally declaring himself as an asylum seeker at the airport. The other three entered clandestinely as stowaways. All had their claims rejected but granted temporary stay. One has since been granted asylum.

Their lawyer, Mr. Michael Hanley, said his clients felt they ``were in prison in Oakington'' and the ruling meant that other asylum seekers would ``hopefully not be subjected to the same treatment.'' Less partisan observers however said Oakington centre was a much safer and more comfortable place to be in for people who were total strangers to Britain, had no recourse to legal assistance and did not speak English. They were much better off at a place where these facilities were available rather than being dispersed into hostile neighbourhoods such as the Sighthill complex where one Kurd refugee was stabbed to death recently. They pointed out that the centre had recreational facilities including a gym and satellite television. It was also denied that residents were locked up.

The Home Secretary, Mr. David Blunkett, was reported to be angry with what The Times termed as the ``human rights lobby'' for barking up the wrong tree. The newspaper quoted a source close to Mr. Blunkett as saying that by attacking what he believed was ``one of the best reception centres in the world'' human rights lobbyists were making it more difficult to deal with asylum cases ``humanely and speedily''. An official statement said:``The Home Secretary is deeply disturbed at the implications of the judgement for the effective operation of tough but fair immigration controls.''

The ruling came at a time when the Government is under pressure not only from its political opponents at home but by European countries, notably France, to tighten up its asylum regime. They blame its ``soft'' policies for the influx of refugees into Britain. The judgement prompted calls by Tories, who have put detention centres at the heart of their asylum policy, to change the law to make it legal to detain asylum seekers.

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Section  : International
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