Britain`s record on asylum seekers faces criticism

Britain’s treatment of asylum seekers has been criticised
in an Amnesty International report on worldwide human rights
issues, writes Clare Jerrom.

The campaigning organisation highlights the “alarming shortfall”
of legal advice available to dispersed asylum seekers. It
criticises the dispersal scheme, which placed some asylum seekers
in areas where local people had no experience of living with
them.

Amnesty criticises the negative media coverage of asylum
seekers, which it claims “pandered to racial prejudice and created
a hostile environment for many asylum seekers”.

The annual report says that although many asylum seekers were
granted temporary admission pending the decision on their claim, up
to 1,000 asylum seekers were held in detention at any given
time.

Another area for concern in the UK, according to the report, was
ill treatment in prisons. Reports of racist abuse, and degrading
treatment were received from prisons including Wandsworth, Durham
and Brixton.

Reports of ill treatment of young offenders were received from
Medway Secure Training Centre, in Portland and Lisnevin in Northern
Ireland.

Britain was not alone in being criticised in the report. Amnesty
says “conditions in holding areas for asylum seekers were described
as inhuman and degrading” in France. Similar conditions were noted
in Germany.

For the full report go to:
http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2001.nsf/home/home?OpenDocument