Asylum updates from the UK and Belgium

Insufficient asylum support pushes children and families into destitution in the UK

A UK parliamentary report published on 30 January revealed that alarmingly low levels of asylum support are forcing thousands of asylum seeking children and their families in the UK into severe poverty. Children and families are being forced to live in cramped, crowded, dirty and unsafe accommodation in areas where they are subjected to racial abuse. 

According to Matthew Reed, Chief Executive of The Children’s Society, thousands of children and families are being abandoned and literally left destitute because the system is failing them. 

The report’s recommendations include:

  • Ensuring asylum support for all children are in line with mainstream benefits; 
  • abolishing the cashless system immediately; and
  • allowing parents to work so that they can provide for their families and prevent them from being pushed into destitution.

Click here to read an executive summary of the report 

Click here to read the report in full 

The contents of the report mirror many of the concerns identified in the Irish Refugee Council report: 'State sanctioned child poverty and exclusion: the case of children in accommodation for asylum-seekers'. Bulletin readers will remember that the IRC report examined the system of direct provision in Ireland and the negative impact the system has on children.


Belgian Court grants asylum on grounds of persecution over sexual orientation for the first time

The Belgian Refugee Appeals Board last week granted asylum to a gay man because of the risk of persecution his sexuality poses if he returns to Afghanistan.

The case was unusual because the man could not prove he had been persecuted before he left Afghanistan. People normally have to demonstrate that they are being persecuted in their home country in order to be granted asylum. Further, in the past the Board had argued that homosexuals from countries where they face prosecution or social ostracism could hide their sexual orientation.

Eva Singer of the Danish Refugee Council told the Copenhagen Post "The verdict supports the view that individuals may be persecuted because of their background, in this case that the man is a homosexual, which is so tied into his personality that it is too hard to hide".

Click here to read an article from the Copenhagen Post

Click here to read an article from the UNHCR website

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