Press Archives

23 August 2004

Response of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants to report of reduction in asylum claims in the United Kingdom

Habib Rahman, Chief Executive of JCWI, said:

"The fact that millions of people worldwide continue to suffer under repressive regimes, yet do not claim asylum in the UK, is not necessarily a cause for celebration.

"Any fall in asylum applications in the UK would reflect an overall trend among the world's 29 industrialised nations.* International humanitarian initiatives, to which the UK has contributed, may have helped that reduction.

"However, the UK's increasingly harsh asylum system, which includes imprisonment of asylum seekers and forcible deportations, may be responsible for driving many asylum seekers underground if they manage to reach this country."

* See statistics released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, June 2004, at www.unhcr.org