Press Archives

Tuesday 22 February 2005

Response by the Joint Council of for the Welfare of Immigrants to new asylum figures:

Habib Rahman, JCWI's, Chief Executive, said:

"The sharp drop in the number of asylum claims just shows how wild the claims made by some groups and political parties about asylum seekers really are. We hope that the public will take note.

"Having said that, we should not necessarily celebrate a low number of claims: the drop in the figures may just reflect the fact that the process of claiming asylum is now more difficult.

"As these latest statistics show, the greatest number of claims continues to be made by nationals of countries with some of the worst reputations for human rights violations and conflict."