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Iraq returns/asylum statistics 2003

24 February 2004

Refugee Action is dismayed at the government's announcement today of a joint programme combining forced removals and voluntary returns to Iraq.

The agency has worked hard over the past year, in partnership with the government, to set the framework for assisting Iraqis who wish to return voluntarily when the time is right, and will continue to do so.

But Sandy Buchan, chief executive of Refugee Action, said any talk of forced return was premature and could jeopardise the success of the voluntary return programme:

"It is unprecedented for the British government to announce forced removals to a country before it has introduced a proper period of monitored voluntary returns. The UK is alone in Europe in attempting to forcibly return Iraqis.

"Nobody believes that Iraq is safe. Due to ongoing instability, the non-governmental agencies are barely operating there, and even the United Nations' presence in Iraq is very limited. There remains no direct route to Iraq and none that can guarantee returnees' safety."

He added: "This stick-and-carrot approach sends out the wrong message and will do nothing to ease the understandable anxieties of Iraqis who wish to return when the time is right. It is crucial to win the confidence of the UK's long-established, legal Iraqi community. Now that Saddam's regime has collapsed, there are many Iraqis who hope to go back to their homeland when it is safe to do so. But they will not put their trust in a programme which sees their countrymen forcibly bundled onto planes when the disorder in Iraq is plainly evident on their television screens."

Home Office asylum statistics 2003

Sandy Buchan said: "Today's statistics show that in 2003, the Home Office wrongly rejected the cases of 16,000 asylum seekers who, on appeal, were later recognised as being in genuine need of protection. Indeed, one in every two asylum seekers awarded protection by the government last year were initially rejected.

"This is deeply worrying because the government's new Asylum Bill is set to severely restrict the appeal rights of asylum seekers. The right to a full and fair appeals process is crucial when Home Office decisions are so often wrong. Without it, people will be wrongly returned to face imprisonment, torture or even death."

For more information please contact: Refugee Action's press office on 020 7654 7707 or 07810 757 752 (out of hours).

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