news news releases

Scrap Section 9 - Refugee charities condemn policy as 'inhumane and ineffective'

Jan 30 2006

EMBARGOED UNTIL 00.01hrs TUESDAY 31st JANUARY 2006

The Government's controversial Section 9 policy, which can split asylum
seeker children from their families, should be ditched immediately before
it does further damage, claim the UK's two leading refugee charities.

With the Home Office deciding whether to implement Section 9 nationally
and the first legal challenge to it being heard at the High Court today
(Tuesday 31st), the Refugee Council and Refugee Action have released a
comprehensive report into the 12-month pilot which highlights the misery caused by Section 9 and its complete failure to achieve its aims:

Inhumane and Ineffective - Section 9 In Practice (pdf)

"When it launched Section 9 the government said the aim was to encourage
families to return home, and not to make them destitute. This report
shows that it has achieved the complete opposite result. Families have
been made homeless, had their support removed and are living in fear of
having their children taken into care, and yet almost none have taken
steps to leave the UK. Section 9 is inhumane and ineffective and should be
dropped immediately," says Maeve Sherlock, Chief Executive of the Refugee Council.

The report, based on the work of the two charities in the three pilot
areas of the programme (Leeds, London, Manchester), shows that:

*    Only one family has left the UK as a result of Section 9 (out of 116
included in the pilot)
*    At the most, three families have signed up for voluntary return
*    At least 32 families, more than a quarter, have gone underground
*    80% of parents on the pilot had mental health problems which have
been made worse by Section 9.

"This a harsh and ill thought out policy based on the flawed logic that
making families destitute and threatening to take their children into care
will coerce them into going home. The government needs to look at the
alternative schemes, highlighted in the report, where case workers work
closely with families and help them through the process," said Maeve
Sherlock.

Sandy Buchan, Chief Executive of Refugee Action, said: "This cruel and
unworkable policy is causing enormous suffering to vulnerable families and
has completely failed to deliver on its objectives. To threaten parents
with the loss of their children if they don't sign a form that says they
want to go home is unjust and inhumane. The proper place for all children,
regardless of their immigration status, is with their parents."

"Destitution and family separation should not be used as deliberate tools
of coercion by any civilised society. This policy is especially troubling
as it has come at a time when there is increasing doubt over whether or
not some asylum seekers receive a full and fair hearing of their claim.
We urge the Government to learn the lessons of this pilot and to look
closely at more humane and effective incentive-based schemes that have
proven successful elsewhere."

ENDS

For further information and interviews contact press office: Chris Pitt
020 7346 1213 (Switchboard: 020 7820 3000). For urgent or out of hours
inquiries ring 0870 0555500 & ask for pager 865169.

Notes to Editors

1.   Inhumane and Ineffective - Section 9 In Practice (pdf) was jointly published by The Refugee Council and Refugee Action. The Refugee Council will be handling all media enquiries on the contact details above.
2.    For interviews, please contact the Refugee Council press office.
3.    The first legal challenge to Section 9 begins at the High Court on
Tuesday 31st January, in which a mother of three from the Democratic
Republic of Congo is challenging Section 9 on the basis that it violates
the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. For a copy of the press
release issued by the mother's solicitor Pierce Glynn, please go to
www.pierceglynn.co.uk.

Refugee Action is an independent, national charity working to enable refugees to build new lives in the UK. We provide practical advice and assistance for newly arrived asylum seekers and long-term commitment to their settlement through community development work, and received 30,000 visits from asylum seekers last year. As one of the country’s leading agencies in the field, Refugee Action has 24 years’ experience in pioneering innovative work in partnership with refugees.
Visit www.refugeeweek.org.uk

back to news releases