This briefing provides an overview of the mental health issues faced by people who are seeking protection in the UK, including survivors of trafficking, and their treatment needs. It then looks at the experiences of Helen Bamber Foundation clients who are Albanian nationals and the risks they might face if forcibly returned to Albania.
There have been several positive developments under the Labour government, including decisions to scrap the Rwanda plan; to not open Scampton; to close Bibby Stockholm; and the decision to progress the asylum claims that had been put on hold. Yet, there is currently no firm plan or timeline for the closure of Wethersfield, despite the Prime Minister committing to do so before the general election and extensive evidence of the harm the site causes to those moved there.
Helen Bamber Foundation is extremely concerned that the UK government has decided to suspend decision making in Syrian asylum cases. The government is in no position to assume the safety of individuals in such a volatile and developing situation. Helen Bamber Foundation has supported survivors who were tortured by sectarian militias and who would have feared both Bashar al-Assad and sectarian militias, such as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The reasons for Syrian nationals claiming asylum in the UK are multi-faceted, complex and in no way limited solely to the atrocities committed by the Assad regime.
Moral injury is understood to be the strong cognitive and emotional response that can occur following events that violate a person’s moral or ethical code. It is characterised by profound feelings of guilt, shame, anger, and disgust and has been conceptualised as a substantial breaking down of an individual’s relationship with self and others. Research in recent years has increasingly highlighted the relationship between exposure to potentially morally injurious events and poor mental health outcomes.
This joint briefing with Asylum Aid, Asylum Matters, Care 4 Calais, Doctors of the World, Humans for Rights Network and the Immigration Law Practitioners Association examines the existing barriers to accessing quality legal advice in RAF Wethersfield and makes a number of practical recommendations.
The current eligibility criteria results in the barring of many children, amongst the most economically disadvantaged in the UK, from Healthy Start. They are thus put at further risk of suffering a nutritional deficit with long term impact on their health and wellbeing. This submission outlines why the Healthy Start scheme should be extended to all families with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF).
This submission outlines concerns about Home Office contact management with people seeking asylum, including the imposition of reporting conditions on extremely vulnerable individuals, including those with mental and/or physical disabilities and survivors of torture and trafficking, and poor communication with those in asylum accommodation.
Once a person has been officially recognised as a ‘victim of trafficking’, the Home Office should automatically consider whether they should be given a grant of leave to remain in the UK. But last year our research revealed that a shockingly low number of confirmed survivors of trafficking had received this. Instead, they were left in limbo and reliant on the asylum system as a safety net.
It is critical for refugees and survivors of trafficking and torture to have access to consistent, trauma-informed support; proactive health screening; and medical and therapeutic care to recover from their past experiences. But key to addressing the mental health needs of survivors of torture and trafficking is also addressing the systemic failings that cause them harm in the UK.
Year after year, the Helen Bamber Foundation (HBF) has provided detailed evidence to the Home Office explaining why the meagre financial support given to people seeking asylum denies them their basic needs. This has a terrible impact on their mental health and impedes their recovery from trauma, torture and abuse. But every year, the rates are barely revised. If at all, they are increased by an amount so insignificant that it hardly makes a dent in their experiences of poverty.
The purpose of this study, undertaken by the University of Birmingham and Helen Bamber Foundation, was to ascertain whether it was possible to assess the extent of caseworkers’ adherence with the interview guidelines, based on an examination of interview transcripts. The study focused on interviews with sexual and gender-based violence because previous research identified that survivors found interviews particularly traumatic.
The current state of immigration and asylum advice is dire – 63% of the population in England and Wales do not have access to an immigration and asylum legal aid provider. Even those that do live near one of the remaining providers face significant barriers in accessing legally aided advice, due to saturated provider capacity precipitated by years of unsustainable legal aid fees, heavy administrative burdens and burnt-out practitioners.
