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27 October 2005
Asylum
study finds UK making progress
LONDON - A UN
report on the UK's first instance asylum determination found that
the Home Office is improving its processing of asylum claims but
notes areas where the government can make further efforts to enhance
the quality of its asylum decisions.
The UN refugee
agency (UNHCR) has audited the Home Office's first-instance asylum
decisions since mid-2004 at the invitation of the government under
a project called the Quality Initiative (QI).
The UN's latest
report on the Home Office's asylum system found that since the refugee
agency's last update in March 2005, the government has worked to
improve the quality of country information provided to caseworkers
making initial asylum decisions, including making additional sources,
including UN and NGO reports, available to workers.
"We are
pleased the UK government is using the QI project to help assess
areas within the first instance asylum processing system where improvements
can be made to settle claims quickly and more accurately, saving
taxpayers' money," said Bemma Donkoh, the refugee agency's
country representative.
During February
to August 2005, UN staff, working side by side with Home Office
personnel in Croydon and Liverpool, sampled 2 percent of the asylum
decisions each month and conducted feed-back sessions with government
workers handling asylum claims.
"We believe
that in this period of plummeting asylum claims, additional improvements
can and should be made to further boost the quality of asylum claims
determination," Donkoh said.
The Home Office
has formally acknowledged the UN report and accepted most of its
recommendations.
UNHCR's report
noted instances when asylum claims - both well- and ill-founded
- were unsoundly determined at the first-instance level. The UN
report noted that in these cases, relevant laws and principles had
been misapplied or misunderstood and found that country of origin
information had not been properly considered.
"UNHCR
is pleased the government recognises the need better support its
caseworkers and undertake more skills development, as staff require
more and better information about countries experiencing various
forms of human rights abuse that may be causing people to flee,"
Donkoh noted.
"With the
majority of asylum seekers in the UK arriving from Zimbabwe, Iran,
Iraq, China and Somalia - countries experiencing frequent abuses
of human rights and even conflict - people with well-founded asylum
claims deserve speedy recognition and understanding and not the
widespread scepticism they receive at the hands of the news media
and some members of the public," she stressed.
The refugee
agency said in its report that Home Office staff dealing with asylum
should be accredited, and that it could work with the government
to establish such a system.
"Based
on the findings of the QI project to date, UNHCR believes that an
effective accreditation scheme for caseworkers is the key to an
overall improvement in quality," the UN's report noted.
The UN said
that a fair and efficient asylum system should place equal emphasis
on speed and quality, and stressed that case production targets
for government staff should be kept at reasonable levels emphasising
that decisions should meet or exceed quality standards.
Numbers of asylum
seekers both in the UK and worldwide have fallen dramatically in
recent years mainly due to greater stability despite continuing
insecurity and human rights abuses in countries like Afghanistan,
Iraq, and Somalia. The UK received just over 15,000 asylum claims
in the first half of 2005, down 23 percent over the same period
a year ago.
Media
may call UNHCR's Peter Kessler, tel. 020.7759.8091
Download UNHCR's key recommendations
and observations :
February - August 2005
March 2004 - January 2005
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