| 6th
May 2005
Pre-election
asylum debate worries exiles
LONDON,
May 6 (UNHCR) – In the run-up to this week’s general
elections that saw the ruling Labour party maintain a diminished
governing majority, some asylum seekers and refugees in the UK said
they were concerned about the heightened focus on immigration and
asylum during the campaigning.
Some
exiles in the UK said recent campaign sloganeering that sometimes
focused on immigrants and asylum seekers fed negative sentiments
towards foreigners rather than a better understanding into the reasons
why people are forced to seek asylum.
Harun*,
an asylum seeker from western Sudan’s Darfur region, was worried
about the general election’s focus on foreigners residing
in the UK.
He
said he feared the negative campaigning around asylum and immigration
by some politicians helped to incite recent violent attacks on two
asylum seekers who ended up in hospital.
“I
don’t feel good about this, who knows, I may be the next one,”
said Harun, who fled his country after his cousin was killed and
his shop and property pillaged. “That is why I am now so scared
to go out at night.”
His
sentiments were shared by Katura*, who left Zimbabwe a year ago
after being kidnapped by men believed to be ruling ZANU-PF operatives
and repeatedly raped. Katura, who worked as a teacher and was studying
law, was also a member of the anti-governing party Movement for
Democratic Change.
She
said she felt disappointed and rejected. “People now treat
us badly because they feel the public and government don’t
want us anymore.”
Abdullah
Latif, from Darfur, is more fortunate as he was granted refugee
status in the UK.
Although
requests for asylum in the UK have plummeted 61 percent since 2002,
a fact some UK politicians did note in speeches ahead of Thursday’s
vote, Latif is deeply concerned about the overall tone of the recent
debate on asylum and immigration.
“Asylum
seekers are not happy with the way they are portrayed. It only builds
tension and discrimination,” he said. “It has created
a heated environment especially in the North of the country were
we are having it rough.”
“Asylum
seekers know where it hurts. They are the ones who have been systematically
persecuted, “Latif declared. “It is disappointing to
turn down their claims and pushed them to roam the streets were
they are in constant fear of being arrested and deported to a country
where the chance of being killed is very high.”
Latif,
who now runs London’s Darfur Centre for Human Rights, said
of the recent pre-election rhetoric, “there are people who
are not using the media in the right way. If they come to understand
us, and that we are in a difficult situation and desperately fighting
for our survival, I believe they will change their minds and give
us priority.”
Harun
agreed, and would like Britons to consider his plight rather than
simply paint him as a “bogus” asylum seeker, a term
frequently used in some media outlets.
“Asylum
is a small word but with big meaning,” Harun said. “We
have serious problems in Darfur, and I am begging those in charge
to please give priority to our matter.”
*
names changed
By
Ahmed Momoh in London
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