The overhaul of the UK’s asylum system will “punish” people seeking safety and put more lives at risk, refugees living in the country have said.
As reported by PA, the Home Secretary announced “the most significant overhaul of our asylum system in decades” and people who arrive in the UK illegally will no longer have the same entitlements as those who arrive legally under the Home Office plans.
Last year about 8,500 people arrived in the UK by crossing the English Channel in small boats and the majority claimed asylum, the Home Office said.
Kolbassia Haoussou, an MBE and refugee, would have been immediately removed from the UK under the new rules, having arrived in the UK across the Channel “illegally” in 2005. He was escaping torture and persecution in West Africa after refusing to support the government in power.
Mr Haoussou, who almost drowned on the crossing, told the PA news agency: “It makes it clear that this Government isn’t serious about creating a fair asylum system, but about making it hostile for people.
“In a refugee camp, you can have that legal process. But in my case, when I was fleeing torture, in that moment of persecution, I didn’t think anything other than just ‘flee’. Because any delay I create, I am putting my life in danger, so I just have to go.
“I definitely think that if you want to help people, and make sure they don’t take the dangerous route, make it safe and make it easier for people to cross.
“If you make it more difficult for them, they are going to find another way. People are not going to stop because when you have fire on your back, you just need to move forward.”
He said the new system would create a two-tier system of “deserving”, adding: “Who can tell me that I didn’t deserve protection when I was being tortured?
“Who can tell me I didn’t deserve a chance to start my life when I was walking miles barefoot to get somewhere I think that I’m going to be safe, that I can have a chance to live my life again?”
