Hansard

Thank you for inviting us to give evidence to the committee today. We are pleased that the committee is taking an interest in refugee issues. Refugees and asylum seekers are one of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in society. They face many difficulties, including discrimination, racism, physical attacks and disadvantage in accessing basic services. That is compounded by language barriers, issues relating to social origin, a lack of information on, and knowledge about, the systems in the UK, and isolation.

Today, we want to raise your awareness of refugee issues and highlight some specific equal opportunities issues. We also wish to look at the implications of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 and suggest some ways in which the committee might ensure the promotion of equal opportunities for refugees.

I will quickly explain what the Scottish Refugee Council does. We provide advice, information, legal representation and practical support to asylum seekers and refugees in Scotland. We work strategically to promote good practice in refugee settlement, and to encourage appropriate policy development in local authorities, Government departments and other agencies. We campaign on refugee issues and aim to ensure that Scotland meets its legal and humanitarian obligations towards refugees.

Before we look at the specifics of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, it might be useful to refresh people's minds on the definition of a refugee. The legal definition of a refugee comes from the 1951 United Nations convention on refugees and the 1967 protocol on refugees, which form the basis of international refugee law. The UK is a signatory to the convention and played a key role in drafting it. According to the convention, a refugee is any person who

"owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country".

The right to seek asylum is enshrined in the 1948 UN declaration of human rights. An asylum seeker is a person who has applied for recognition as a refugee under the convention. Someone who has been recognised in the UK as a refugee has indefinite leave to remain here, and eventually can apply for citizenship. The UN convention on refugees states that a refugee should be treated no less favourably than any other citizen.

Refugees come to Scotland from many different countries—and from different backgrounds, religions and social origins—and face similar difficulties to other ethnic minorities in Scotland, but with added and specific difficulties relating to their experiences as refugees. In particular, refugees have often experienced and witnessed severe violence. All have lost a great deal and suffer grief in exile. There are specific difficulties faced by different groups of refugees, from women refugees to elderly refugees, to young unaccompanied refugees and torture victims.

The Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 will have a great impact on asylum seekers in Scotland. Despite the fact that immigration and asylum are reserved matters, the act is a question for the Scottish Parliament and this committee. I remind the committee that the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 has amended five pieces of Scottish legislation that cover devolved areas: the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978, the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984, the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988 and the Children (Scotland) Act 1985. All the amendments exclude asylum seekers from some of the provisions of those acts.

Under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, up to 6,000 asylum seekers a year will be dispersed to Scotland, which the Home Secretary has designated as a cluster region. Dispersal will significantly alter the long-term make-up of the ethnic minority communities in Scotland; they will grow and become much more diverse. Dispersal will have implications for education, health, housing and other services.

Home Office statistics show that 63 per cent of decisions made on asylum applications in 1999 were positive, so many refugees will be citizens here long term. The dispersal policy is part of a longer-term integration and settlement strategy. The Government wants people who are granted refugee status to remain in the regions to which they are dispersed.

We have particular concerns about the proposed support arrangements for asylum seekers, which will have an impact on people's long-term ability to settle and integrate. Under the act, a new Government agency—the national asylum support service—will be set up to administer a means-tested support system. Destitute asylum seekers will be dispersed across the United Kingdom on a no-choice basis without account being taken of any family or community support.

Support will be provided through a package of vouchers and cash. Only £10 cash will be provided per person per week. The total package will be equivalent to only 70 per cent of income support, even after the provision of utilities as part of the support package is taken into account.

There are many problems with the voucher system. Vouchers stigmatise and are degrading and experience shows that they are likely to lead to community relations problems. In England, vouchers have been in use for asylum seekers since 1996. Asylum seekers have regularly suffered abuse and humiliation when using vouchers. Vouchers do not allow asylum seekers to get best value. That is discrimination as it restricts where asylum seekers are entitled to shop.

The support system was devised to be used for short periods. The Government target for decisions on applications for asylum was six months, but decisions are now taking an average of 27 months and we see no prospect of that being speeded up.

The support system contradicts directly Government policy on social inclusion and equal opportunities. Specifically, the system will result in social exclusion, stigmatisation and marginalisation of one section of the community. It is the first time in Scotland that one particular group has been excluded from social welfare provisions. The move will have an impact not only on asylum seekers, but on the wider refugee and ethnic minority communities. Asylum seekers will live in extreme poverty, unable to participate in normal community activities. They will have a lack of opportunities and will be forced to rely on already disadvantaged ethnic minority communities for support.

We are very concerned about the potential impact on children. The system may lead to breaches of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Scottish Refugee Council and Save the Children intend to investigate that further.

Access to services for asylum seekers will be difficult, not only because they will be excluded from some services, but because of the language barriers and lack of sensitivity among service providers that asylum seekers and refugees experience.

Interpreters and translation services are vital to ensuring equality of opportunity. Many service providers, such as general practitioners, are not required or funded to provide interpreters for people who do not speak English. That leads to reliance on friends, family members and unqualified interpreters and raises questions of confidentiality and accuracy of diagnosis and treatment. Access to interpreting of minority languages in Scotland is also limited.

Certain groups of refugees, such as female refugees, might face additional problems because of misunderstandings relating to culture, religion and not knowing that services specifically for women exist.

Asylum seekers and refugees face racial harassment. Previous refugee settlement in Scotland, particularly the Vietnamese and Chilean programmes, has shown that refugees will be isolated and targeted for racial abuse if they are settled in inappropriate areas. The stigmatisation of asylum seekers through the voucher system and the inappropriate placement of asylum seekers—for example, in areas of multiple deprivation—are likely to lead to harassment and abuse.

Dispersal without community education to ensure that the host population understands the needs and problems of asylum seekers is likely to lead to local tension, hostility and abuse. That has been the case in many areas in England. Already, there has been some inaccurate and negative press reporting about dispersal in Glasgow, which has resulted in some hostile community response.

Another area of concern is policing. A recent "Newsnight" report from Wales suggested that, despite the Macpherson report, police officers do not always deal with crimes against ethnic minorities appropriately. Dispersal of refugees to Scotland has implications for police officers, who must be trained to deal with asylum seekers, many of whom have had exceptionally negative experiences of state authorities and police. Again, access to interpreting is key to ensuring equal access to protection and justice.

Asylum seekers are here because they need protection under the UN convention of human rights. Access to legal advice and representation and, therefore, access to justice are areas of concern. Asylum seekers need specialist legal advice. Very few legal practitioners work on this area in Scotland and dispersed asylum seekers will have difficulties accessing appropriate legal advice, which might mean that they do not receive the protection they need. Survey evidence suggests that 30 per cent of people who are legally represented win their appeal, which contrasts with a 6 per cent average for success at appeals.

Asylum seekers coming to Scotland will be expected by the immigration department to travel to Croydon for their asylum interview. That will seriously disadvantage asylum seekers living in Scotland as their legal representatives will not be able to attend those crucial interviews with them.

Refugee children have suffered particular disruption and trauma and require sensitive induction to school and learning support to enable them to understand new systems and learn English. Teachers and schools need to have an understanding of background issues. Experience in England suggests that negative stereotyping and teachers' low expectations can hold back refugee children.

For the successful integration of adults, the keys are English language and employment. Many refugees are highly skilled and highly qualified yet face financial and other hurdles in their efforts to requalify or train. Research among Scottish Refugee Council clients show that 60 per cent of asylum seekers and refugees have a degree, diploma or professional qualification, yet many of them are long-term unemployed. That research is backed up by the Home Office's own research throughout the UK.

Section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, which makes it a criminal offence to employ anyone who does not have permission to work in the UK, leads to discrimination against refugees, asylum seekers and ethnic minorities. Other agencies have suggested that it is leading to whites-only policies among employers. Employers are often unaware of the different types of permission to work, and therefore wary of employing refugees. That denies individuals the opportunity to work and it denies society the contribution that they might make.

How can this committee help? We suggest that it can do several things. First, it could monitor discrimination and harassment experienced by refugees and asylum seekers in Scotland. Secondly, it could review the impact on equal opportunities of existing legislation in devolved areas such as housing, education, health, social work, legal aid and access to local government services. That could be done by requesting reports from the Scottish Executive as well as through taking evidence from refugee organisations.

We suggest that the committee could also make representations to the Home Office about the equal opportunities implications of existing legislation on reserved matters, such as in the areas of asylum decision-making and dispersal. The committee could ensure that any legislation that comes before this Parliament does not increase the risk of discrimination against refugees and asylum seekers. It could also make legislative proposals to reduce existing discrimination and promote equal opportunities for refugees and asylum seekers.