Liza Schuster
and John Solomos (2001) 'Asylum, Refuge and Public
Policy: Current Trends and Future Dilemmas'
Sociological Research Online, vol. 6, no. 1,
<http://www.socresonline.org.uk/6/1/schuster.html>
To cite articles published in Sociological Research Online, please reference the above information and include paragraph numbers if necessary
Received: 23/5/2001 Accepted: 30/5/2001 Published:
2001 | 1994 | 42,200 | |
2000 | 97,860 | 1993 | 28,000 |
1999 | 91,200 | 1992 | 73,400 |
1998 | 58,000 | 1991 | 32,300 |
1997 | 41,500 | 1990 | 38,195 |
1996 | 37,000 | 1989 | 16,775 |
1995 | 55,000 | 1988 | 5,739 |
thousands of would-be migrants are taking advantage of one aspect of the Convention - namely that it places an obligation on states to consider any application for asylum made on their territory, however ill- founded.[12]
2The Law Lords and the Courts of Appeal have occasionally found against the government, but in general as Peter Billings has pointed out, 'judicial deference to the executive has resulted in the susceptibility of domestic asylum administration to countervailing influences such as political expedience and foreign policy imperatives' (Billings, 1998: 33).
3The same pattern was evident during the passage of the 1996 Act, with numbers falling prior to its introduction and increasing afterwards.
4Telephone Interview, 15 December 2000
5Two Pakistani women, who were estranged from their husbands, were granted refugee status on the grounds that they had a 'well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of... membership of a particular social group' (House of Lords - Islam vs. Secretary of State, Regina vs. Immigration Appeal Tribunal and another ex parte Shah 25 March 1999).
6Unsuccessful cases include Lukka vs. UK and Uppal and other vs. UK. In both cases the court decided that the asylum proceedings were of an administrative nature and did not infringe the rights of the appellants.
7Francisco Rose -v- Secretary of State for the Home Department (Determination promulgated 9 March 2001)
8Importantly, the adjudicator found that '...deportation at the end of a ten year sentence may indeed come close to a double punishment - and one that would appear to be, largely, reserved for persons from the ethnic minorities' (NCADC 2001).
9On the 19 December 2000, the Law Lords found for Adan and Aitsegur, who were threatened with return to Germany and France respectively. They were saved from removal because the court decided that, although France and Germany do not accept non-state persecution as grounds for asylum, the UK does, and therefore pace section 2(2) (c) of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, the Secretary of State cannot guarantee that the 'government of that country or territory would not send him (sic) to another country or territory otherwise than in accordance with the Convention'.
10In July 2000, Horvath appealed against the rejection of his asylum claim on the grounds that, as a Roma in Slovakia he was subject to persecution for reasons of the and that the Slovak government was unable or unwilling to protect him. Although it had been hoped that this test case would be resolved in favour of Horvath, it was rejected and in the weeks that followed the decision, the Home Office deported hundreds of Roma (Telephone Interview, Amanda Sebestyen, Europe-Roma, 30 May 2001). Given that most Roma find it difficult to get legal representation, it is likely that some of these were without appeal.
11Applications from Africa have in the past made up on average 40% of all applications (excluding dependents), most of whom have come from Somalia.
12Speech delivered by the Home Secretary at a seminar hosted by the Institute for Public Policy Research - 6 February 2001.
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<http://www.nott.ac.uk/~llzweb/hrlc/hrnews/oct96/asylum.htm>
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