Asylum is a human right
The 1951 Refugee Convention was established after the Second World War to ensure that atrocities like the Holocaust were never allowed to happen again. 142 countries have signed up to it, including the UK. No country has ever withdrawn from the Convention and its provisions have saved millions of lives during the last half-century.
Asylum under threat
However, the asylum debate has become so distorted that the right to asylum in the UK is now under threat. Increasingly harsh government policy is eroding the protection we offer to those in need. British politicians are even talking about withdrawing from the 1951 Refugee Convention altogether. They argue that it is out-dated and that the UK is taking more than its fair share of refugees.
Asylum in context
Pakistan, home to 2.4 million Afghan refugees who fled the Taliban regime, might have something to say about fairness. So might some of the ten million refugees world-wide, if they had the chance. And so would you, if you had been...
- imprisoned and repeatedly raped and tortured for supporting the wrong political party.
- harassed, threatened, beaten and driven out of your home for being from the wrong ethnic group.
- stripped of your home, job and right to education for believing in the wrong God.
- sent home to find your house burnt down, your family dead and a price on your own head for being born in the wrong village.
The simple truth
This is what asylum is about. Not terrorism, NHS waiting lists, rising crime or falling education standards. Asylum is about the protection of people, the rebuilding of lives, a second chance for those whose first was taken from them. Asylum is a human right and should remain so.
Further information
International law and refugees
1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Article 1A and 1948 Universal declaration of Human Rights, Article 14.
