Financial support for asylum seekers slashed
The Refugee Council, along with other refugee agencies and organisations, is appalled at government cuts to financial support for single asylum seekers over 25 (including single parents). The weekly amount was cut from £42.16 to £35.13 a week from the beginning of October. This amount is just over half of income support, which according to the Government is “the minimum required to live on”.
Donna Covey, Chief Executive of the Refugee Council and Chair of the Asylum Support Partnership said:
“We are appalled that the Government has moved to cut support to asylum seekers, who are some of the most vulnerable people in our society. Of course, these are hard times for everybody and no-one should receive preferential treatment, but we must remember that many of these people have experienced torture, persecution, war and human rights abuses and most live in already deeply impoverished circumstances.
“Surely a more practical solution would be to allow those that can to work, and contribute to the growth of our economy, rather than further penalising the poorest and most vulnerable?”
You can write to the Home Secretary in protest at this development by visiting www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/stopcuts
Read the full Refugee Council press release
The Guardian: Allowance for asylum seekers cut to £5 a day
Daily Express: Asylum seekers’ benefits cut by up to 16 per cent
New Statesman: Benefits for asylum seekers slashed
BBC News: Stars make refugee cash protest
The Observer: Letters: Cuts threaten children seeking sanctuary
The Guardian: Letters: Tracey’s big tent
The Guardian: Comment: Niall Cooper: It’s time to speak up for the poor
Calais continues in the headlines
The issue of migrants and refugees in Calais continued to play out in the press. The Guardian highlighted the growing numbers of unaccompanied asylum seeking children in Calais.
The Guardian: As children sleep rough on streets of Calais, UN warns of rise in very young heading for UK
Scientists denounce UK Border Agency DNA testing plan as “flawed” and unethical
The scientific community reacted with outrage at the proposal by the UK Border Agency to pilot DNA testing through isotope analysis as a way of determining asylum seekers’ country of origin.
Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys of the University of Leicester, who pioneered human DNA fingerprinting described the pilot as "naive and scientifically flawed".
"It is bad science and could profoundly affect the lives of people, it's a shocker," he said.
The UKBA have suspended the pilot for the present.
BBC News: Experts condemn asylum DNA tests
Genetic Future: Outrage over DNA testing for asylum seekers
Science Insider: Scientists Decry "Flawed" and "Horrifying" Nationality Tests
UN High Commissioner for Refugees calls for more safe havens
Speaking at the annual UN refugee conference, Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said he was concerned at the shrinking number of places of safety for refugees.
"Pushing asylum-seekers back to where protection is not available or further burdening developing countries who already host the vast majority of the world's refugees is not wise and is not acceptable," he said.
Voice of America: UN: Refugees Increasingly Being Refused Asylum
Reuters: UN official warns governments on treatment of refugees
Darfur women refugees in Chad at risk of sexual violence
A report from Amnesty International says that refugee women in Chad face rape and other violence on a daliy basis.
The Guardian: Women refugees face rape in camps, says Amnesty
BBC News: Sudanese refugees ‘raped in Chad’
