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The facts about asylum

Asylum seekers and refugees do not get large handouts from the state

  • The vast majority of asylum seekers are not allowed to work and are forced to rely on state support, which is set at just 70% of income support.
  • Asylum seekers want to work and support themselves. Many do voluntary work while their asylum application is being processed.
  • Asylum seekers do not come to the UK to claim benefits. In fact, most know very little about the UK asylum or benefits systems before they arrive. (Home Office, Understanding the decision-making of asylum seekers, July 2002)
  • Asylum seekers do not jump the queue for council housing and they cannot choose where they live. The accommodation allocated to them is not paid for by the local council. It is nearly always ‘hard to let’ properties, which other people do not want to live in.
  • Asylum seekers do not get special perks such as mobile phones and help to buy cars. They are also denied access to many of the benefits others rely upon, such as disability living allowance.

Asylum seekers and refugees are law-abiding citizens

  • The vast majority of people seeking asylum are law abiding citizens. (Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), Guide to meeting the policing needs of asylum seekers and refugees)
  • Many destitute refused asylum seekers fear approaching the police to report incidents of sexual harassment and assaults, avoiding contact for fear of being picked up, put in detention and deported. (Refugee Action report on destitute refused asylum seekers, 2006)
  • 6.5% of the vulnerable women who presented to the Refugee Council’s project said they had been forced into prostitution or exchanging sex for somewhere to stay. (Refugee Council: The Vulnerable Women’s project, 2009)
  • In international and national law, distinctions are made between refugees, asylum seekers, legal and illegal economic migrants, minority citizens, travellers and others. These distinctions are all too easily lost by the media, and most particularly in the tabloid press. (Memorandum from UNHCR to the Joint Committee on Human Rights, 2007)
  • Immigration officers have the power to detain asylum seekers, even if they have not committed any crime.

Refugees make a huge contribution to the UK

Asylum seekers are looking for a place of safety

  • There is no such thing as an ‘illegal’ or ‘bogus’ asylum seeker. Under international law, anyone has the right to apply for asylum in the UK and to remain here until the authorities have assessed their claim.
  • Asylum seekers are not economic migrants. The top ten refugee producing countries in 2007 all have poor human rights records or ongoing conflict. (UNHCR, 2007 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum seekers, Returnees, Internally displaced and Stateless Persons, 2008)
  • Many refugees and asylum seekers hope to return home at some point in the future, provided the situation in their country has improved.
  • The 1951 Refugee Convention guarantees everybody the right to apply for asylum. It has saved millions of lives. No country has ever withdrawn from it.

Britain's asylum system is very tough

Poor countries - not the UK - look after most of the world's refugees