Torture survivors tell Labour Shadow Minister about how to fix the asylum system

Members of the Survivors Speak OUT (SSO) activist network have shared their views about the asylum system with Keir Starmer MP, Labour’s shadow Immigration Minister.

Sir Keir Starmer is a human rights lawyer and was the Director of Public Prosecutions before entering parliament in May 2015. He has now embarked on an “immigration listening tour”. As he told us today, “There is no way to understand unless you talk to people who are survivors who have been through the system”.

Meeting at Freedom from Torture’s London centre SSO members, who are all survivors of torture, spoke of their challenges over many months and years in having their testimony, and even expert independent medical reports, accepted by the Home Office.

“A medical report is the only way I can prove I was tortured and it was rejected even though it was independent evidence”, said one SSO member.

Such treatment by the Home Office reinforces the shame and stigma that torture survivors feel, including those who have been raped or sexually violated. There is a deep contradiction in the UK’s diplomatic support for the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative aboard and its treatment of survivors in the asylum system here in the UK.   

Those who had been detained in immigration detention centres explained the distress this caused. Some were denied the medical help they needed to treat physical illness or mental health conditions, such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There was the ever-present fear that they would be returned home to further torture.

Those who had been detained in immigration detention centres explained the distress this caused. Some were denied the medical help they needed to treat physical illness or mental health conditions, such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There was the ever-present fear that they would be returned home to further torture.

“I think prison is better than detention because in prison at least you know why you are there. In prison you have a time period and you know if and when you’ll be out, but in immigration detention you don’t know anything, you feel like you could be there forever”, said one SSO member. Although there are safeguards against detention of torture survivors, in practice these are not always followed.

SSO participants emphasised that these problems would become even more urgent with the continuing refugee crisis in the Middle East and Africa. While they welcomed the programme to resettle Syrian refugee families and unaccompanied children, they feared that this will further exclude asylum seekers who make their own way to the UK, including those now in Europe. Torture survivors came from many countries – those who are asylum seekers should receive the same fair and respectful treatment as resettled refugees. The network also raised concerns about discrimination in these programmes against lone men who need protection.

Participants urged that steps be taken to reform the system, including implementation of policies on medical evidence of torture and safeguards against detention of torture survivors, and an expansion of resettlement programmes to include lone men and people needing protection from other parts of the world. One told Keir Starmer: “We all have the right for our asylum claims to be fairly assessed, to receive support and be treated with dignity.”

Follow the Survivors Speak OUT network at @SSOOnline