UK: Inquiry into "state sanctioned abuse" of asylum-seekers by Trevor Hemmings
01 July 2008
"It's been too easy getting into this country [UK} in the past and it's going to get harder" New Immigration Minister, Phil Woolas
On 30 September
The Independent newspaper reported that the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, had appointed Nuala O’Loan, the former Police Ombudswoman of Northern Ireland, to conduct an investigation into allegations of the systematic mistreatment of hundreds of asylum-seekers during their detention and forced removal from the UK. The newspaper says that O’Loan has been given “a wide remit to reopen alleged cases of brutality”. She has also been asked to report on any failures of a system that allows private security guards to use “reasonable force” in restraining asylum seekers.
Back in October 2007,
The Independent ran a front page article, entitled “We’ll show you what illegal people deserve in this country”, that reported on 200 cases of physical assaults, beatings and racist abuse against failed asylum-seekers by private security guards contracted to run immigration detention centres. The report merely confirmed what detainees themselves and their supporters on the ground had been saying for many years. When asked about the report in a television interview, the Home Office Minister, Liam Byrne, acknowledged that he had not read it. The then Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) reacted by denying that there was any evidence to support the allegations and demanded to see proof so that they could investigate the claims. In Parliament government ministers accused the newspaper of failing to provide any evidence for its accusations and even implied that the story was exaggerated or fabricated.
The state’s position was rebuffed, initially by the Home Office’s own Complaints Audit Committee, which was set up to monitor the Home Office’s procedures for investigating complaints, which confirmed the high level of allegations of mistreatment made by failed asylum-seekers. It said it had received about 190 complaints of alleged assaults in the previous twelve months.
In July 2008 lawyers from Birnberg, Peirce & Partners representing victims of abuse, and working with Medical Justice (MJ) and the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC), was given permission by those alleging assault to publish a dossier and provide the Home Office with further information. The dossier,
Outsourcing abuse: the use and misuse of state-sanctioned force during the detention and removal of asylum-seekers reports on 300 cases of physical assault. However, many additional cases are not covered partly due to a lack of resources and to the fact that some victims are terrified of coming forward in fear of reprisals.
The
Outsourcing abuse report was launched at a press conference held at Garden Court chambers on 14 July with speakers including Dr Frank Arnold from Medical Justice, Harriet Wistrich from Birnberg, Peirce & Partners, Emma Ginn from the NCADC and the Labour MP, Dianne Abbott; most importantly ex-detainees featured in the report attended along with doctors who visit the detention centres. Wisbech spoke on the legal ramifications, “the extent of the lawless disregard for basic rules in the application of force” and the “wholly inadequate system for investigating often extremely serious criminal allegations.” She argued that the UK’s reputation for justice was becoming more and more tarnished as the asylum system was re-traumatising those who had fled violence in what amounted to torture. Her view was endorsed by Apollo Okello, a failed asylum seeker from Uganda, who said that he underwent “psychological and mental torture” while in detention. He added:
They are doing it to make life more difficult for you so that you accept going back. All they care about is that you have left the country and they have met their target for removals.
Dr Arnold, one of 18 independent doctors to give evidence, described the serious injuries often with long-term effects that he had witnessed:
I have seen many injuries with long lasting effects; crushing of nerves at the wrist from forceful pulling on handcuffs, limitation of neck movement by patients whose heads were pushed under aircraft seats, numbness of the face after blows around the cheek and eye. I have also seen a dislocated wrist, giant bruises and swellings the size of my fist. I have seen far worse abuses but I do not have the patient’s permission to reveal confidential medical information.
Emma Ginn (NCADC) asked why, when asylum applications are at a 14-year low the proportional use of detention had increased seven-fold: “The government is driven by seemingly arbitrary targets on deportation and plans a near doubling of detention centre capacity”. She described the assaults covered by the report as “the tip of the iceberg”, noting that “a third of the cases we documented were regarding alleged assaults against women and a significant number were cases of children who witnessed their parent being assaulted.” Part 2 of this report details 48 cases which do not appear to have been adequately investigated.
The Labour MP, Diane Abbot, summed up by describing the report as follows:
I have just read one of the most shocking reports about our immigration system that I have seen in 20 years as a Member of Parliament. The report “Outsourcing Abuse” catalogues the frightening state-sponsored violence that happens to asylum-seekers when they are being deported… This report suggests a complete failure [by the Home Office] to investigate many of the allegations… [It] is distressing and upsetting for anyone to read. But for Ministers it is a damning verdict on their inability to inject even a shred of humanity into a failing immigration system.
Notwithstanding the numerous well founded allegations of assaults on asylum seekers over the years, this report is still “shocking” with allegations made by people from 41 countries, some 75% of them from Africa (the most common nationalities for removal being Uganda, Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo and Jamaica). Of the recorded assaults some 66% were against men and 34% against women, with 27 incidents involving families; 42 children were involved in these 27 incidents, with five children alleging that they were themselves assaulted. In addition to the assaults there were many allegations of racist abuse made against the escort, with terms such as “black bitch” and “black monkey, go back to your own country” used repeatedly.
The report found that nearly half of the assaults (48%) occurred at the airport before the detainee was placed on the plane while another 12% took place in the transport van on the way to the airport; 24% of the alleged assaults were on the aeroplane before take off (with another 3% after take off). While these happened on scheduled airline flights, charter flights and military planes, they are shrouded in secrecy and it is still not even known how many airlines are contracted to carry out this work or how much they are paid. The report found that another 7% of the assaults occurred during transport back to the detention centre after the removal had failed. Six per cent of assaults took place within the detention centre itself.
Also distressing is the fact that abused asylum seekers are discouraged from seeking redress by making a complaint through fear of retribution as well as by the bureaucracy and complexity of the procedures. While the legal process is not deemed to be independent by many of its victims, there is also evidence that those who do lodge “complaints are subject to harassment and further abuse”. But if the victims feel intimidated from pursuing this process the authorities “appear reluctant to investigate reported assaults”. The report documents the ghosting of witnesses to other centres and in some cases their deportation; in other cases CCTV camera footage simply disappears or is conveniently obscured.
When an investigation is instituted, allegations of assault are invariably not upheld and in some cases there are serious questions over its adequacy:
There is evidence that the police do not take allegations seriously. In some cases where the detainee reported the matter to the police, counter allegations of assault were made against the detainee. In a number of cases, detainees who have complained have been charged and prosecuted, although none we are aware of have been convicted. A number of people alleging assault have been able to bring civil action cases, some of which have been settled out of court. We are not aware, however, of any security guards or their employers being prosecuted for any assault related offence under the criminal law.
The authors of the report conclude that:
Our evidence suggests that immigration detainees do not have equal access to the law.
The report makes a series of specific suggestions for remedial action to each of the agencies implicated in the report’s findings. These are summarised blow:
The Home Office and Border Immigration Agency should:
- Take responsibility for their contractors use of force and be held legally liable for any assault carried out by them,
- provide guidance on when exceptional force can be used,
- provide up-to-date information about the contractors they use and publish the terms of their contracts,
- ensure compliance with complaints procedures and police investigations and ensure perpetrators are prosecuted,
- impose sanctions on company staff who commit assaults,
- publish monthly statistics on complaints,
- define alternatives to the use of force and review the appropriateness of control and restraint techniques,
- ensure that policy in relation to the treatment of pregnant women is actually enforced.
In relation to the contractors and escort companies:
- There should be a system of independent oversight,
- they should be accountable for lost or obscured CCTV footage,
- all escorts and DCOs should wear badges and company logos at all times; they should undergo improved training in restraint methods; have training on the appropriate treatment of female detainees and to understand the impact of a history of torture or rape.
Airlines and aircraft crews should ensure:
- that relevant medical clearance procedures are applied to deportees, as they would to any other passenger,
- that the relevant incapacity forms are completed by refugees
- that documentation is produced in a case where an airline refuses to take a detained passenger or where there is an incident involving a detained passenger.
Sources
Birnberg, Peirce & Partners, Medical Justice and The National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns “Outsourcing abuse: the use and misuse of state-sanctioned force during the detention and removal of asylum-seekers” (July 2008)
Robert Verkaik and Chris Green “Failed asylum-seekers are abused by private security companies, says report” The Independent 14.7.08.
Richard Verkaik “Investigation into claims of abuse on asylum-seekers” The Independent 30.9.08
Medical Justice “Outsourcing Abuse press conference” 14.7.08