This is not a picture of Britain’s asylum system that many Afghan asylum seekers in the UK will recognise. Until Tuesday morning, the official Home Office position, set out on its website, was that Kabul was a safe place to which refused asylum seekers should be returned. My hope now is that the culture of disbelief and disinterest towards Afghan asylum seekers becomes a thing of the past and the thousands seeking protection in the UK already are given the support and protection that they deserve,” Bell said. The approach toward Afghan asylum seekers was particularly tough; in the same period, only 6% of unaccompanied Afghan children were given refugee status, compared with 15% of other child asylum seekers. Bella Sankey, the director of Detention Action, which has assisted large numbers of Afghan asylum seekers held in immigration removal centres over the past two decades, said: “The UK government has forcibly removed thousands of Afghan asylum seekers to danger over the past 20 years.

Source: The Guardian August 17, 2021 18:56 UTC