UN criticises UK asylum system – including ‘law breaking and detaining torture victims’
Significant failings in the UK’s asylum system have been highlighted by the UN’s refugee agency, including torture victims being detained and laws not being “complied with”.
In a scathing report, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees noted “numerous risks to the welfare of asylum-seekers” after its investigation between 2021 and 2022.
It warned that officials were being forced to do “too much, too quickly, and with inadequate training”.
However, the Home Office said “significant improvements” have been made since the audit took place.
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The report warned the system they saw could lead to “well-founded” litigation if people were sent to Rwanda.
It said: “The current registration and screening systems expect staff to do too much, too quickly, and with inadequate training, facilities, guidance and oversight. As a result, much of their hard work is wasted, and the system frequently fails to achieve its goals”.
The audit said the agency “observed or was told about numerous risks to the welfare of asylum-seekers, including instances of trafficking and vulnerability being overlooked and teenage children and victims of torture and trafficking being detained”.
“Registration and screening records were often incomplete, inaccurate, or unreliable, and laws and published policies were not complied with.”
Interpreters were left to deal with “central aspects” of the screening interviews.
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There was also no way for the quality of the work done to be checked, nor a standardised system across the board.
“For all of these reasons, there is a real risk that decisions based on information collected at screening will be flawed,” the report said.
The UN body said plans to make asylum claims “inadmissible” if the applicant came through a safe third country mean screening processes need to be reliable and fair.
If the same system they saw was used, it “will lead to errors, causing distress to individuals, delays, and well-founded litigation” when people get removed from the UK.
The Tug Haven processing facility has now closed
Vicky Tennant, UNHCR representative to the United Kingdom, said: “Fair and efficient asylum systems help ensure that refugees are able to access the protection they need and to start rebuilding their lives.
“Equally important, they help maintain public confidence by allowing governments to pursue arrangements for the return of people who are found not to have international protection needs.
“Flawed and inefficient screening procedures are currently undermining the UK’s asylum capacity – placing vulnerable people at risk and adding to the pressure on public resources.”
Some 28 recommendations for reform of the system to make it fairer, more reliable and efficient were put forward.
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A Home Office spokesman said: “This report is based on an audit that took place in 2021 and early 2022. Since then, significant improvements have been made to the processing of small boats arrivals.
“Tug Haven [processing centre] is no longer in use and specialist facilities have been made available to accommodate young people, including unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
“Our staff are working relentlessly to safely register and screen unprecedented numbers of migrants arriving in the UK illegally.
“We are pleased that their professionalism was praised and thank the UNHCR for their report.”
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The UNHCR report exposes a host of failures in Home Office initial asylum processing that are holding up the system and contributing to the damaging delays. Yet Conservative ministers have still rejected policies such as fast-track triage for clearly unfounded cases which Labour has demanded for months.
“The home secretary needs to stop posturing and start fixing the asylum system she and her party have broken. Labour has set out plans for a cross-border police unit, fast-tracking to clear the backlog and a proper deal with France on safe returns.”
The mother of two Australian surfers allegedly shot dead by thieves in Mexico says “the world has become a darker place for us” after their deaths.
The bodies of brothers Callum and Jake Robinson and American Jack Carter Rhoad were found south of Ensenada in northern Mexico last week, after the men went missing on the weekend of 27 April.
The trio, who were on a surfing trip near the city, were shot dead by thieves who wanted their truck’s tyres, according to prosecutors, and their bodies dumped in a remote 15m-deep (50ft) well.
Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson with their parents
Debra Robinson delivered a tribute to her sons at a beach in San Diego on Tuesday.
“Our hearts are broken and the world has become a darker place for us,” she said. “They were young men enjoying their passion of surfing together.
“Jake’s passion was surfing, and it was no coincidence that many of the hospitals that he worked in were close to surfing beaches.”
“Live bigger, shine brighter, and love harder in their memory,” she said, and thanked Australian officials and supporters there and in the United States.
Jake and Callum Robinson. Pic:callum10robinson
Mrs Robinson, who also paid tribute to Jack Carter Rhoad, said her sons’ bodies, or their ashes, will eventually be taken back to Australia.
“Now it’s time to bring them home to families and friends,” she said. “And the ocean waits in Australia.”
Prosecutors have identified three people as potential suspects, two of whom were caught with methamphetamines. One of them, a woman, had one of the victims’ mobile phones when she was caught, they said.
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Prosecutors said the two were being held pending drug charges but continue to be suspects in the killings.
A third man was arrested on charges of a crime equivalent to kidnapping, but that was before the bodies were found. It was unclear when or if he might face more charges.
Photos of Callum, Jake and Jack were left on the beach in Ensenada. Pic: AP
Surfers near in Ensenada threw flowers in a tribute to the men. Pic: AP
The third man was believed to have directly participated in the killings, prosecutors said.
33-year-old Callum, Jake, 30, and their friend Jack, also 30, had posted photos on social media of isolated beaches shortly before they went missing.
Callum had reportedly been living in the US to try to become a professional lacrosse player, while Jake, a doctor, had flown out to visit him two weeks ago.
Thieves likely saw their truck and tents and wanted their tyres but the men probably resisted, said prosecutor Maria Elena Andrade Ramírez.
She said the bodies were taken to “a site that is extremely hard to get to” in Baja California state.
The well, near where their truck and tent were found, also contained a fourth body that had been there much longer, she added.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday he had requested an opportunity to speak to Mrs Robinson and her husband Martin.
“This is a terrible tragedy and my heart goes out to them,” Mr Albanese said.
There are moments, more than others, that scream the humiliation of it all.
Take this, before Tuesday’s proceedings got underway. “No descriptions of genitalia or anything but it’s important to elicit that she had sex with him.”
It was the prosecution’s assurance prior to questioning Stormy Daniels after Donald Trump’s lawyers had objected, in advance, to her testifying to the details of sexual acts.
It would be that kind of day in this kind of trial.
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In a dingy New York courtroom, this was the president and the porn star, together again, in a reunion most reductive for Mr Trump.
He might have secured guarantees on anatomical detail but, from the moment the court heard “The People call Stormy Daniels” this was Mr Trump with his trousers down, no doubt.
Ms Daniels told her story, of growing up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the daughter of a single mother. She edited her high school newspaper, enjoyed ballet dancing and horses and had ambitions to be a technician.
By the time she met Mr Trump, aged 27, we learned she was an adult film actress and director, star of the likes of 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up.
By her telling, the Trump encounter was more Austin Powers – the penthouse suite, the satin pyjamas and the spanking with a rolled-up magazine.
“Bullshit,” Mr Trump was heard to mutter. His problem is that this kind of bullshit sticks.
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Stormy Daniels recalls bedroom encounter with Trump
Whatever his lawyers’ protestations about Ms Daniels’ credibility – and there are holes – that’s hardly the headline for a watching, voting, public.
What will they take from court to the polling booth in November? Quite apart from the imagery, what message does it send to key demographics?
An affair with a porn star, whilst married, is a poor fit with the principles of evangelicals, so critical to the Trump vote in 2016. Suburban women might also reel from this tawdry peek backstage at the presidency.
How much will Mr Trump worry? About $130,000 (£103,000) worth. It is the premium he paid to stop the story coming out in the first place.
Sadly, for him, the insurance policy has run out.
World
Eurovision facing controversy over contestants and political statements – as protests around event expected
The Eurovision Song Contest is already facing controversy over performers making political statements ahead of the big event in Sweden at the weekend.
Bambie Thug, who will represent Ireland, has criticised organisers for asking the performer to alter a pro-Palestinian message before their performance in the first semi-final last night.
Meanwhile, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has put out a statement expressing “regret” that former Swedish contestant Eric Saade, who is reportedly of Palestinian origin, was wearing a keffiyeh – a traditional scarf that has become a symbol of support – tied around his wrist as he sang.
He is not competing this year, but opened the first Eurovision semi-final show in his home country ahead of the finalists being chosen.
Eden Golan will compete for Israel. Pic: Sarah Louise Bennett/EBU
Eurovision bills itself as a non-political event and organisers have resisted calls to boycott Israel, sparking protests.
Israel’s Eden Golan will perform her song Hurricane in the second semi-final on Thursday, with bookmakers placing her among the top 10 most likely to win the competition.
Security is being ramped up in the Swedish host city of Malmo, which expects to welcome some 100,000 Eurovision fans – along with thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters, with demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war planned on Thursday and Saturday.
After making it through to the final with their song Doomsday Blue, Ireland’s Bambie Thug told reporters at a news conference that they had been forced to change writing painted on their body ahead of the semi-final performance.
The 31-year-old singer said the painted script in Ogham – an early Medieval alphabet – had translated to ‘ceasefire and freedom’.
Bambie Thug says she was forced to change her body paint. Pic: Reuters
“It was very important for me because I’m pro justice and pro peace,” they said. “Unfortunately, I had to change those messages today to ‘crown the witch’ only (which was an) order from the EBU.”
A spokesperson for the EBU said: “The writing seen on Bambie Thug’s body during dress rehearsals contravened contest rules that are designed to protect the non-political nature of the event.
“After discussions with the Irish delegation, they agreed to change the text for the live show.”
In a separate statement about Saade’s opening performance, an EBU spokesperson said the organisation “regrets” that he chose to wear the keffiyeh pattern material and “chose to compromise the non-political nature of the event”.
The UK’s Olly Alexander will perform Dizzy in the final on Saturday. Pic: Reuters
Elsewhere, UK entrant Olly Alexander also performed at the event to showcase his song, Dizzy, although he is already through to the final as the UK is one of the “big five” Eurovision donors.
The Years & Years singer has found himself facing criticism from some who called for him to withdraw over Israel’s inclusion amid the ongoing war.
He addressed the controversy in a documentary following him as he prepares for the show, describing some comments he and other contestants have received as “very extreme”.
In April, Eurovision organisers condemned the abuse and harassment of contestants over Israel’s inclusion in the competition as “unacceptable and totally unfair”.
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Speaking on Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, EBU deputy director general Jean Philip De Tender defended Israel’s inclusion.
“We do understand the concerns and deeply held views around the war in the Middle East,” he said.
“The song contest is a music event organised and co-produced by 37 public broadcasters, it’s not a competition between nations or governments.
“Our governing bodies reviewed the participation of Kan [Israel’s public broadcasting corporation] and found that they met all of the competing rules.”
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