One of the greatest, but often hidden, humanitarian injustices in the UK from my experience working for both the Refugee Council and the Red Cross is the plight of people who have been refused refugee status but cannot be returned home for logistical reasons.
For example a man from Eritrea, who has fled open-ended military conscription in his country but who has had his asylum application refused; the UK government still cannot return people to Eritrea, as there is no safe and viable route. So he remains in the UK but has his financial support stopped, is evicted from his asylum accommodation and is legally barred from working. But he cannot be returned to Eritrea. How is he meant to survive?
Such people are still human and still here; they are trapped in a nightmare limbo – unable to support themselves legally in the UK but also unable to be returned to their country of origin. They are then open to abuse and exploitation just to try to survive.
Surely no-one should be in this situation in the UK? The recent report by the British Red Cross, Can’t Stay Can’t Go, provides shocking details of this crisis but also some clear solutions to help such people.
Yet despite this crisis there is no recognition or help from the Home Office. The repeated line from Ministers of Governments of all political colours is that no-one should be destitute in the UK. Fine words but clearly not true. People are destitute in the UK – with no money, no job, no home.
There needs to be a concerted push from across civil society in the UK to raise awareness amongst MPs of this humanitarian crisis in our own country to build a cross-party alliance for action on this issue. If some-one is refused refugee status and they cannot be returned home, then their support should not be terminated whilst this situation continues for them. To force them into destitution with no other options available is just cruel – surely as such a wealthy country we can and should do better than this?
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