Ruvi has published a letter in the Times critiquing the government’s treatment of asylum-seekers from Afghanistan in response to the Home Secretary’s column.

Read Ruvi’s letter in The Times online or see the transcript below.

TAKING IN AFGHANS

Sir, The home secretary, implicitly acknowledging the dismal conditions facing Afghans who have come to the UK via the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), urges “landlords and local authorities to come forward with suitable homes” (Priti Patel, comment, Aug 30). This is yet another instance of the government outsourcing its responsibility towards those seeking protection here. Her article celebrates the UK’s “humanitarian approach to those fleeing oppression”. Yet the (legal) reality is that the many Afghans seeking protection in the UK who have not been able to access ACRS must find other means of getting to the UK, including through dangerous Channel crossings. When they do so they are subject to criminalisation under the Nationality and Borders Act. Should the home secretary get her way, they may find themselves on a deportation flight to Rwanda, alongside those fleeing conflict and persecution in Iran, Iraq, Eritrea and Syria.

Dr Ruvi Ziegler
Associate professor in international refugee law