Appeal courts ruled yesterday that failed asylum seekers with chronic illnesses were not entitled to free health care on the NHS. This undermines years of campaigning work to make sure everybody in the country is treated like a human being.
Sources report that hospitals still have the discretion to provide free treatment to anybody. But this is not news as doctors will always exercise such rights under their oaths. The real problem is not normally at the point of accessing treatment from doctors. Hospitals do not like to just turn people away. The problems come after treatment, when people suddenley receive whopping bills for treatments they had believed would be free.
Hospitals also employ people solely to scan patient's lists for foreign-sounding names and then check up on their legal status, ostensibly searching for "health tourists". Against all anti-discrimination legislation, people are being racially profiled and screened against their nationality. These employees actually patrol the wards in search of anyone they suspect.
We know of one man who was literally pulled out of his bed and had his oxygen mask removed. He was awaiting an operation but he was denied treatment, slung out of hospital and then sent a bill. He has crippled himself in bank loans trying to pay this back, even though he is a failed asylum seeker, barred from taking employment and living hand to mouth.
This new ruling is the further tightening of the screw against a vulnerable group who have been scapegoated for all society's ills, now facing a segregation worse than apartheid. The next step is death and illness, the suffering of children and public health issues. As a society that permits people with tuberculosis to go without treatment, will we just be getting what we deserve when infectious diseases spread? Because, after all, diseases do not discriminate.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Slough Judgement
Case Law Update – R (on the application of M) v Slough Borough CouncilA recent ruling has plunged local authorities into chaos and thrown upheaval into the lives of destitute asylum seekers.
Until now, some failed asylum seekers have been able to count on their local council to provide a roof over their heads and some means of subsistence so long as they have shown that they have problems beyond mere destitution. Just because you were homeless or broke was not enough. Just because your case had been refused but the government could not remove you from the country was not enough. You had to prove that you had a physical disability or mental health issue as well.
Now, even these people’s support is in doubt. The new ruling means that councils have found a way to opt out of their obligation (under Section 21 of the National Assistance Act 1948) and are looking to save money by throwing people into the street.
People need to be able to prove they have a “support need” for care and attention such as help with domestic chores, counselling or help adhering to medication as well. This is a very lax definition and it is clear from previous behaviour that different councils will have very different ways of interpreting it. Individuals will be left vulnerable to arbitrary evictions and terminations without any co-ordination between regions to find out what their rights might be elsewhere.
Local councils are once again being used to enforce punitive measures against asylum seekers to drive them out of the country through starvation and homelessness. Let’s hope that our local authority at least exercises humane restraint while we wait for this confusing decision to be challenged by future case law.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Ethiopian Film wins at Festival panafricain du cinéma et de la télévision de Ouagadougou
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Refugee Radio Action Force
Thanks to everybody who attended the first Refugee Radio Action Force meeting on Saturday at Community Base (think "steering committee with better biscuits"). It was a great meeting with lots of action coming out of it. We're now looking forward to Refugee Week 2009 and will be posting updates here about our plans for the launch party.
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