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Change Your Life! |
Britain
introduces new measures to deter asylum-seekers |
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News
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April 4, 2000
LONDON, APR 3 (UNB/AP) - Britain on Monday introduced tough new measures aimed at deterring asylum-seekers, including giving them food vouchers instead of money, and imposing fines of 2,000 pounds (dlrs 3,180) on truckers who smuggle illegal immigrants.
Asylum-seekers - now concentrated in London and nearby south England ports - will also be compulsorily moved to centers around the country while their applications are considered.
In addition, customs officials are to install at some ports equipment capable of detecting people hidden in trucks, similar to advanced X-ray scanners used on the U.S.-Mexico border, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.
The Refugee Council said the voucher-system demeaned asylum-seekers. Oxfam, a major charity which runs a network of shops selling used clothes and other goods, said it would boycott the vouchers.
The measures are the latest attempt by Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party government to curb the soaring number of asylum-seekers, most of whom, officials say, are simply seeking a better way of life, sometimes attracted by reports of generous welfare benefits. Britain's Home Office says the number of asylum-seekers shot to a record 71,160 last year, mostly coming from the former Yugoslavia and Sri Lanka. The rise was a 50 percent increase from 1998. The United Nations reported that Britain is second only to Germany as a would-be haven in Europe. Home Secretary Jack Straw denied that the voucher system and the forced dispersal of asylum seekers were demeaning or had racist overtones. "We have a very significant problem of huge pressure which has fallen quite unfairly on some Kent districts and London boroughs," said Straw in a radio interview. "If people are genuinely fleeing from countries like Iraq, then they won't mind at all going to a perfectly civilized city like Glasgow." Thousands of asylum-seekers have poured into Kent county in southeast England, mainly from the European continent through the English Channel port of Dover. In future, asylum-seekers will get 10 pounds (dlrs 15.90) cash a week, and vouchers worth between 18.95 pounds (dlrs 30.13) and 26.53 pounds (dlrs 42.18) depending on age.
Refugee Council chief executive Nick Hardwick said the vouchers would "stigmatize and demean asylum-seekers and make one of society's most vulnerable groups even more exposed to potential hostility."
From Monday, truck drivers will be required to search their vehicles for stowaways before entering Britain. A 2,000 pounds (dlrs 3,180) fine will be imposed for every stowaway found. Earlier,
the Customs and Excise Department said it was installing new
equipment in order to find smuggled alcohol and cigarettes, but acknowledged
the equipment would also be able to detect humans.
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