The Guardian

‘Lives at risk’ from UK failure to fast-track Sudan asylum claims

MirandaMiran Bryant

Sudanese Sudanes asylum seeker Yousif (not his real name) n was in his Home Office hotel roo room trying to sleep when he got a horrifying ho WhatsApp message from his wife.

It was a picture of his three-yearold old son fast asleep on the street in Khartoum, Khartoum surrounded by plastic bags, using a salvaged s wheelie suitcase as a mattress after they were forced out of their home hom by the fighting between the Sudanese Sudanes army and its paramilitary opponent, opponen the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), that th has torn the country apart over the past two months.

Since war broke out in April, like thousands thousand of Sudanese asylum seekers ers stuck in the Home Office backlog, the engineer engin has been waiting helplessly lessly in Britain for news of his family ily while his asylum application is yet to be pro processed.

If his claim had been accepted, he would woul have applied for a family ily reunion reuni visa so that his wife and child could cou be safe in the UK with him. Instead, for more than a month they have been bee homeless – eating from rubbish bins, sleeping on the streets and pleading plea with strangers for temporary porary accommodation. a

“The life l of my wife and son is in dange danger. This is war. This is not a game,” Y Yousif, who has been in the UK since January, told the Observer. “I can’t sleep. slee I’m thinking all day about them, what wh will happen. And I’m waiting ing for my m phone.”

He has ha prepared himself for the worst. “The T military don’t care about anything. anything Maybe at anytime they will shoot you, yo they will rape you.”

The latest la Home Office quarterly figures s showed the overall number of asylum seekers in the UK waiting for a decision dec was at a record high of 172,758. As of 31 March there were 5,010 Sudanese Sud main applicants waiting ing for an initial decision on their asylum lum claim – 3,966 of whom had been waiting for f more than six months.

Meanwhile, Meanw up to 20,000 Iraqi and Iranian asylum seekers are to have their claims cla fast-tracked in a bid to clear the backlog, according to a Home Office Of letter leaked last month.

Sudanese Sudan asylum seekers should also be fast-tracked, f said Yousif. “In Sudan w we have war. So why does the Home Office Of make a process for them and not for f us?”

Refugee Refug organisations and MPs said the situation s was “unacceptable”, warning that lives were being put at risk as a result.

Murtada, Murta 36, is in shared accommodation dation in Chester while his mother, brother, wife w and daughter are homeless on the t streets of Khartoum. He has been waiting for his asylum claim to be pro processed since February 2022. He wishes wish the Home Office would allow him to reunite his family.

“I am very v worried about them,” he said, speaking through an interpreter. “And I feel more depressed right now because the situation they are living doesn’t guarantee whether they will live for the next day or not because they are under gunshots every day.”

Islamic Relief UK called on the government to do “everything it can” to fast-track asylum applications of people from Sudan, where it calculates more than 1.4 million people have fled their homes because of the crisis. “Lives are at stake, with civilians in Sudan facing ongoing attacks and heavy shelling, and struggling to get food, water and medicine. In Khartoum there are rotting bodies on the streets, hospitals are shut and there are risks of disease outbreaks,” a spokesperson said.

The British Red Cross said reaching the UK – even for those with family already here – was “incredibly difficult” and called on the government to urgently speed up processing, waive biometric requirements and extend the criteria beyond spouses and children under 18.

“Under existing rules, they must physically visit a visa centre in Sudan, which are currently closed due to the ongoing violence,” said Christina Marriott, the charity’s executive director of strategy and communications. “Even those who have already applied for a family reunion visa face waiting many months due to the ongoing backlog in decision-making. This is an unacceptable situation for those whose lives are in danger now.”

Meanwhile, the Refugee Council accused the government of driving Sudanese asylum seekers to resort to crossing the Channel in small boats due to a lack of safe routes and urged them to make “quick positive decisions” on applicants from the country, which has a high grant rate.

“Instead of showing compassion and support, the government is determined to lock up anyone who manages to get to the UK by boat, denying them the chance to get a claim heard on UK soil,” a spokesperson said.

The Home Office said: “We want all asylum claims to be considered without unnecessary delay to reduce the cost to the taxpayer of expensive hotels. Our streamlined processes are aimed at people from nationalities that make up the highest volume within the legacy backlog, like Iraq and Iran.

“We have no plans for a bespoke resettlement route for Sudan. Preventing a humanitarian emergency in Sudan is our focus right now.”

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2023-06-04T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-06-04T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://guardian.pressreader.com/article/281805698318264

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