Glasgow Asylum Rights Campaign
c/o Scottish Human Rights Centre
146 Holland Street, Glasgow, G2 4NG
DOSSIER OF RACIAL ATTACKS ON
DISPERSED ASYLUM SEEKERS IN GLASGOW
APRIL 2000-FEBRUARY 2001
Introduction
Glasgow Asylum Rights Campaign (GARC) was set up as a voluntary network in Spring 2000 to respond to issues presented by asylum seekers who had been dispersed to Glasgow under the new legislation. GARC heard evidence of serious racial abuse, harassment and attacks on asylum seekers from the very start. During the first year of dispersal, racial attacks increased in frequency and severity despite efforts to communicate problems through third party reporting and interpreters. GARC is regularly asked if it will take the murder of an asylum seeker to draw attention to the racial violence they experience every day in Glasgow.
The following report is not a scientific
document. It attempts to reflect some of the extreme violence and hostility that
asylum seekers have experienced in Glasgow from their arrival onwards. GARC
presents this as an alarming indication that something is going terribly wrong
with current support systems, and hopes that it will trigger both debate and
action to protect asylum seekers and challenge racist attackers. The dossier
represents a small part of the current experience of racial violence experienced
by asylum seekers dispersed to Glasgow and attempts to respect confidentiality
of the victims.
Asylum seekers who have left Glasgow
The Herald reported that between five and seven families (East European) repeatedly complained of threats - with broken bottles - and racial abuse from local people. They were afraid to let their children outside. Council workers from Hammersmith where the families originally lodged their asylum claims visited and decided to move the families back to London.
Two African women with nine children between them
were housed in high flats and too terrified to go out after experiencing
attacks. Home Office social workers visited and moved them back to England.
They also transferred Mary and her six-year-old daughter who were sharing the
only bed in a one room flat. Mary had phoned the police from a phone box where
she ran for shelter one evening when she and her child were being stoned and
chased. The police refused to assist and only took her statement eight days
later. On another occasion, the child had a noxious liquid poured over her head,
which was resistant to washing. She was very upset when all her hair had to be
cut off and people thought she was a little boy.
An East European family experienced numerous physical racist attacks on every member of the family. After an attack that hospitalized two of them, they fled Glasgow, forfeiting all legal and financial support.
It is evident that a significant number of asylum seekers have left Glasgow as a direct consequence of racist violence against them.
Violence
Asylum seeker children and adults, including the
elderly and disabled, have been attacked with baseball bats, sticks, stones,
rocks, bricks, and stabbed with knives, broken glass. Concrete blocks have been
thrown on them from high flat windows. They have been threatened and chased on
their way to school, church, and shops. Hair has been torn from their heads,
they have been flung to the ground and kicked, and women have experienced sexual
assaults, and repeatedly threatened with rape. Doors have been kicked in and
excrement thrown through letterbox slots. Death threats have been made in person
and written prominently on walls, close doors and landings. Graffiti also
identifies which flats within a building house asylum seekers with profane
language and incitement to violence. A GP has spoken of daily physical examples
of violent attacks and three that could have been fatal. There is a dramatic and
very long list of people who have been attacked by individuals and groups using
weapons and force to intimidate beat and pursue asylum seekers and an even
longer list of inadequate responses from those authorities to which incidents
were reported.
Responses to reports of violence
Police have told some asylum seekers that nothing
can be done because the attackers are children. In the case of women reporting
serious sexual assaults, male officers rather than female have interviewed the
victim. There were a number of reports that police did not respond to telephone
calls from asylum seekers about violence, in one case saying that it could not
be that serious. A man (Middle Eastern) was being threatened and his flat
surrounded by racists who were smashing his windows in. He called the police who
did not attend, but sent round council workers to repair the windows the next
morning without speaking to the asylum seeker.
Glasgow Asylum Rights Campaign
People whose English is poor or who feel particularly vulnerable are of course
reluctant to report, but the word has also gone round the community of asylum
seekers that the police do not protect them and reporting can make things worse.
People are obviously worried about the consequences of giving their name and
address in such a hostile environment.
Asylum seekers speak of having to run a gamut of violent verbal and physical attacks on their way in and out of their flat or hostel, post office where they collect their vouchers, shops and health centres. Children are often followed all the way in and out of school by threatening youths, and there have been incidents of violence within schools against asylum seekers. People are menaced and attacked in lifts, windows are smashed continuously, and dangerous objects projected from windows and balconies onto asylum seekers passing by.
An African woman in gave her five-year-old son
permission to play in the swing park outside their flat. She heard him screaming
and ran out to find a group of children hitting him with a baseball bat
surrounded by a group of adults egging them on. Her English is excellent and she
confronted the adults who told her that next time it would be worse, and they
wanted to see her and her son dead.
Problems at the YMCA Red Road Hostel
The Evening Times reported on the daughter of a Middle Eastern family housed amongst 150 male asylum seekers in the YMCA hostel. She was terrified of men due to painful experiences in her home country, but the YMCA staff would not support a move. The publicity generated pressure and the family was moved eventually. An asylum seeker living in the hostel gave testimony to the Cross Party Group on Asylum at Scottish Parliament and reported on a number of serious problems, including the cold and tensions leading to fights amongst some residents. Since then, a few changes have been made, but women and children continue to be housed there. A single father with two children had continuous problems at the YMCA and was told that his children could be taken away from him if the staff reported him. He had complained that there was nowhere for the children to play, but the YMCA staff said that the billiards room was appropriate. This is the only room available to the single male asylum seekers, and the father considers it to be unclean and unsafe for young children. A YMCA staff member is currently being investigated by the police, accused of striking these children repeatedly with a large key ring, and the father and children have fled to an unknown destination, cutting themselves off from vouchers and assistance, in fear of being separated from each other.
There were a number of complaints about the quantity, variety and quality of the food served at the YMCA to asylum seekers. They were told that the contract provided full room and board and that the kitchen could not be expected to cater for different cultural food requirements.
Glasgow Asylum Rights Campaign
After a number of politicians and other agencies visited, the food was improved
and asylum seekers given vouchers to purchase lunch and supper. A problem then
arose over a deduction of £10 from the weekly vouchers said to cover the cost
of breakfasts. This was considered unsatisfactory by the asylum seekers and is
under review, as is the overall voucher system. There are still a number of
outstanding issues over the accommodation and facilities for asylum seekers at
the YMCA.A young unaccompanied African woman in the hostel gave birth. An
external agency assisted her with baby clothes and prams as she was struggling
without any help from the staff. She was very frightened and isolated as no one
spoke her language and she was very weak after childbirth. The YMCA originally
gave her only long life milk, which was inappropriate for her and the baby.
The climate of hostility
There is great concern over newspaper coverage of asylum issues. The Glasgow Evening Times ran a front page story in February 2001 with the bold headline "Crackdown on flood of bogus refugees" saying that "last year …gangs of refugees begging in the streets of Glasgow and reports of asylum seekers stealing from homes across Scotland." The Daily Telegraph and over quality press run continuous stories with a negative spin on asylum and dispersal. Leaflets inciting racial violence were distributed in high flats in Glasgow, possibly by the BNP. It is well reported that asylum seekers held in detention have to mix with untried or convicted prisoners while they wait for up to eight months and more for their application to be processed. There are incidents of racist attacks within the prison that are not dealt with, and asylum seekers feel very vulnerable and afraid. Asylum seekers have problems accessing legal information and interpretation and can easily lose their case on a technicality, risking deportation and death. There is a genuine fear that if they raise a complaint, they may be labelled a troublemaker, leading to removal of all assistance and fast tracking to deportation. A quote from a letter from an asylum seeker to Glasgow Asylum Rights Campaign describes this environment:
"A boy who was in the YMCA consistently had his windows smashed by racists. One day he saw a man throwing heavy stones at him through the window, which he reported immediately to the duty staff. Nothing was done. He has now fled. Another young man was attacked by a boy with a knife and was told by the police that nothing could be done because the perpetrator was under sixteen. A man who gave evidence to Scottish Parliament last year was brutally attacked and left for dead, suffering a broken arm and other severe injuries. I myself am regularly called names I never heard before I came to this country, and stoned. The reality of these things is that most asylum seekers would rather not speak at this time because of fear of repercussions to them. Many who had hitherto reported incidents to the police would rather not do so again as they feel frustrated because nothing was ever done with previously reported incidents."
Glasgow Asylum Rights Campaign
The Association of Chief Police Officers mirrors these observations in a recent report. According to them, racial abuse towards asylum seekers has become "common currency", and that animosity is an "ever-present danger".
The Scottish Refugee Council has posted a typical case history on their web page:
"Mohammed was beaten up by a gang of men recently in Scotland, and warned to get out of the area. They said they knew where he lived, and chanted racist abuse. Soon after, another gang wielding knives and brandishing other weapons attacked him. He was rushed to hospital leaving his wife and two young children as prisoners in their flat. The gang stole his keys and warned him that they would attack his family. While he was in hospital, his eight-year-old son was beaten up. The family was eventually re-housed, but no one was charged with the crime."
Asylum seekers have little or no information
available to them with regards accessing interpreters and basic needs. They do
not know how to contact people who speak their language or would provide
friendly assistance. Many pre-school children have no nursery place and 16-18
year olds are cut off from any education provision. Those opportunities
available to asylum seekers such as library and Internet access are sometimes
difficult to reach due to travel costs or care responsibilities. Professionals
such as doctors, engineers and others would like to prepare to work as soon as
possible, but are unable to for at least the first six months of their stay and
often longer. Costs involved in retraining or registering are prohibitive.
Conclusion
The above reflects a small fraction of the torrent of evidence of violent racist abuse against asylum seekers. Stabbings, stoning, beatings, threats and assaults are daily occurrences in Glasgow perpetrated on all age groups seemingly with impunity. The number of incidents correlates to the number of asylum seekers in any specific area, but no area has proved safe.
Moving from allocated accommodation without official permission breaks the National Asylum Support Service contract and cuts off all financial support and assistance, so asylum seekers are told they must stay wherever they are placed. Glasgow Asylum Rights Campaign is anxious that racism is tackled with urgency and the safety of dispersed asylum seekers improved and ensured.
This dossier has been prepared by Vicky Grandon, and based on the courageous testimony of many anonymous victims. Full responsibility for any errors or inadequacies rest with the author. Please contact Glasgow Asylum Rights Campaign c/o Scottish Human Rights Centre, 146 Holland Street, Glasgow, G2 4NG, telephone: 0141-332-5960, faxsimile: 0141-332-5309, e-mail: shrc@dial.pipex.com with regards the content or intent of any part of this dossier.
Glasgow Asylum Rights Campaign
Glasgow Asylum Rights Campaign
c/o Scottish Human Rights Centre
146 Holland Street
Glasgow G2 4NG
Letter to GARC from a Glasgow GP
16 February 01
Following our telephone conversation I am writing to you to confirm that as GP to the Asylum Seekers in XXXXX that I receive - more or less on a daily basis - reports on all kinds of racist behaviour towards my patients. This ranges from name calling to attacks with stones and snowballs, stone throwing, snowball throwing, bottle throwing and direct physical attacks with hands and fists. Off hand I can recall four major incidents which made me very worried but through confidential reasons I can not give you any details but one involved sexual exposure and sexual harassment and the three others involved such gross violence that there could have been a dead body on the scene. If the attacks had persisted somewhat longer. In these and on a number of other occasions I have advised my patients that they should contact the police. I am not sure how much this advice gets taken up as I heard on two occasions to count the police do not react or do react in time and after a call out they will only say that they will look into it. While this perception might be coloured by the lack of language skills in many of my patients, and there may indeed be lots of activity on the side of the police behind the scenes I most certainly remain very concerned. I'm also very astonished that only today I learned of the existence of a third party reporting scheme. I have in the past a number of phone calls to the police to raise my concern on attacks in the main and in general and I was never advised on using this scheme. I do feel in a general poor communication between all parties involved and if you say that there is people in senior positions believe that this problem exists only in the imagination of the asylum seekers and with hyperactive complaining organisations. I have not the slightest doubt that I will have before very long one of my patient seriously injured in the hospital unless something changes in the near future. I am also concerned that you mentioned that there have been on a numerous sexual incidents similar to the incident involving my patient and I am worried that there might be someone out there that might progress to more direct ways of expressing his sexual needs.
Glasgow Asylum Rights Campaign