Glasgow, Scotland

During and since WWII thousands of people have fled to the UK. In 1999 the government set out its proposal to disperse asylum seekers away from London and the South East. Glasgow City Council was the first local authority to sign up to the dispersal policy and with little or no preparation or planning time, thousands of asylum seekers began arriving in Scotland. Glasgow is now the biggest dispersal city in the UK. There are around 10,000 refugees and asylum seekers living in Glasgow today.

Most of the people in these photographs come from countries known for conflict and political instability: Algeria, Afghanistan, Congo, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Albania, former Soviet states, Somalia. There are many others. Some fled direct persecution; others fled general unrest. Some were forcibly displaced by conflict. Others stayed until life became intolerable, and then chose to seek refuge elsewhere. They are part of a major global migration from the developing world towards the richer, safer worlds of Europe, Australia and North America.

An asylum seeker is someone who has applied for refugee status. A refugee is someone who has been granted permission to remain in the UK, and qualifies for all rights as a British national. In the UK, roughly half of all asylum seekers are granted refugee status. This is granted on the basis of which country they are from, their testimony, and whatever documentary evidence they are able to present. Those people who are not considered to have fled genuine persecution are not granted refugee status. They become failed asylum seekers.

Many of the people in these photographs are failed asylum seekers. They first claimed asylum in the UK around six years ago. While the claim was processed, they were moved to Glasgow and housed in high-rise apartments, paid for by the Home Office, provided by Glasgow City Council. For many of them, the Home Office’s Immigration and Nationality Directorate rejected their claims within one or two years. Since then they have contested their rejected claims in this country’s courts, assisted by legal aid, an appeals process that can take years.

Happily, since these photographs were taken in 2005, many of these families have now been granted refugee status. However, the cases of countless unnamed others remain in limbo.

Many asylum seekers are comparatively well treated by the UK government while their claim is being processed. In Australia until recently, all asylum seekers, including children, were placed in detention. In the UK, most asylum seekers are provided with accommodation and a restricted benefits allowance. Children attend school; adults are allowed to study part time to HND level. Families and individuals establish lives here. However, not all asylum seekers enjoy this liberty. Many experience extended periods in ‘detention’, a euphemism for the deprivation of liberty, or imprisonment.

Eventually, failed asylum seekers lose their benefits and accommodation. Those who are from countries that the government categorises as ‘safe’ are liable to deportation, and may be forcibly removed from the UK. Removal is a traumatic experience. It can occur without warning early in the morning at the hands of police and immigration officials, who arrive at a family or individuals home and take them into custody, a procedure known as a ‘dawn raid’. The early morning knock on the door by immigration officials is a prospect that failed asylum seekers live with for months and even years. Removal can also occur when an asylum seeker reports to the Home Office at Brand St, Cessnock. The family or individual is usually taken into detention, transferred to England, and then sent back to their country, but sometimes they are released from detention back into their communities or moved to another part of the country.

International humanitarian law prevents the Government from deporting failed asylum seekers to countries where their security cannot be guaranteed. Instead, the government encourages voluntary repatriation, and attempts to convince failed asylum seekers to accept assistance to return home. Many refuse. They remain in the UK in legal limbo. Although people in this category are eligible for what is known as ‘hard case’ support, not all ‘non-returnable’ asylum seekers are aware that they are eligible.

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