22 May 2004 [www.asylumpolicy.info] - 'Asylum myths'

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Contents

:: UK

:: World

:: Miscellaneous

:: European Council: Tampere II and asylum

:: Language analysis and national origin in refugee/asylum cases

:: Archive and news search

:: How to cancel your subscription

:: Asylum myths: Reports last week that 120 publicly funded solicitors’ firms have been overcharging the Legal Services Commission (LSC) for asylum and immigration work ::

:: UK ::

Blair defends EU treaty to MPs

"It keeps our ability to opt out of measures affecting our laws on asylum and immigration

21 June 2004

Jail without bars

"The ominous slamming of heavy metal cell doors, and a high security environment, are also to become a thing of the past.

21 June 2004

'I am so grateful to your city'

"A young Asylum seeker who came to Britain as a penniless orphan and ended up becoming college Student of the Year has a heartfelt message to the people of Milton Keynes – 'thank you for helping me'

22 June 2004

Supporting refugees

"Tamil: Dancers Anitha Rajendra, 11, Jadhusha Raveendran, eight, and Mithunaa Nuges, 10, perform at the Horniman Museum JW0408

22 June 2004

£6.5m people-smuggling case collapses

22 June 2004

Overhaul of press watchdog urged

22 June 2004

Tiananmen Square massacre opened floodgates of iIlegal immigration from China

22 June 2004

Holocaust prayer books destroyed in surge of synagogue attacks

22 June 2004

Government Action Urged Against Islamaphobia

22 June 2004

lasa review - issue 105 now available

"Refugees to be denied backdated benefits; Earlier notice of appeal hearing dates; Urgent improvements needed to benefit medical assessments; New ‘right to reside’ rules; Help end the age bar

PDF file

UK Lesbian & Gay Immigration Group

Next London Meetings on July 17th., August 21st., Sept 18th

:: World ::

Afghanistan: UN envoy expresses concern over deteriorating security

Afghanistan: Why millions of Afghans have gone home

Sudan: Don't blame UN for inaction in Darfur

Sudan: Darfur Atrocities Spill Into Chad

"Despite Ceasefire, Sudanese Troops and Militias Continue to Kill, Rape and Loot

Sudan: Rainy season strikes crisis-plagued Darfur

Venezuela: Rigging the Rule of Law

"This 24-page report examines how the new law will make judges more vulnerable to political persecution

PDF file

Namibia: Refugees Detained for Attempting Protest

Iran rebukes EU on rights abuses

Australia: Asylum seeker lawyers hope for sympathetic approach from Nauru

Australia: Democrats query detainee punishment

Australia: Hunger stike health worries in Nauru

Haiti: Breaking the cycle of violence: A last chance for Haiti

Colombian rebels warn peace unlikely with Uribe

Iraq: Where Are The Refugees?

Iraq: Refugees International Advocates with Danish Government for Asylum for Mandaeans from Iraq

Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula: Families of detainees fall victim to "war on terror"

OT/Israel: Palestine issue confuses Britons

Sri Lanka: Twenty five Lankan refugees drown off Mannar

USA: Justice or revenge?

"Terry Waite, who was held captive in Beirut from 1987 to 1991, gives his view of the Guantánamo Bay detentions.

Vietnam: Hmong refugees reach US

Hmong exodus: 24 refugees board first flight to US

Vietnam: Montagnards - Grave human rights violations reported

Cuba: Castro condemns new US sanctions

"...move could spark a mass exodus from the island

Cuba: Value of Guantánamo detentions is challenged

Sri Lanka: Tigers accuse military

DR Congo has 20,000 troops in volatile east, UN mission says

DR Congo rebel leader flees

DR Congo: Troop Buildup In D.R.C., Rwanda Prompts Fear Of New War

Bahrain raids net 'six militants'

Palestine’s next generation: what prospects?

Russia: Racism Expert Gunned Down

"A Russian racism expert who advised the courts in cases involving racially motivated crimes was shot dead today in central St. Petersburg.

Ingushetia: Rebels strike near Russia's Chechnya, 48 dead

Ingushetia: Chechen separatists hit key Ingush targets

Nigeria: U.N.: Press Nigeria to Hand Over Charles Taylor

:: Miscellaneous ::

'Honour killings' to be reviewed

"Police are re-examining more than 100 murders in England and Wales they suspect could be so-called honour killings, it has emerged.

Deportation threat ends with wedding

The politics of fear: civil society and the security state

Immigration and the Vitality of Canada's Official Language Communities: Policy, Demography and Identity

PDF file

Freedom House 2003 Annual Report

PDF file

http://www.freedomhouse.org/research/specreports/ar2003.pdf

UN seminar decries anti-Semitism, urges stepped-up global response

A Crusade of Torture

:: European Council: Tampere II and asylum ::

European Council: Tampere II must be practical and focus on asylum and immigration

:: Language analysis and national origin in refugee/asylum cases

Linguistic Human Rights: A Sociolinguistic Introduction

Originating source:

:: Events ::

Challenging Perceptions Applying Citizenship resources in the classroom

Aegis Trust Training Day for LEA Officers and teachers

Date: 23rd July 2004

Venue: The Aegis Institute

Lound Hall, Bothamsall, Retford, Notts DN22 8DF

The world belongs to all of us - we have a right to be here

Strengthening the movement against repressive laws on asylum & immigration

Saturday 3 July, 10-5pm

Trinity United Reformed Church, Buck Street London NW1

(Kentish Town Road end, behind Sainsbury's)

Disabled access (Toilets nearby)

Entrance: institutions £30; high waged £10; waged £3-£5; unwaged £3

asylum seekers: free

Speakers include: Gareth Pierce and Ian macDonald QC

Crossroads Women's Centre, 230a Kentish Town Road, London NW5 2AB

Tel: 020 7482 2496

Fax: 020 7209 4761

law@crossroadswomen.net

'The Changing Contexts of Migration'

COMPAS Launch Conference

5th & 6th July 2004

St. Antony's College, University of Oxford

An international conference to launch the Economic and Social Research

Council's (ESRC) Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS)

ESRC Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS)

University of Oxford, 58 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6QS

Tel.: +44 (0) 1865 274566 Fax.: +44 (0) 1865 274718

Email: info@compas.ox.ac.uk

:: Archive and news search ::

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:: Asylum myths - Reports last week that 120 publicly funded solicitors’ firms have been overcharging the Legal Services Commission (LSC) for asylum and immigration work ::

Asylum myths are spoiling a good story

by janey paraskeva

REPORTS last week that 120 publicly funded solicitors’ firms have been overcharging the Legal Services Commission (LSC) for asylum and immigration work made depressing reading.

Reports of this kind do little to help the majority of asylum lawyers, who are dedicated to doing a difficult job well. Clearly the system is not perfect, but the Law Society of England and Wales and the LSC are cracking down on those who abuse the system. Legal aid has long been the cinderella of public services and an Aunt Sally for many in politics and the press. Asylum and immigration lawyers — and their clients — have probably been more unfairly criticised than anyone else.

Asylum and immigration stir strong emotions. Their social, political and economic implications are profound. All the more reason, therefore, that the political debate be conducted on the facts. At present, there are too many myths around — myths that are the enemy of good policy-making. They come in many shapes and sizes, but here are three of the most common.

Myth 1: The number of asylum-seekers is spiralling out of control.

The reality? The latest figures show that the number of applications in the last quarter (8,940) is down 44 per cent on the same period last year.

Myth 2: Lawyers are growing fat on advising asylum-seekers, with some cases costing tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The reality? In the average asylum case, a lawyer can claim up to £286.75 for providing legal help. After that point, the lawyer needs the LSC’s permission to make any additional expenditure. The small number of well publicised, very high-cost cases is therefore untypical.

Myth 3: Nothing is being done about corrupt and incompetent lawyers and legal advisers who have been touting for business and fleecing vulnerable people.

The reality? As the regulator of solicitors, the Law Society is extremely keen to make sure that asylum and immigration solicitors uphold the highest possible standards. There is no disguising that there have been problems of abuse, but over the past few months we have made strenuous efforts to crack down on those firms that have been taking advantage of the system.

The measures introduced include spotchecks of law firms carrying out immigration work and the formation of a specialist immigration team to respond to complaints about asylum or immigration solicitors and identify remedies.

We are working with the Immigration Services Commissioner and the Home Office to see what further practical steps can be taken to combat touting.

Working closely with the commission, we are introducing an immigration accreditation scheme. In future, all legal aid advisers working in this area will have to be accredited, thereby introducing more robust quality control. Without accreditation, they will not be able to give advice or be paid for doing so from public money.

Where we can improve the professionalism of that advice we will, and where we can identify problems we will tackle them. It was reported last week that the LSC will be setting up a public immigration and asylum service pilot scheme, based in Birmingham and opening this autumn, to give it a direct idea of the real cost of immigration and asylum legal aid, as well as to identify inefficiencies and pressures and best practice.

The Law Society supports the commission’s decision to run this pilot scheme — provided that individual clients have a free choice of the commission’s service and private practice firms. There must be robust measures in place to monitor the quality of advice and cost and we will be looking for guarantees that advisers are independent and not influenced by government. We will be interested to see the results of the scheme, but will be surprised if the commission is able to provide good quality advice at a lower price than the best firms of solicitors.

No one is pretending that asylum and immigration do not give rise to serious issues or that there have not been problems in the system. But equally we should not pretend that the asylum system is out of control or that lawyers are somehow bringing it into disrepute.

We need an asylum system that is fair, consistent, humane and swift. That is the responsibility of the Government. We need to approach it with an open mind, and be prepared to move if there are ways in which public confidence in the system can be strengthened. But the debate must be based on facts. Some of the myths being spread are not just the enemy of good policy-making, they also stand in the way of humanity, decency and tolerance.

The author is the chief executive of the Law Society

Thanks

frank.corrigan@asylumpolicy.info