Charities supporting asylum seekers say they are documenting a number of suicide attempts among those threatened to be sent to Rwanda.
The news comes when Home Secretary Priti Patel announced that the first group of asylum seekers who entered the UK without a permit would be deported to Rwanda on June 14.
The cases involve a woman seeking asylum in Iran who attempted suicide and told charities that she took the action because she believed she was facing offshore work in Rwanda. She was rescued, hospitalized and survived.
A 40-year-old Yemeni asylum seeker has made a video to Boris Johnson and Priti Patel, saying that after arriving in the UK on April 13 and learning of Rwanda’s offshore plans, he “has no choice but to commit suicide “.
The Independent reported the case of an Afghan asylum seeker detained in preparation for deportation to Rwanda. He said he attempted suicide to avoid being sent there.
The recent death of a young Sudanese asylum seeker in Calais on May 11 is being investigated by French authorities. His friends told charities that he told them he wanted to take his own life because he no longer wanted to live after Rwanda’s offshoring report.
Claire Mosley, CEO of the charity Care4Calais, said the prospect of being forcibly sent to Rwanda was the last straw for people who could be injured.
The Guardian has received data on freedom of information, which reveals for the first time the Interior Ministry’s own assessments of the widespread vulnerability of asylum seekers.
Last year alone, 17,440 asylum seekers were considered vulnerable and called so-called “protection hubs”. In its response, the Interior Ministry identified 26 different vulnerabilities that could lead to referrals to a protection center, including suicide and self-harm, torture, trafficking and mental health problems.
Mosley said: “The aim of the plan for Rwanda is to act as a deterrent, making it even more appalling for refugees than the trips they make on fragile boats across the English Channel. The refugees have suffered terrible oppression. Yet our goal is to deter them, using the fear of more injury and oppression. This is not an act of a civilized or compassionate nation. No wonder Priti Patel’s actions are causing victims around the world to take their own lives in despair.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, called on the Interior Ministry to rethink its offshore plans. “We are receiving a number of alarming reports from our services working directly with people in the asylum system about the devastating impact of the threat on those deported to Rwanda,” he said. “We hear tragic stories of severe mental health impacts, including reports of self-harm.”
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The PCS, the Union of Interior Ministry officials and several refugee charities have launched legal challenges against Rwanda’s offshore plans.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said: “We are taking every step to prevent self-harm or suicide, so that asylum seekers have access to health and social services from the moment of arrival and we have a special social care team on site in each place. an asylum accommodation site responsible for identifying and supporting vulnerable asylum seekers. Anyone considered for relocation to Rwanda will be screened on a case-by-case basis and no one will be removed if it is dangerous or unsuitable for them.
In the United Kingdom, Samaritans can call 116,123 and the domestic violence hotline is 0808 2000 247. In Australia, Lifeline Crisis Support is 13,114 and the National Domestic Violence Counseling Service is 1,800,737. 732. In the United States, the suicide prevention hotline is 1-800-273-8255 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org
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