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To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they have made
in implementing the recommendations of the Independent Chief
Inspector of Borders and Immigration in the report, An
investigation into the Home Office’s Handling of Asylum
Claims Made on the Grounds of Sexual Orientation, March to
June 2014.
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The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Williams of
Trafford) (Con)
My Lords, the UK is a world leader in handling asylum claims
based on sexual orientation. In its response, the Government
accepted all eight recommendations from the independent chief
inspector’s report, either entirely—seven—or partially—one.
They have since implemented them all accordingly as part of
their drive to continually improve.
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(LD)
I thank the Minister for that Answer. I want to move on to
the issue of detention of those seeking asylum on the grounds
of sexual orientation. The UK is the only country in the EU
that detains indefinitely those seeking asylum on sexual
orientation grounds. Therefore, will the Government commit to
implementing the Yogyakarta principle plus 10, on the
application of international human rights law in relation to
sexual orientation and gender identity, with particular
reference to ending the detention of LGBTI asylum seekers?
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My Lords, I can make it absolutely clear here today that we
do not detain asylum seekers indefinitely. The noble Lord
will know, because I have said it here before, that detention
is a last resort, and the vast majority of LGB asylum claims
are processed in the non-detained system, with claimants
living in the community. Only a small minority of claimants
are detained while their claim is considered, and almost all
of them have claimed asylum after being detained for removal.
Detention under immigration powers is used only very
sparingly, as I have said, and alternatives are considered
before any decision to detain is made.
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(Con)
Are the Government taking steps to improve the quality of
decision-making in LGBT asylum claims, in view of the large
number of refusals that are overturned on appeal?
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My Lords, the quality of the system was vastly improved after
the 2014 report, which I talked about in my first Answer. In
addition, the training of people dealing with LGBT asylum
claims in detention or seeking their removal has been done in
conjunction with both Stonewall and UKLGIG to absolutely
ensure humane treatment of LGBT people in asylum.
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(Lab
Co-op)
Can I ask the noble Baroness about the Home Office guidance
issued in 2017? I have seen reports suggesting that gay
asylum seekers could be returned to Afghanistan if they
pretended they were straight. Surely this cannot be the case.
We must work to a much higher standard, and the question of
personal safety should be paramount in decisions given by the
authorities.
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What the noble Lord says seems to be a contradiction in
terms, because an LGBT person would presumably be seeking
asylum because they feared persecution on return to a country
that persecuted LGBT people. I would largely dispute the
point, but I will double check because the noble Lord asked
the question.
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(Con)
My Lords, I thank Her Majesty’s Government for the initial
constructive response to the serious concerns—outlined in the
report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for International
Freedom of Religion or Belief, which I co-chair—about people
claiming asylum on grounds of persecution for their faith or
belief. In particular, there were concerns about
religious-based “Trivial Pursuit”-type questions and poor
interpretation of religious concepts. Will my noble friend
confirm that, as in LGBTQI claims, all Home Office
caseworkers, as part of their training, will now have
compulsory training in asylum claims on the grounds of
persecution for faith or belief?
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All people in the detention estate have training in dealing
with LGBT claims and claims on the grounds of faith. As with
LGBT claims, faith claims are dealt with sensitively. Nobody
who fears persecution because of their faith or because they
are LGBT would be expected to return to a country in which
that characteristic was persecuted.
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(LD)
My Lords, does the Minister understand that some of us are
greatly concerned when her department has to ask charities
and voluntary organisations to tell it how many LGBT people
it has in detention? Could her department commit to producing
better statistics on these people, who, after all, are often
detained with the very people from whom they are fleeing
persecution?
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I thank the noble Baroness for bringing that up. She will
know that we produced statistics at the end of last year.
Figures from charities and any information that could be
brought to bear in this early stage of making those
statistics robust are always helpful, but clearly, we would
like to get to a stage where the statistics we produce are
robust. I thank the noble Baroness for her part in this.
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(Lab)
My Lords, some of the cases we have read about in the press
are almost unbelievable. The noble Baroness may not have the
answer to this question in her briefing papers, but how many
of the staff dealing with these matters have more than 12
months’ experience of them? How many have more than two
years’ experience? At its peak, what was the size of the cut
in the Home Office staff overall?
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The noble Lord is right: I do not have the precise figures on
me. However, I can tell him that all people in the detention
estate are trained in dealing with some of these very
sensitive issues.
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(CB)
My Lords, how aware are these officials of the very differing
interpretations of and varieties within religions, as
defining someone as Muslim does not particularly help in
understanding what kind of Muslim they are and what kind of
understanding they have? The variety within Islam is so large
that it takes me a whole term to teach my students about it.
Would the Government be willing to have me teach for a term
to tell them about the differences just within Islam?
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The noble Baroness is right to point out that religion,
particularly Islam, can be interpreted in different ways in
different countries. Therefore, it is very important for
those in the detention estate to have religious literacy
training so that they are sensitive to those differences. I
will take back the noble Baroness’s point.
