NGOs are calling for improvements in UK government safeguarding policies after multiple acts of violence and race hate incidents in Home Office accommodation.
The incidents include 20 assaults of asylum seekers in one small area of Essex and a separate incident where another was attacked and threatened with a knife by a man recently released into shared asylum accommodation from prison on licence. Slices of bacon were also laid over food belonging to Muslim residents stored in a communal kitchen fridge.
NGOs say the Home Office is failing to conduct adequate risk assessments to ensure its asylum accommodation is safe.
In the recent incident where an asylum seeker was assaulted and threatened with a knife, the victim told the Guardian: “I thought this man was going to kill me. [The] Home Office has finally agreed to move me but I’m having problems sleeping because every time I close my eyes I see that knife.”
A second man in the same house who has also been threatened has launched an emergency legal action calling on the Home Office to move him to a safer place.
“I am very scared,” he said. “We never had a problem before. This man told us he is involved with drugs and had just come out of prison following a drugs conviction. He wanted me and the other asylum seekers in the house to deliver drugs for him but we have refused. I was so shocked when I woke up a few days ago and found our food covered with slices of bacon. This is a hate crime against Muslims.”
Maria Wilby, the director and operational lead at Refugee, Asylum Seeker and Migrant Action in Essex, said she had repeatedly raised incidents of concerns about attacks at asylum accommodation with the Home Office. “Nobody in any statutory Home Office accommodation should be placed there unless there are stringent regulations in place to protect them,” she said.
Bridget Young, the director at Naccom – the No Accommodation Network, which supports immigrants with accommodation issues, said: “It’s vital that robust safeguarding processes are in place within any organisation involved in the provision of asylum accommodation.
“We know that people in the asylum system are often dealing with complex mental health issues, including trauma, and can have specific support needs as a result, so it’s essential that people are not only accommodated in decent, stable housing within communities, but that they feel safe, settled and supported too.”
Nathan Phillips, the head of campaigns at Asylum Matters, said of the accommodation where the man was attacked with a knife: “This is another tragic case that demonstrates the real-life, harmful consequences of the Home Office’s consistent failures to put in place effective safeguarding and risk assessment policies – particularly when they hold background knowledge about individuals they are accommodating.”
Clearsprings Ready Homes, the Home Office contractor that manages the accommodation where the knife incident took place, said: “This is a matter which should be referred to the Home Office for their input.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “It is longstanding government policy that we do not comment on individual cases. Where concerns are raised, we work with our providers to investigate them and ensure the safety of those in our support are protected.”
