Welcome to Scotland, now follow this map to the bus station and find your way, over 400 miles, in a country you don’t know – to Croydon!
This is the message vulnerable people seeking sanctuary get when they want to apply for asylum and find themselves in Scotland.
Asylum screening (the process to register an application for international protection) is not routinely available locally, so people must make the long and often arduous journey to Croydon, regardless of where they are in the UK when they seek help.
The Refugee Women’s Strategy Group (RWSG), an umbrella group of representatives from refugee women’s community groups in Scotland, supported by Scottish Refugee Council, thinks this is wrong! They are calling for screening to be routinely available across the UK.
Sign the petition
Scottish Refugee Council backs RWSG’s campaign. You can find out more and show your support by signing their e-petition today.
Why are people being sent to Croydon?
It’s difficult for me to understand why people arriving in Scotland seeking safety are forced, by Home Office policy, to endure a further long and difficult journey to Croydon to register their asylum application.
Most asylum seekers are destitute so will need to rely on friends or charities to fund their bus fare across the country; and what happens if and when they arrive in Croydon?
Once they get there, we know a number of our clients are forced to sleep on the streets if there is a delay with their appointment as they have nowhere else to go. The situation is unsustainable.
Gary Christie, Scottish Refugee Council.
Policy should not be used as a means of punishment. Although asylum claims should be made at a port of entry when a person arrives in Scotland, there are many reasons why someone may not declare themselves on arrival.
What is the point?
Once their application is assessed in Croydon, asylum seekers are dispersed across the country and may very well be sent back to Scotland.
This inhumane and difficult policy seems unnecessary, heartless and even pointless considering there are local UK Border Agency offices nearby with the facilities to screen new applicants.
