Earlier this week, the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, announced changes to rules which previously allowed successful asylum seekers to be reunited with their families after their claim was confirmed. These changes will make it harder for asylum seekers to be reunited with their families automatically.
While announcing these changes, the Prime Minister referred to the right to reunification as a “golden ticket.”
Mark Rowland, Chief Executive at the Mental Health Foundation, said:
“The latest changes to the asylum system, which will limit the right of refugees to be reunited with their families in the UK, will be detrimental to the mental health of those who fall victim to this policy. By keeping families separated, the government will only increase feelings of isolation, worsen trauma and make refugees’ integration into British society even more difficult.
“Moreover, the characterisation of the right to family reunification by the Prime Minister as a “golden ticket” only serves to further dehumanise asylum seekers and refugees. Family reunification is not winning a trip around a chocolate factory, it is providing people who have fled danger with their basic human right to a safe family life. We’d encourage the government to make sure debate around the asylum system respects the humanity and dignity of asylum seekers and refugees.”