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UK: Asylum statistics

01 January 1993

There has been a dramatic fall in the numbers of people seeking asylum in Britain in 1992. Statistics to the end of March 1992 reveal that only 1,750 applications were made each month, compared with 3,900 per month in 1991. There has been a fall of 2/3 in asylum-seekers from Zaire, Angola, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. In the first quarter of 1992 7% of applicants were granted full refugee status, and a further 67% were given exceptional leave to remain (ELR). Only 26% were refused. Refugee groups and lawyers criticise the low recognition rate of refugees, and point out that a large proportion of those granted ELR have medical evidence of torture and should have been granted full refugee status. Another large group of those granted ELR are victims of civil war who cannot show individual persecution (accounting for most Ethiopians in the past, as well as the vast majority of Sri Lankans and Angolans).

Since the world has not become a noticeably better place since 1991, the fall in numbers applying for asylum is only explicable by the combination of the near-universal visa regime (which means applying from abroad), the impossibility of getting visas as refugees (seen in the Bosnians' plight), and the carrier sanctions which prevent refugees from embarking on planes or boats or trains which might bring them to Britain. It is clear from the figures that Fortress Britain is well in place.