<
https://theconversation.com/its-like-youre-a-criminal-but-i-am-not-a-criminal-first-hand-accounts-of-the-trauma-of-being-stuck-in-the-uk-asylum-system-202276>
"
Warning: this story contains graphic descriptions of violence. Pseudonyms are
used to protect the interviewees’ identities.
Angela had already been in the UK as an asylum seeker for nine years and four
months when we interviewed her. She was still in a state of limbo, unsure
whether asylum would be granted, and her story was disturbing to hear.
Angela told us she had left Nigeria after an appalling terrorist attack. Her
father was a high-ranking regional politician, a Christian in a mainly Muslim
area. Following a political dispute, the family compound was attacked by
members of the militant Islamist Boko Haram organisation. Angela told us that
her father, her husband and others were killed – and that she was shot at,
raped, beaten and left for dead:
I was raped not one, not two, not three … I can’t remember how many times.
The shocking thing is the person – I remember his face – who chopped my
husband’s legs is still very much alive. He comes on social media almost
every day.
Angela is one of 12 asylum seekers and refugees from Africa and the Middle East
we interviewed for a study published in 2020. We wanted to examine not only the
experiences that drove them to the UK, but also the psychological effects of
their subsequent experiences in the UK’s asylum system.
These accounts bear revisiting amid current widespread concerns about the
record numbers, welfare and experiences of asylum seekers detained in the UK
immigration system."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
