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11.31 pm
Mr. Max Madden (Bradford, West): If a contradiction of what the hon. and learned Member for Burton (Sir I. Lawrence) has just said is necessary, we need only remind ourselves that, as we speak, preparations are under way in west London to open a tent city to provide temporary accommodation to asylum seekers--including many children--who are now so destitute that they have no means of survival. That fact has been brought to public attention, not only by reverses for the Government in the courts but by the speeches of the leaders of British Churches.
My hon. Friend the Member for Blackburn (Mr. Straw) and the hon. and learned Member for Montgomery (Mr. Carlile) have made it very clear that a central part of the Geneva convention was a requirement that all asylum cases should be considered on an individual basis. However much the Government protest, it is very clear that the central purpose of this order is to erect a presumption that all applicants from these seven countries have an unfounded claim.
I have read very carefully the country assessments produced by the Home Office. In all fairness, I can say only that I found them to be completely inadequate. In many respects, they were quite pathetic, and they gave every appearance of being cobbled together by very junior officials over a very short period. Almost daily during the passage of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, I called for these documents to be made available, and I was
always told that they were being prepared. I wonder why it took so long to produce so little--although I shall not dwell on that point.
I should like to consider India specifically, and some quotes about India from the United States State Department. In March 1996, the State Department stated:
Finally, I draw again to the attention of the House the position in the Punjab, where 3,000 people have been cremated as unidentified and unclaimed bodies. The activist who tried to expose this, Mr. Jaswant Singh Kalra, remains a disappeared person.
I remember vividly my visits to the Punjab since 1990, during which I have interviewed literally hundreds of Sikhs. They gave me detailed accounts of the human rights abuses that they and their families had suffered. They are mirrored in the reports to which I have referred.
Much play is made in the Home Office documents of elections in the Punjab and elections in Kashmir. I do not believe that those elections should be any comfort to hon. Members, because it is clear that, in the elections in Kashmir, there has been unacceptable coercion. The refusal of the Indian Government to invite international observers to monitor those elections remains a matter of considerable concern.
I was delighted that my hon. Friend the Member for Blackburn (Mr. Straw) made it clear that the next Labour Government would abolish the designated list--the white list--and would deal with all asylum claims properly and promptly. I remind the hon. and learned Member for Burton (Sir I. Lawrence) that the only way in which to do that is to ensure that proper staff and other resources are available, so that all asylum claims are dealt with fairly, justly and expeditiously.
I do not believe that the Home Office should rely on the poor-quality reports that we are considering tonight. I look forward to the next Labour Government establishing a human rights unit within the Foreign Office, which would advise the Government--
Mr. Madden:
The unit would advise the Government on human rights issues around the world.
Mr. Kirkhope:
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr. Madden:
I strongly suggest that the House should establish a Select Committee on human rights, so that it can advise the next Labour Government on human rights issues.
Mr. Doug Henderson (Newcastle upon Tyne, North):
Is it not clear to the House this evening that the Government have been visited by their previous sins? When the Asylum and Immigration Bill was debated at its various stages, the Government claimed that there was a major problem with illegal immigration. Yet, on every occasion that they were challenged by Committee members from all parties, the Government were unable to produce any evidence or figures to justify that claim. Indeed, one of the reasons that they gave for involving employers in the tracking of illegal immigrants was that they were unable to make any estimation of the problem that they claimed existed.
The Government have said that they could meet their international obligations under the Geneva convention and the European convention on human rights. I do not understand--and I do not think that the British people will understand--how the Government can say that each case will be dealt with on its merits when there is one system for the seven countries named this evening, and another for asylum claimants from other parts of the world.
Are we to believe that immigration officers faced with two different systems will use the same presumptions in dealing with each case on its merits? I put it to the House that that is not the case, and immigration department officials have made that point to me. They know that there are other ways to improve efficiency and to get people through the system that do not involve this ridiculous procedure.
Do not the Government know that their proposals will not work? Mr. Justice Glidewell stated in his report that he did not believe that the proceedings for dealing with asylum cases would be speeded up, because he knows--as do most lawyers who deal with these matters--that further doubt in dealing with the cases will slow the system down. As the hon. and learned Member for Burton (Sir I. Lawrence) pointed out, people will inevitably seek judicial reviews to get justice and their rights, and that will clog up the system further.
The more one looks for legitimate motives, reason and logic in the 1996 Act and the order, the more one fails to find them. One must then remember what the Conservative candidate for Cambridgeshire South-West said when he was head of the research department--that the Act and the order had nothing to do with efficiency, and certainly nothing to do with fairness, but were examples of the Conservatives playing a race card that they think--I believe, erroneously--will assist them in the general election.
The Government could not justify the Bill or the Act, and I do not believe that they can justify the order. The same contradictions are apparent. As my hon. Friend the
Member for Blackburn (Mr. Straw) said, the Foreign Secretary himself has acknowledged, in correspondence with the chairman of the Conservative party, that, together with other EU Foreign Secretaries, representations are being made to the Pakistan Government about their failure to uphold human rights for the Ahmadi community. If they cannot uphold human rights in their own country, why should we put them on a so-called "safe list"?
Miss Widdecombe:
There has not been a single speech from Opposition Members tonight that has not revealed a profound misunderstanding of these orders.
Mr. Jeremy Corbyn (Islington, North):
Will the Minister give way?
Miss Widdecombe:
Nor has there been any appreciation, or any attempt at appreciation, by the Opposition of the difference between acknowledging that there may be some violations of human rights and some dangers facing some people within a country and invalidating the general assessment of a country as largely safe.
Mr. Corbyn:
Will the Minister give way?
"There continue to be serious human rights abuses, despite extensive constitutional and statutory safeguards . . . abuses include extrajudicial executions and other political killings, torture and excessive use of force by security forces and separatist militants . . . torture, rape and deaths of suspects in police custody are widespread throughout India."
In 1996, Amnesty International found:
"Thousands of political prisoners were held without charge or trial under special or preventative detention laws . . . At least 100 people died in police and military custody, many as a result of torture."
The torture of detainees was described as "endemic in every state".
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