Futher supplementary note submitted by
the Refugee Legal Centre
EXTRACT FROM A LETTER TO THE CLERK OF THE
COMMITTEE
There has been an important legal development,
about which we feel that the Committee may wish to put questions
to the Minister. I attach a copy of the press release[1]
which details the decision in four Slovak Roma "test cases"
heard by a Special Adjudicator of the Immigration Appeals Authority.
We would suggest that the Committee may wish
to ask the Minister the following Questions:
— Does the Minister now accept that
to classify Slovak Roma appeals as "bogus" was precipitous
and ill judged?
— Does the Minister accept that the
test cases demonstrate the danger of pre-judging asylum cases?
— Does the Minister accept that immigration
policy (such as the introduction of the expedited procedure for
dealing with asylum claims) should not be formulated on the preemptory
assessment of a group of asylum claims?
— Can the Minister explain how, against
the weight of the evidence, the Home Office came to make a decision
to certify the Slovak Roma cases as manifestly unfounded, a decision
described by the Special Adjudicator as "disingenuous"?
— Can the Minister explain why, in
the words of the Special Adjudicator, the letters of refusal to
the four appellants were "short, containing the minimum of
detail about the applicants' individual circumstances"?
Chris Rush
Team Leader
11 May 1998
1 Not printed. Back
|
