12. Memorandum from Medical Foundation
for the Care of Victims of Torture
The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims
of Torture (the "Medical Foundation") is a human rights
organisation that provides survivors of torture and organised
violence with medical and psychological treatment. It has received
more than 38,000 referrals since it began in 1985. In addition,
the Medical Foundation documents the signs and symptoms of torture,
providing some 750-1,000 forensic medical reports each year.
The Medical Foundation is concerned about the
application of gratuitous force and the use of racist abuse against
unsuccessful asylum seekers during the attempt to remove them
from the UK. We refer Joint Committee members to our report Harm
on Removal: Excessive Force against Failed Asylum Seekers
(October 2004), a copy of which is attached. [159]This
report outlines our concerns and makes a number of recommendations
aimed at the eradication of this practice.
By way of background to the research project,
over a 15-week period (19 April-30 July 2004) doctors who are
either currently employed by the Medical Foundation, or who have
been employed by the Medical Foundation in the past, examined
14 individuals who claimed that they had been subjected to excessive
and gratuitous force during the attempt of custody officers to
remove them from the UK. The study revealed that in some cases
inappropriate methods of force, posing an unacceptably high degree
of physical risk to the returnee, were employed. In other instances,
individuals were assaulted in the back of a closed vehicle once
the attempt to remove them from the UK had been abandoned, while
in many cases the use of force against the individual continued
after they had been restrained. The report also reveals the misuse
of certain restraint techniques, notably handcuffs.
The central finding of the report is that there
is a pattern of physical abuse that has been medically documented
during the attempted removal of failed asylum seekers from the
UK. All 14 of those individuals who reported experiencing abuse
during the removal process and who were visited and examined by
doctors for the purpose of preparing this report were black, and
several reported being subjected to verbal abuse of a racist nature
during the removal process.
Although the research project was closed to
referrals at the end of July 2004, the Medical Foundation continues
to receive referrals for medical investigation, one as recent
as 9 October, indicating that allegations of ill treatment persist.
Should the Committee require any further information
in respect of the above submissions, please do not hesitate to
contact me at the address below.
18 November 2004
159 Not printed here, but available at http://www.torturecare.org.uk/publications/reportAsylum.htm Back
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