Lawyers and human rights campaigners have warned of a “hostile environment” for Afghans in the UK who have fled the Taliban amid a sharp rise in the number having their asylum claims refused.
Quarterly immigration statistics released on Thursday showed that 2,000 Afghan asylum seekers had their claims refused in the last quarter, an increase from 48 in the same quarter of 2023. The grant rate for Afghan cases has gone down from 98.5% in the last quarter of 2023 to 36% in the last quarter of 2024.
However, the Home Office has said it cannot send anyone back to Afghanistan, which has been ruled by the Taliban since 2021. This means those whose cases are refused will be stuck in limbo, without the right to work or move on with their lives and at risk of destitution.
A recent internal Home Office document about returns to Afghanistan seen by the Guardian states: “Enforced or voluntary removals are currently paused and cannot be progressed at present. This is due to the Taliban informing the UK that they will no longer accept travel documents issued from the Afghan embassy in London.
“The UK government’s position is that they do not recognise the Taliban as an accepted foreign government. There is currently no timescale for when this will be resolved.”
While campaigners have welcomed the news that the backlog of asylum claims has been reduced in the last few months – falling from 97,170 cases at the end of September 2024 to 90,686 cases by the end of December 2024 – they questioned the logic of refusing asylum claims of people who cannot be returned to their home countries.
Louise Calvey, the executive director of Asylum Matters, said: “This is a huge jump in refusals for people whose need for sanctuary ought to be obvious. No one could look at the situation in Afghanistan and think it’s safe to return people to the Taliban, so all these refusals do is consign people to years of destitution and limbo while they attempt to appeal, denied safety and support in the UK but with nowhere else to go.”
Jamie Bell of Duncan Lewis solicitors, who has represented Afghan asylum seekers, said:
“The consequence of this startling policy change is that thousands will remain in limbo for years, unable to work whilst their cases are decided by the overburdened court system. Afghans are now in a new hostile environment.”
Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “The reality behind these numbers is men, women and children who have fled Afghanistan for fear of their lives being left in further distress, trapped in limbo in hotels. This is not only expensive, but it also prevents people from being able to move on with their lives, get into work and integrate into communities here in the UK, or, when it’s safe, be returned to Afghanistan with dignity and respect.
“With serious concerns about the recent quality of Home Office decisions, it remains to be seen just how many of these refusals will be overturned when they go to appeal. The government shouldn’t wait and must urgently set out a plan to address this so it does not block the system further.”
