We hope the government and political parties will take note of our recommendations, which we believe are necessary to restoring public confidence. Ifath Nawaz, Co-Chair of the Commission

The Independent Asylum Commission will call for a ‘New Deal for Safe and Sure Returns’ of refused asylum seekers when it launches its Safe Return report in Manchester today.

Following the launch, one Commissioner, Canon Nicholas Sagovsky of Westminster Abbey, will try to survive for a week on a Red Cross food parcel and £5 to find out what life is like for destitute refused asylum seekers in the UK. The Commission’s report concludes that the UK Border Agency has inherited a system for dealing with the estimated 283,500 refused asylum seekers still in the UK that has serious weaknesses and does not yet pass key tests of practicality and effectiveness, public confidence, and humanity.

The Safe Return report identifies an absence of an effective system for ensuring return of refused asylum seekers; that only one in five refused asylum seekers who leave the UK are choosing to return home voluntarily; that forced return is too expensive, traumatic and time-consuming to be effective for all refused asylum seekers; and describes the destitution of refused asylum seekers in the UK as “simply indefensible …in one of the richest nations of the world.”

An opinion poll survey to be released alongside the report supports this view, revealing that 61 per cent of the public feel that “no-one in the UK should be destitute, regardless of race or immigration status.” The twelve independent Commissioners, led by former High Court judge Sir John Waite and Ifath Nawaz, President of the Association of Muslim Lawyers, recommend developing a fourteen-point ‘New Deal for Safe and Sure Returns’ for the future that ensures swift, safe and sustainable returns for refused asylum seekers who have had a fair hearing and who are able to go back, the end of destitution, and temporary permits to work for those who are unable to return, such as Zimbabwean refused asylum seekers.

Ifath Nawaz, also Co-Chair of the Commission and the President of the Association of Muslim Lawyers said: “We hope the government and political parties will take note of our recommendations, which we believe are necessary to restoring public confidence. The current system serves nobody’s interests – with over a quarter of a million refused asylum seekers still here and officially destitute, people like the Zimbabweans in a state of limbo – unable to go back but prevented from working in the UK in the meantime. And at the same time we are incapable of ensuring the return of some of those who do not need sanctuary and who we want to leave the UK.”

Commission recommends mosr returns should be voluntary, not forced

The UK Border Agency has inherited a system for dealing with this that ...does not yet pass key tests of practicality, effectiveness, public confidence, and – of course - humanity. Rt. Hon Sir John Waite Rt. Hon Sir John Waite

Among the solutions proposed as part of the ‘New Deal for Safe and Sure Returns’ the Commissioners recommend making most returns voluntary rather than forced, and encouraging voluntary return by continuing to improve initial asylum decisions, front-loading legal advice, and developing a new ‘compact’ between the UK Border Agency and each asylum seeker setting out rights and responsibilities - and the implications of a refusal - at the start of the asylum process. If refused asylum seekers feel they have been properly represented and have had a fair hearing they will be more likely to accept refusal and return voluntarily.

The Safe Return report suggests that making refused asylum seekers destitute actually decreases the likelihood of their returning home voluntarily, and recommends that basic support should be provided along with greater involvement of the voluntary sector in preparing people for voluntary return. As a quid pro quo for ending destitution, the Commissioners argue that the UK Border Agency should exercise much closer control of the process of managing asylum seekers after their appeal has been refused, and should ensure that forced return is a credible sanction rather than a remote threat.

And the Commissioners recommend that returns can be made more sustainable by introducing pre-removal assessments to check for protection needs and any barriers to return, and selective post-return monitoring to check on the safety of those returned. As the final element of the ‘New Deal for Safe and Sure Returns’, the Commissioners urge the government to allow refused asylum seekers who cannot return through no fault of their own – such as Zimbabwean opponents of Mugabe, or Darfuris from Sudan – to be allowed a temporary, time-limited and revocable permit to work after six months so that they can support themselves until the situation changes and they can return.

The Commission's Public Attitudes Research Project found strong public support for the idea that asylum seekers should be able to make a contribution to the UK economy and its opinion poll found that 48 per cent of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that ‘if an asylum seeker has their claim refused but cannot return home through no fault of their own, they should be allowed to work on a temporary basis’, against 38 per cent who disagreed.

Rt. Hon Sir John Waite, one of the two Co-Chairs of the Commission and a former Judge of the High Court said: “The scale and complexity of the issue is considerable – we are talking about hundreds of thousands of people. The UK Border Agency has inherited a system for dealing with this that has serious weaknesses and that, despite some recent reforms, does not yet pass key tests of practicality, effectiveness, public confidence, and – of course - humanity.”