Torture survivor’s six-month detention in UK signals urgent need for asylum reform

The unlawful detention of a woman who fled torture and rape only months before her arrival in the UK is indicative of widespread failures in the asylum system, says the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Victims of Torture (MF).

The MF has issued this stark warning after the High Court awarded damages to an MF client who was held in Yarl's Wood detention centre for six months, despite disclosing the torture she had fled in Cameroon.

The woman, referred to only as PB, fled her country after being detained and tortured twice by gendarmes as a result of her political involvement with the Southern Cameroon National Congress. On the first occasion, she reported suffering daily beatings for two weeks and was whipped with electric cables. Her second detention lasted two months, during which time she said she was raped by a guard who threatened to kill her.

International human rights law standards generally state that refugees should not be detained. Home Office guidelines and agreements held with the MF categorically state that every detained person should be given a physical and psychological examination within 24 hours of admission. They also state that torture survivors should never be detained other than in exceptional cases.

But, these standards were not followed in the case of the 36-year-old woman who was ultimately released for a medico-legal assessment at the MF to provide evidence of her torture.

"This woman's detention should have been prevented. Her treatment at the hands of Government authorities is more than just a sign of ‘serious shortcomings', as the judge described it," said Simon Carruth, Chief Executive Officer of the MF. "It is indicative of persistent failures by the Home Office to abide by explicit instructions, laid out in its own procedures and through well-established agreements with the MF, which should guard against such mistreatment.

"The UK is obliged under international human rights standards to provide refuge and protection to those fleeing torture and persecution. A proactive approach that would see torture survivors referred for assessment and treatment at the earliest opportunity, and released from detention when they are identified as victims of torture, fits with that obligation. But as this case illustrates, the Government is falling far short in meeting its duty."

The woman was awarded £32,000 and a further £6,000 aggravated damages. Judge Kenneth Parker QC said: "Detention is stressful for anyone, whatever their past experience, but torture survivors are particularly vulnerable to increased mental illness when detained."

The MF has consistently lobbied the Government to show a greater commitment to its assurances that it will abide by international human rights standards and their own detention centre rules to avoid the detention of torture survivors through a more rigorous enforcement of instructions among Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) staff. It has also regularly called upon the Government to introduce pre-screening medical checks to identify torture survivors before they are detained.

"This case brings to light the human cost of such avoidable procedural failures and is regrettably symptomatic of a wider problem which indicates an urgent need for new safeguards and reforms," added Mr Carruth.