UK-style refugee system unfair for asylum seekers

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is considering changes to the refugee system of Canada and is thinking over implementing the UK-style refugee system, but this could adversely affect genuine refuge claimants and thus, Canada should not accept the UK asylum system, thinks Peter Tatchell, the British queer rights activist who has worked with refugee claimants.

Tatchell said that if Canada implements the UK type asylum system then it would be great injustice to these people, adding that the asylum process of Britain is intentionally made in a way so as to reject and deport maximum number of refuges, irrespective of the circumstances and genuineness of the claimants. Tatchell said that the UK system is build keeping in mind that all refugee claimants are false.

The executive director of the Canadian Council of Refugees, Janet Dench, said that the system is heading towards finding ways in which maximum claimants get a negative response. Dench said that people working under the system would be searching for reasons to reject applications instead of working on the principle of genuineness and respect for human rights.

Tatchell said that the asylum system of the UK is not at all sensitive to queer refugees adding that even after it is clear that they went through detention, rape, torture and many other unacceptable acts, judges order them deportation to the place where they suffered very badly.

Olivia Chow, immigration critic of the NDP, is not in favor of implementing the UK type refugee system in Canada. Chow said that the system is not consistent and lacks effectiveness with high rates of rejections.