Syrian refugees in UK threaten legal action over Home Office pause on settlement decisions
LONDON: Five Syrian refugees in the UK are threatening legal action against the British Home Office after their applications for permanent settlement were left in limbo after a government decision to halt all decisions on Syrian asylum and settlement cases.
The Home Office paused interviews and decisions on Syrian asylum claims on Dec. 9 last year, citing the need to 'assess the current situation' in the wake of the collapse of Bashar Assad's regime.
The freeze also applies to Syrians who have already been granted refugee status and are now seeking indefinite leave to remain, The Independent reported on Sunday.
According to government figures cited by the newspaper, at least 7,000 people have been affected by the wider pause on asylum decisions as of the end of March.
However, the number of Syrians awaiting a decision on permanent settlement is not known.
The five people mounting the challenge are being represented by law firm Duncan Lewis, which has issued pre-action letters to the Home Office arguing that the pause is unjustifiable.
Lawyers contend that if the government cannot assess whether Syria is safe to return to, it must uphold its obligations under UK immigration rules and international law.
'Our clients have all fled violence and persecution in Syria, and sought refuge in the United Kingdom,' said Manini Menon of Duncan Lewis, in comments published by The Independent.
'In granting them refugee status, the home secretary guaranteed our clients the protections afforded by the Refugee Convention and assured them that they would be treated fairly and in line with the immigration rules as approved by parliament.
'Those rules are clear: as long as the home secretary cannot conclude that individuals who have been recognised as refugees may safely return to Syria (and that they are therefore no longer entitled to refugee status), she must grant their applications for settlement,' Menon added.
Refugees are eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain five years after being granted asylum. But with the Home Office yet to provide a timeline for when decisions will resume, concerns are growing about the uncertainty faced by Syrians living in the UK.
The pause follows the toppling of Assad in December by a rebel offensive led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham.
Ahmad Al-Sharaa, the group's leader, is now interim president, although HTS remains a proscribed terrorist organisation under UK law.
Al-Sharaa, who previously had a $10 million US bounty on his head, met with US President Donald Trump in May.
'I think he has got the potential,' Trump said after the meeting.
In January, Home Office minister Lord Hanson told parliament that decisions had been paused because 'we do not yet understand what has happened in Syria on a permanent basis or know how stable Syria is as a whole.'
Labour MP Dame Angela Eagle echoed the stance in February, saying: 'As soon as there is a sufficiently clear basis upon which to make determinations, asylum decision making will recommence.'
A Home Office spokesperson told The Independent: 'The Home Office has paused decisions on all Syrian asylum cases whilst we continue to assess the current situation, including those for individuals who arrived under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme. We are keeping this pause under constant review.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
Israel rejects critical EU report ahead of ministers' meeting
BRUSSELS: Israel has rejected a European Union report saying it may be breaching human rights obligations in Gaza and the West Bank as a 'moral and methodological failure,' according to a document seen by Reuters on Sunday. The note, sent to EU officials ahead of a foreign ministers' meeting on Monday, said the report by the bloc's diplomatic service failed to consider Israel's challenges and was based on inaccurate information. 'The Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel rejects the document ... and finds it to be a complete moral and methodological failure,' the note said, adding that it should be dismissed entirely. European nations have been increasingly critical of the massive civilian toll of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's military campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas since its October 7, 2023 attack on Israeli communities.
Arab News
4 hours ago
- Arab News
Saudi interior minister meets outgoing UK ambassador in Riyadh
LONDON: Saudi Minister of Interior Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif met Neil Crompton, the outgoing UK ambassador to Riyadh, in his office on Sunday. Crompton bid farewell to Prince Abdulaziz as his tenure as ambassador ended. Prince Abdulaziz thanked Crompton for his service in the Kingdom and wished him success. Crompton will be succeeded by Stephen Hitchen. In a previous interview with Arab News, Crompton described Saudi Arabia as a 'key, indispensable partner' to the UK. 'We have a shared history, and part of our shared history is recognition that Saudi Arabia is a key diplomatic partner, not just in the Arab world, but in the Islamic world. I think it has a neutral ability to bridge gaps both between east and west, and north and south,' Crompton said.
Arab News
6 hours ago
- Arab News
UK govt plan to ban Palestine Action ‘absurd'
LONDON: A member of the UK's Palestine Action, which on Friday carried out a high-profile protest by breaking into an air force base, has described government plans to proscribe the group as 'absurd.' Saeed Taji Farouky told the BBC that the plan to effectively brand the group a terrorist organization 'rips apart the very basic concepts of British democracy and the rule of law.' He added: 'It's something everyone should be terrified about.' Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is believed to be drafting a written statement on the proscription to be delivered before Parliament on Monday, the BBC reported. It follows a protest by two members of Palestine Action who broke into RAF Brize Norton and sprayed red paint inside the jet engines of two military aircraft. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer branded the protest 'disgraceful,' and the story has raised questions in the national media over the security of British bases. Farouky told the BBC that he had been convicted for criminal damage after a separate Palestine Action event. The government move to proscribe the group is a 'knee-jerk reaction' that is 'being rushed through,' he added. Palestine Action's 'whole reason for being is to break the material supply chain to genocide,' he said, describing the break-in on Friday as an 'escalation in tactics because the genocide has escalated.' RAF Brize Norton is a hub for strategic air transport and refueling operations, and military aircraft regularly fly from there to the RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus, which serves as an operational center for British reconnaissance flights over Gaza. After the Brize Norton protest, a Palestine Action spokesperson said: 'Despite publicly condemning the Israeli government, Britain continues to send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel US and Israeli fighter jets.' After self-recorded footage of the break-in was posted online, counterterrorism police launched an investigation. The government also launched a security review of military bases across Britain. Amnesty International UK on Friday said it is 'deeply concerned' over the use of British counterterrorism to target protests. 'Terrorism powers should never have been used to aggravate criminal charges against Palestine Action activists and they certainly shouldn't be used to ban them,' it said. Since the beginning of Israel's war in Gaza, Palestine Action has carried out protests against arms companies, including Israel's Elbit Systems, which operates factories in Britain. Jonathan Hall, the UK's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, told the BBC that the group had 'gone beyond protest to blackmail.' He added: 'It's got to a point where they've started to say: 'We will carry on causing hundreds of millions of pounds worth of damage unless you stop.'' The UK has proscribed 81 groups as terrorist organizations under the Terrorism Act 2000.
