LONDON: Thirteen asylum seekers have killed themselves in the UK in the past two-and-a-half years, with another 24 attempting to take their own lives in that time.
A report by The Times found that they included children, such as a 14-year-old Iraqi girl who threw herself from a building and suffered serious head injuries.
Of the 13 who died, all but one were awaiting decisions on their asylum applications, the other having been rejected. They ranged in age from 19 to 45 and included a 21-year-old Russian woman who took her own life next to a canal in London.
Another 32 cases of serious self-harm by asylum seekers were also recorded by the Home Office during the period in question, the youngest aged 17 and the oldest 48. Among the nationalities represented in the self-harm data were people from Iran, Syria, Libya, South Africa and Turkey.
A Yemeni doctor who applied for asylum in the UK in 2023 told The Times that conditions for asylum seekers in the UK were inadequate, blaming them for the number of people who self-harm or attempt suicide.
“The staff treat you like you're some kind of criminal – it feels like a prison. You only get visitors (during) certain hours (and) it's not easy to get out,” she said.
“Many asylum seekers keep saying we are being treated like beggars when many asylum seekers come from professions that have achieved too much. Overnight you are treated like this – and so is your life, for you don't know how long. I never thought that I would have to fight daily for basic human needs or basic rights.”
The length and uncertainty of UK asylum applications is thought to play a large role in the mental health of UK asylum seekers, with over two-thirds of the 161,000 asylum seekers awaiting initial decisions on their status in the spring 2023 waiting over six months for a result.
A Namibian nurse and former UN employee told The Times that she applied for asylum in the UK in February 2020, but did not receive her rejection until August 2023.
During that time, she said, she was “taken out of a safe environment” and moved to a Glasgow hotel where six people were stabbed by a Sudanese asylum seeker in June 2022 while she was living there.
She said she and others were not offered mental health support after the attack.
“Everything seems like we can't ask questions,” she told The Times. “It's something I never expected in the UK. Never in my life did I expect to be afraid in Britain.”
Prof Cornelius Katona, asylum seeker and head of refugee mental health at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, told The Times: “People who have been displaced and are seeking refuge and protection may have faced violence, danger or exploitation and having lost loved ones. These can be deeply traumatic experiences and increase someone's risk of developing a mental illness such as anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Asylum seekers also face significant housing, employment and financial uncertainty when they arrive in the UK, as well as difficulties accessing healthcare. All of these factors can exacerbate an existing mental illness and lead to increased rates of suicide or self-harm.”
Despite the Home Office providing training to staff to deal with issues including PTSD and suicidal tendencies, questions have also been raised about the suitability of dedicated detention centres, including a former Royal Air Force base at Wethersfield in Essex, where emergency services were called for 38 days. separate occasions in the first five months of 2024.
Médecins Sans Frontières claimed that 41 percent of people on the site used its medical services citing suicidal thoughts or behaviors.
The charity told The Times: “While there are clear differences between hotels and detention centres, the often poor living conditions, safeguarding failures and long delays people experience lead to varying levels of distress and mental health problems.” .
A case brought by four former residents over the site is currently being heard at the High Court in London. There were also allegations that the barge Bibby Stockholm, a vessel due to be decommissioned in January 2025, was unfit to house asylum seekers after an Albanian died of suspected suicide in December 2023.
A Home Office spokesman told The Times: “We take the health and wellbeing of asylum seekers seriously and at every stage of the process we will seek to ensure that all needs and vulnerabilities are identified and taken into account, including those related to mental health and trauma. We ensure that when a serious incident is reported, we take the necessary steps so that our standards of protection remain at the highest level.”
