- The Guardian,
- Saturday December 16 2000
The formal letter of refusal passed to the Guardian - signed by Steven Cunney, an official at the immigration and nationality directorate's Croydon office - states in its fourth paragraph: "With regard to your claim to be a national of Afghanistan, the Secretary of State [Mr Straw] thinks that this is a pile of pants."
"We're speechless, we've never seen anything like it," said Deri Hughes-Roberts, the appeals case manager of the Refugee Legal Centre, which represented the asylum seeker.
Refugee support groups said the offensive wording was an insight into the climate of disbelief and contempt with which some immigration officials treat asylum applicants.
The refugee was given the letter - with the motto "Building a safe, just and tolerant society" - by a Home Office official during an interview at Oakington Barracks centre near Cambridge, on the afternoon of December 4.
The Home Office only spotted the offensive comment an hour and half after the letter had been handed over to the man's representative, Naomi Nicholson, a case worker with the Refugee Legal Centre. She had to explain the meaning of the letter to her client, who only speaks Urdu and Pushtu (an Afghan language).
"I was trying to paraphrase the letter starting from the top, but when I got to the fourth paragraph I didn't know what to say, I was so shocked," Ms Nicholson said. "I was very embarrassed. It was my country that was saying this to him."
Immigration staff tried to replace the letter with a hurriedly amended one that merely states "the Secretary of State is not satisfied that you have established that you are an Afghan national".
Emma Jane Davies, the centre's team leader at Oakington, said officials rang when they eventually spotted the sentence. "They said it was something to do with sabotage at the Home Office, and implied it wasn't to do with the author," she said.
Nick Hardwick, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: "We are quite simply horrified that life and death decisions are being made in such an offensive, casual and flippant manner. By showing such little respect to the human suffering that asylum seekers endure, it is no wonder the asylum process lacks credibility."
The revelation of the offensive letter strengthens calls for an overhaul of asylum processing, and for staff to receive effective training and supervision in dealing with the complexities of individual cases.
The man was sent to Oakington after arriving in the UK in late November. Asylum seekers at the converted army barracks are given "fast track" treatment by the immigration directorate, cases being dealt with in five days. Officials are given only two or three days between initial interviews and legal representations to make decisions. Refugee rights workers say the compressed process leads to slipshod errors and erratic decisions.
Each letter is meant to be checked by senior immigration officials before being given to applicants. But the succession of mistakes in decision letters suggest that supervision is often non-existent.
The Home Office said last night: "This is completely unacceptable, and we are sending a formal letter of apology. The matter is being thoroughly investigated."
