In or out?
Sir: Anne Applebaum's article (To we need people like Michael Howard?', 27 May) raises more issues than can be properly discussed in a letter, but the effect of illegal immigration on the con- cept of asylum is now so damaging that it requires some explanation.
The figure of 55,000 is the backlog of applications, it does not include those who have been refused asylum and are awaiting an appeal, have disappeared or have been granted asylum or exceptional leave. Between 1989 and 1994 some 162,500 asy- lum applications were made in the United Kingdom, but this figure ignores depen- dents and certain groups of refugees who were dealt with outside the normal proce- dure.
Of those who claim asylum in the United Kingdom, 70 per cent do so after they have entered the United Kingdom, many of them illegally and in direct contravention of the 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees. Some only claim asylum after they are dis- covered to be in the United Kingdom ille- gally, despite the fact that they have lived here for months or even years. First-hand accounts by would-be asylum seekers demonstrate that criminals are selling, asy- lum packages' to illegal immigrants, includ- ing forged documents, assistance with bribes to airline staff and carefully con- structed stories of persecution.
It must be stressed that there are many genuine refugees, more than 40 million world-wide according to the United Nations, who are in desperate need of our help.
One solution would be to end the exist- ing practice whereby bogus asylum seek- ers are able to choose to claim asylum in distant countries and for UNHCR to bring the most needy from refugee trou- ble spots to the West. This would require a generous pledge of support from west- ern countries, but our citizens would sure- ly be willing to carry the burden if they could be certain that their taxes would only be spent on those who are genuinely in need.
John Tincey
Immigration Service Union, 12 Church Street, Harwich, Essex
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