A refugee in Britain .. The harshness of waiting in the land of dreams deferred

Tariq al-Laban - London

Eleven years of waiting by Palestinian Hassan Abu Maher in Britain during a search for the right of protection and asylum. Hassan, who lived his first years in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, entered Britain in 2007 with his two sons, Maher and Basem, in his forties, on a journey that slowly passed years and whose main address remains.

The boys were able to enroll in British schools easily after entering the country, but the family's asylum request went into oblivion.

"I had an interview in December 2007. When I arrived, the staff apologized for completing the interview because there was no translator," Hasan recalls. Hassan remains waiting for his interview, which is one of the cornerstones of the asylum process, to be completed. .

Harsh conditions
Years spent by the family living on support provided to asylum seekers. "I used to spend all the family support on food alone," Hassan said. "If my children needed to buy clothes, we had to make a plan."

Poverty was not the only problem. During the waiting years, Maher, the eldest son, was afflicted with cancer. The family entered another spiral of suffering that left his mark on his brother, who suffered from depression.

After seven years of patience, the family was surprised by the refusal of the Ministry of the Interior to seek asylum. The decision was rejected by a decision to expel them from their housing, without taking into account their critical situation. "I had two sick children," Hassan said. "The Interior Ministry decided to expel us ... not a person who made this decision."

Human rights organizations intervene
British human rights organizations considered the refusal decision illegal because of incomplete asylum procedures and called for urgent assistance to the family. Some of these organizations also provided legal assistance to stop the expulsion decision.

Human rights pressure succeeded in ending the shelter crisis for the family through the approval of the Ministry of the Interior to reconsider the case, so that the family would re-enter the waiting lines.

Hassan's case was not the worst between what the British newspaper The Guardian revealed about the long time spent by the Ministry of the Interior in a number of cases to make a preliminary decision on asylum. The newspaper revealed that four asylum seekers waited for the Ministry's response more than 20 years, Another list of 17 people had their share of waiting 15 years. It was the worst case the newspaper had seen for a long-awaited person for more than 26 years.

Official statements
The British Ministry of the Interior confirmed in official statements that its employees are keen to respond to asylum applications within six months on most cases, but the ministry spokesman confirmed that some of the issues described in the complex may be delayed for more than a year.

The asylum lawyer Maxwell Bray assured Al Jazeera Net that the Ministry of Interior is not obliged to respond to asylum applications within a specified period of time. Due to the large number of asylum seekers in the UK, the Ministry may postpone a large number of cases for indefinite periods of time. May go beyond a fixed time limit.

Annual estimates
The Ministry of the Interior estimates that between June 2017 and June 2018, asylum applications in the United Kingdom accounted for nearly 27,000 applications, of which the Middle East accounted for nearly 6,000. Refugees are distributed to all cities in the United Kingdom, while Scotland is the most welcoming country for refugees, especially Syrians.

Official statistics also showed that 37 percent of asylum seekers whose applications were rejected by the ministry succeeded in obtaining asylum through the court's appeal process, prompting the UK Refugee Support Board to accuse the ministry of arbitrariness and unjustified refusal to seek asylum.

Tightening after the brix
While the United Kingdom is waiting for an expected exit from the European Union, asylum seekers look at the uncertainties of the new difficulties they face. The United Kingdom is expected to tighten immigration and asylum laws following the bricast, and the rise of the anti-immigration right could mean more Of racist practices towards them.