LONDON: In the past two and a half years, 13 asylum seekers in the UK have committed suicide, and 24 have attempted suicide over the same period.
According to the Times, children were among them, including a 14-year-old Iraqi girl who suffered serious head injuries after being thrown from a building.
All but one of the 13 dead were awaiting a decision on their asylum applications, and another had been rejected. They ranged in age from 19 to 45, including a 21-year-old Russian woman who committed suicide by the side of a London canal.
The Home Office recorded a further 32 cases of serious self-harm by asylum seekers during the period, with the youngest being 17 and the oldest 48. Nationalities represented in the self-harm data included people from Iran, Syria, Libya, South Africa and Turkey.
A Yemeni doctor who applied for asylum in Britain in 2023 told The Times that conditions for asylum seekers in the UK are inadequate and that many are self-harming or attempting suicide.
“The staff treat you like a criminal. It's like a prison. There are no visitors except during certain hours, and it's not easy to go out,” she said.
“A lot of asylum seekers keep saying we're treated like beggars, and a lot of them have very successful careers. You're treated like that overnight. And that's your life. You don't know how long it's going to last. I never thought I'd have to fight every day for basic human needs or basic rights.”
The long wait times and uncertainty surrounding asylum claims in the UK are thought to have a major impact on the mental health of asylum seekers in the UK, with more than two-thirds of the 161,000 asylum seekers awaiting an initial decision on their status in spring 2023 waiting more than six months for a decision.
The Namibian nurse and former UN staff member told The Times she applied for asylum in Britain in February 2020 but was not told it was rejected until August 2023.
She was then “taken out of a safe environment” and taken to a hotel in Glasgow, where she said six people were stabbed in June 2022 by Sudanese asylum seekers.
She said no mental health support was available to her or anyone else following the attack.
“Everything feels like we can't ask questions,” she told The Times. “It's something I never expected to see in Britain. I never thought I'd be afraid in Britain.”
Professor Cornelius Katona, head of asylum seeker and refugee mental health at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, told The Times: “People who become migrants and seek refuge and protection may have faced violence, danger or exploitation, or have lost loved ones. These can be very traumatic experiences and increase the risk of someone developing mental illness such as anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.
“When they arrive in the UK, asylum seekers face significant housing, employment and financial uncertainty, and they also struggle to access healthcare – all of which can exacerbate existing mental health conditions and potentially increase suicide or self-harm.”
Questions have been raised about the suitability of dedicated detention facilities, including a former Royal Air Force base in Wethersfield, Essex, where 38 separate emergency service calls were made in the first five months of 2024, despite the Home Office providing training for staff to deal with issues including PTSD and suicidal tendencies.
Doctors Without Borders claimed that 41% of people who came to hospital did so because they had suicidal thoughts or behavior.
The charity told the Times: “While there is a clear distinction between hotels and quarantine facilities, often the poor living conditions, failure to safeguard and the long delays people endure lead to varying levels of distress and mental health problems.”
A lawsuit brought by four former residents over the site is currently being heard at the High Court in London. There have also been claims that the Bibby Stockholm barge, which is due to be decommissioned in January 2025 after the suspected suicide death of an Albanian man in December 2023, is unsuitable for hosting asylum seekers.
A Home Office spokesperson told The Times: “We take the health and wellbeing of asylum seekers seriously and will strive to identify and consider all their needs and vulnerabilities, including those relating to mental health and trauma, at every stage. Where serious incidents are reported, we take the necessary steps to ensure our standards of protection are maintained at the highest levels.”
