HL Deb 09 May 2001 vol 625 cc195-6WA
Lord Lester of Herne Hill

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether, and if so why, they consider that the Race Relations (Immigration and Asylum) Authorisation 2001, in providing that information need not be made available to asylum applicants in a language which they understand, is compatible with the United Kingdom's obligations to provide a hearing for such applicants under the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the European Convention on Human Rights.[HL2063]

Lord Bassam of Brighton

The Government believe that the authorisation is entirely compatible with the United Kingdom's obligations under the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the European Convention on Human Rights. The authorisation relates to the translation of the explanatory notes accompanying the asylum Statement of Evidence Form (SEF) into over 30 languages currently used by the majority of asylum applicants. We are confident that most applicants will have knowledge of one of the languages in which the document is being made available. If the linguistic profile of languages used by asylum applicants changes, the need for additional translations will be of course considered. It would be impractical and prohibitively expensive to provide translations in every dialect and language which might be encountered.