§ Mr. David EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on Amnesty International's call for a major review of current Home Office procedures for dealing with applications for political asylum in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. RentonI met representatives of Amnesty International on 11 February to discuss their proposals. I stressed at that meeting that the United Kingdom will continue to carry out its obligations under the 1951 refugee convention and that since 1979 we have granted refugee status to over 8,000 applicants and admitted 20,000 Vietnamese refugees as well as allowing over 7,000 applicants who did not qualify for refugee status to remain here on an exceptional basis. Moreover, much of what Amnesty proposes represents current Home Office practice. There does, however, have to be an effective procedure for distinguishing between applications which meet the requirements of the UN convention and those which do not and, in this context, I cannot accept Amnesty's main recommendation that those who are refused asylum on arrival at a port should have a right of appeal exercisable before removal. The experience of other European countries reinforces our view that such a system would be likely to encourage abuse of our asylum procedures.