A leading charity for mental health warns that the asylum system increases the risk of suicide among asylum seekers and refugees.
CONTENT WARNING: This article contains references to suicide
The Foundation Foundation for Mental Health says the way the asylum system was drawn up is to “undermine and damage throughout as the mental health of asylum seekers, leading to an increased risk of suicide.
The CEO of the charity, Mark Rowland, told Sky News that the current system, which prevents people from working for 12 months, creates an ’emergency situation’.
He says people supported by his charity reports that the asylum system is so traumatic that it “leads them to consider their own lives” and that their mental health problems have added, it has never been worse.
In a new call, Mr. Rowland began the government to start recording suicide among asylum seekers as part of the official statistics.
He says charities in the sector are struggling to tackle the issue from a public health perspective due to the lack of data.
Sami Gichki, who fled to the United Kingdom to escape prosecution, gained mental health issues on his decision
Sami Gichki, now 21, was ten years old when his family fled political prosecution in Pakistan and came to the United Kingdom.
He comes from Balochistan in the southwest of the country and told Sky News that about a dozen of his family members were killed because of their political beliefs.
Sami who when he was ten, and his sister Ilsa arrived in the UK, in happier times
Sami’s family has been waiting for an asylum decision. Left to right: Ma Alia, Sister Unzailah, Dad Afzal, Sami, Sister Ilsa, Sister Durrain
He waited for a decade for a decision on the office of his refugee status and said he became suicide because of his inability to work or continue studying without financial support when he completed the sixth form. He says it left him without a ‘feeling of purpose’.
He said he had ended up in A&E because of his suicidal thoughts because he believed he would be “better off” than in the asylum system.
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Rowland, who reflects on cases such as Samis, says the situation creates a ‘perfect storm’, where people who have often underwent trauma are subjected to a highly stressful asylum system.
The comments come after statistics published by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research indicate that asylum seekers can work after only six months to save £ 4.4bn in government savings, deliver £ 1bn to growth and raise £ 880m in tax revenue.
Mark Rowland of the Mental Health Foundation says that mental health problems among asylum seekers ‘have never been worse’
If he was questioned about whether it would create a greater ‘drawing factor’ for economic migration, Mr. Rowland said: ‘This is not the reason why an asylum seeker chooses a safety place’.
A spokesman for the office of the office said: ‘We are determined to continue to undertake everyone who works illegally in the UK, and we certainly do not intend to create a quick process so that people who come to the UK outside the established work visa rules are simply allowed to ignore them.
“We take the well -being of those in our care very seriously, but to relax the rules on illegal work is not an acceptable solution.”
:: Anyone who feels emotionally distressed or suicide can call Samaritans for help at 116 123 or email to jo@samaritans.org in the UK. Call the Samaritans branch in your area in the US or 1 (800) 273 talk.
