LONDON: Thirteen asylum seekers have committed suicide in the UK in the past two-and-a-half years, with a further 24 attempting to take their own lives in that period.
A report by The Times found that these included children, such as a 14-year-old Iraqi girl who threw herself from a building and suffered serious head injuries.
Of the 13 who would die, all but one were awaiting a decision on asylum applications, while the other had been rejected. They ranged in age from 19 to 45 years old and included a 21-year-old Russian woman who took her own life by a canal in London.
A further 32 cases of serious self-harming behavior by asylum seekers were also recorded by the Home Office during the relevant period, with the youngest being 17 and the oldest being 48. Among the nationalities represented in the self-harm data were people from Iran, Syria, Libya, South Africa and Turkey.
A Yemeni doctor, who applied for asylum in the UK in 2023, told The Times that conditions for asylum seekers in the UK were inadequate and blamed them for the number of people who self-harmed or attempted suicide.
“The staff treat you like you're some kind of criminal – it feels like a prison. You don't get visitors except (during) certain hours (and) it's not easy to go out,” she said.
“Many asylum seekers constantly say that we are treated like beggars, when many asylum seekers come from over-achieving professions. Overnight you are treated like this – and this is your life, for you don't know how long. I never thought I would have to fight daily for basic human needs or basic rights.”
The time and uncertainty surrounding asylum applications in the UK is believed to play a major role in the mental health conditions of asylum seekers in the UK, with over two thirds of the 161,000 asylum seekers awaiting initial decisions on their status in the UK. spring 2023 wait over six months for a result.
A Namibian nurse and former UN employee told The Times that she had applied for asylum in the UK in February 2020 but was not refused until August 2023.
During that time, she said, she was “taken out of a safe environment” and moved to a Glasgow hotel, where six people were stabbed by a Sudanese asylum seeker in June 2022 while she was staying there.
She said she and others were not offered psychological support in the aftermath of the attack.
“Everything feels like we can't ask questions,” she told The Times. “It's something that I never expected in Britain. I never in my life expected to be scared in Britain.”
Prof Cornelius Katona, head of asylum seeker and refugee mental health at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, told The Times: “People who have been displaced and are seeking shelter and protection may have faced violence, danger or exploitation and lost loved ones. It could be deeply traumatic experiences and increase the risk that someone may develop a mental illness such as anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Asylum seekers also have to contend with significant housing, employment and financial insecurity when they arrive in the UK, while experiencing difficulties in accessing healthcare. All of these factors can exacerbate an existing mental illness and potentially lead to increased suicidality or self-harm.”
Despite the Home Office providing training to staff to deal with issues such as PTSD and suicidal tendencies, questions have also been raised about the suitability of dedicated care centres, including a former Royal Air Force base at Wethersfield in Essex, where emergency services were called on 38 separate occasions during the first five months of 2024.
MSF claimed that 41 percent of people at the site had used its medical services in reference to suicidal thoughts or behavior.
The charity told The Times: “While there are clear differences between hotels and detention centres, the often poor living conditions, sheltering failures and long delays experienced by people lead to varying levels of anxiety and mental health problems.”
A case brought by four former residents over the site is currently being heard by the High Court in London. There have also been allegations that the Bibby Stockholm barge, a vessel due to be decommissioned in January 2025, was unsuitable for housing asylum seekers after an Albanian man died of suspected suicide in December 2023.
A Home Office spokesman told The Times: “We take the health and wellbeing of asylum seekers seriously and will at every stage of the process seek to ensure that all needs and vulnerabilities are identified and taken into account, including those related to mental health and trauma. We ensure that when a serious incident is reported we take the necessary steps so that our protection standards remain at the highest level.”
