Asylum Seekers

Conference condemns this Government's continual scapegoating of asylum seekers which has fuelled the rise of fascist parties and the 2002 Asylum Bill which has further marginalised and eroded the rights of people fleeing persecution and claiming asylum in the UK. Conference further condemns the proposals contained in the 2004 Asylum Bill. Conference demands: • All asylum seekers be given the right to work or claim benefit immediately after lodging their claimfor asylum. • The closure of all detention centres. • An end to the practice of detaining children • An end to forced deportations prior to theexhaustion of the appeals process • The scrapping of the "white list" of presumed safe countries and all applications for asylum to be considered strictly on their merits. • A Government commitment to comply fully with the Geneva Convention on the rights to asylum and the European Convention on Human Rights