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Archbishop's remarks on asylum spark controversy
2003-028-3
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
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[Episcopal News Service]
The archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has surprised both his supporters and his critics by calling it 'perfectly reasonable' to put asylum seekers in secure units while their cases are evaluated.
In an interview with the London's Sunday Times newspaper, the Anglican leader said he was concerned about people's safety. 'There's got to be a security agenda,' said Williams. 'It's a very unsafe world and there is no way around that. The challenge for any responsible government is to be absolutely serious about security.' But he insisted that asylum claims must be processed quickly so that people were 'not locked up in hermetically sealed compartments for an indefinite period'.
Williams has been viewed as a liberal on issues such as Iraq and homosexuality but his comments were seen by some groups to put him in the conservative camp on asylum seekers.
Security has in recent weeks become a front-page issue after a police detective, Stephen Oake, an active Baptist, was fatally stabbed in January during a police raid on a flat in Manchester. Four men reported to be Algerian asylum seekers were arrested.
Responding to Williams's remarks, the Refugee Council, a non-government organization, said there were 'real fears about security that need to be addressed' but 'a policy of detaining all asylum seekers on arrival will do little to improve our security'.
Jonathan Jennings, Williams's press spokesman, told ENI: 'The archbishop was not advocating detention of asylum seekers, but saying it was reasonable to raise the question. The security question is not a trivial one, but one would also need to solve other issues like speed of processing applications and equity for asylum seekers.'
At the same time, the Churches' Commission for Racial Justice--part of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland--has spoken out on behalf of asylum seekers who will be denied financial and other support if they do not register at their port of entry into Britain. The commission described the new measure as 'draconian' and highly unlikely to stop people seeking asylum in Britain.
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