Paper details
| Paper authors | Susanne Jaspars, Lutz Oette |
| In panel on | Making Live, Letting Die at Europe’s Borders – violence and resistance and human mobility |
| Paper presenter(s) will be presenting |
In-Person / |
Abstract
This paper analyses the harmful impact of regimes of asylum practices in the UK on – in particular – Sudanese refugees and their (in) compatibility with international human rights obligations pertaining to inhuman or degrading treatment. In addition to outright human rights abuses such as forced return or mass detention, asylum seekers experience material destitution, difficulties in accessing information and legal assistance, as well as seemingly arbitrary and sudden administrative measures. These measures can be seen as part of the hostile environment, and in this paper we examine their combined and cumulative effect on hunger, homelessness, and illness, as well as stress, anxiety, depression, and re-traumatisation. The accumulation of less visible harmful practices over time has been called a ‘politics of exhaustion’ (Welander, 2020), ‘everyday cruelties’ (Jaspars, 2021 and 2022), ‘slow violence’ (Mayblin et al. 2020), or ‘distributed violence’ (Darling, 2022). Specifically, the paper will examine the trajectory and lived experience of Sudanese asylum seekers in the UK since 2020, and whether and how their treatment can be considered inhuman and degrading under international law. It will include the effect of recent changes in immigration law, the fast-tracking of Sudanese asylum claims, and the escalating violence in Sudan itself.
