Stateless By Any Other Name: Refused Asylum-Seekers in the United Kingdom

摘要

This article maintains that there are certain aspects of the UK asylum system which may lead to statelessness-like situations. In order to understand how this can happen, we reconsider Hannah Arendt's concept of statelessness, which entails three losses of home (exile), state protection (basic rights) and having a place in the world (political rights). Through interviews with refused and long-term asylum-seekers in Oxford and London, and one focus group, we examine the impact of negative asylum-application decisions on applicants’ access to rights. The main finding of this research is that, when denied state protection, refused asylum-seekers endure an existence not unlike stateless people. This study calls into question the application of key principles of human rights as they relate to refused asylum-seekers, especially the tenets of dignity and non-discrimination, and the right to family life.View full textDownload full textKeywordsRefused Asylum-Seekers, Asylum, Arendt, Protection, Human Rights, United KingdomRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2011.545311