Asylum seekers in Cardiff are being issued with brightly coloured wristbands that they must wear at all times, in a move which echoes the “red door” controversy in Middlesbrough and has resulted in their harassment and abuse by members of the public.
Newly arrived asylum seekers in the Welsh capital who are housed by Clearsprings Ready Homes, a private firm contracted by the Home Office, are being told that they must wear the wristbands all the time otherwise they will not be fed. The wristbands entitle the asylum seekers, who cannot work and are not given money, to three meals a day.
It follows the news that asylum seekers in Middlesbrough had complained their houses were targeted after people realised all front doors were painted the same colour red by the private firm responsible for housing them, G4S.
Eric Ngalle, 36, spent a month in Lynx House in Cardiff, where initial accommodation is provided for asylum seekers, before he was granted refugee status in November 2015. He is now working as a writer and making a theatre production with the Arts Council of Wales.
He said: “My time in Lynx House was one of the most horrible experiences in my life. I hated wearing the wristbands and sometimes refused to wear them and was turned away from food.
“If we refused to wear the wristbands we were told we would be reported to the Home Office. Some staff implemented this policy in a more drastic way than others. I made a complaint about the wristbands to Clearsprings but nothing was done. We had to walk from accommodation about 10 minutes away to Lynx House to get food and sometimes when we were walking down the street with our wristbands showing.
“On the road we had to walk down there is often heavy traffic. Sometimes drivers would see our wristbands, start honking their horns and shout out of the window, ‘Go back to your country.’ Some people made terrible remarks to us.
“If you take off the wristband you can’t reseal it back onto your wrist so if you want to eat you have to wear it all the time. Labelling them on a daily basis with silver, red or blue tags only serves as a reminder that they are still wearing the garments of an outcast.”
Maher, 41, who recently stayed at Lynx House but has now been granted refugee status, said he was very angry about being forced to wear the wristband.
“When you walk down the street all the local people who see this brightly coloured band know who we are and where we live,” he said. “We feel we are not equal with this community. All the time I tried to hide the band so people could not see it.”
Asylum seekers in the UK are not allowed to work or claim mainstream benefits. Some receive a small amount of money or an Azure card to use in supermarkets.
But newly arrived asylum seekers placed in what is known as initial accommodation by the Home Office receive neither money or an Azure card. They are placed in hotel-style accommodation and given three basic meals a day.
Mogdad Abdeen, 24, a human rights activist from Sudan, spent three months in Lynx House at the end of last year. He has now been moved to different accommodation in Cardiff while he waits for a decision on his claim.
“This wristband is discrimination, clear and simple. No band, no food. We are made to feel that we are second-class humans. People in Lynx House are scared of meeting new people in case they see the wristband and give them problems.
“Sometimes when we are standing outside Lynx House queueing for food people shout out of their car windows ‘refugee, refugee’. When we complain about the wristbands nobody listens to us.”
When some of the occupants of Lynx House were asked if they were willing to be identified, all refused saying they were scared that they might be punished for speaking out. Instead they agreed to have their hands photographed wearing the bands.
Chloe Marong, coordinator of the Trinity Centre in Cardiff, which supports asylum seekers and refugees, has expressed concern about the wristbands.
“We have raised concerns about these wristbands with the Home Office and Clearsprings but so far nothing has been done. These wristbands mark asylum seekers out and further stigmatises them in an already very hostile environment,” she said.
Adam Hundt of Deighton Pierce Glynn solicitors said: “Concerns about this practice have been raised with us and we have been looking at it. Asylum seekers are a very scared and vulnerable group and the last thing they want to do is stand out from the crowd.
“In some areas it can be dangerous for them to do so, so it is easy to understand how asylum seekers feel they are being branded with these brightly coloured wristbands which draw unwelcome attention to them and make them feel ashamed. It is particularly concerning that wearing the wristbands is linked to whether or not they get food or go hungry. It should be possible to come up with a system to ensure that people are fed without publicly humiliating them and undermining race relations.”
The operations director of Clearsprings Ready Homes, said: “The UK has, over recent months, seen a larger population of asylum seekers. In turn volumes of people in initial accommodation sites, including Cardiff increased quickly.
“Clearsprings has taken steps, agreed with the Home Office to increase capacity in line with this demand in the form of additional self-catering accommodation.
“Those clients in the self-catering units receive a weekly allowance in the form of supermarket vouchers and those in full-board accommodation are issued with a coloured wristband that bears no other logo or text identifying its use or origin. Full-board clients are required to show their wristbands in order to receive meals in the restaurant.”
The company said it had been operating the system since May 2015 because of the increased numbers of asylum seekers.“As well as being subject to regular Home Office inspections we are contractually required to undertake stringent monthly inspections of the initial accommodation provision and rectify any defects within contractual timescales,” Clearsprings said.
The Home Office declined to comment.
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