PLATFORM
Adekanmi Abayomi
Lawyer, community leader and an advocate of social justice
IT is no longer news that Covid-19 has created a global health emergency, threatening most of the spheres of life.
And as this unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic seems constant, both the UK Government and the devolved administrations have been responding to the situation - intending to relieve burdens.
The Executive has announced different laudable initiatives to support voluntary sector, businesses and individuals at this perilous period.
Maybe, if immigration powers are some of the devolved, probably Stormont would have done the needful to improve the condition of asylum seekers - despite Northern Ireland being the lowest recipient of the £1.5billion released by the UK Government to the devolved administrations to respond to coronavirus.
So far, the novel Covid-19 has suddenly resuscitated the sense of community and empathy in our society, which are almost gone in our approach.
Who would have predicted that political leaders, communities, organisations and residents could come together, as we have seen lately.
If it is right to applaud the governments for being responsive, is it also fair to ask if the supports are premised on diversity and equality - and not that migrants are mere circumstantial beneficiaries of those laudable initiatives?
My concern is that this Covid-19 has provided another opportunity for the governments to show how insensitive they are to the plight of asylum seekers. It is usually not their practice to willingly formulate policies or initiate programmes to solely balance the social deficiency between the local and the migrants - even when the indices are crystal clear.
According to Zacchaeus 2000 Trust, the UK government needs to consider a rise in all benefit rates if people are to live in dignity during this adversity.
And it swiftly responded by adding £20 per week as the standard allowance for Universal Credit beneficiaries, without including the asylum seekers who are the most vulnerable.
If the UK Government is so interested in treating asylum seekers with dignity as pledged, the £20 rise accrued to Universal Credit beneficiaries should have been automatically allotted to the asylum seekers because both Universal Credit and the Asylum Support are to serve the same purpose, supporting non-working and local income earners.
This injustice prompted organisations to write a joint letter in April 2020 to the Home Secretary Priti Patel and the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak - showing asylum seekers as the most vulnerable people and demanding an extra £20 a week on top of what they usually receive.
Even the Home Office's decision not to evict failed asylum seekers and those who had recently been granted refugee status during this lockdown was orchestrated by Non-Government Organisation sector on asylum matters related to Covid-19.
We can see vividly that the UK Government with its Home Office must always be reminded before treating asylum seekers with dignity or before knowing that asylum seekers are living in abject poverty - especially during this lockdown.
Asylum seekers have no choice than to rely on expensive local shops around where they live to buy foodstuffs. They also have to visit the shops frequently, which increases the risk of contracting coronavirus because their cash supports are paid weekly and obviously, could not buy foodstuffs in bulk that will last them for weeks. According to Migrant Voice and the Refugee Council, the £5 daily budget for an asylum seeker was challenging to live on without the extra pressure caused by Covid-19.
Undoubtedly, it is almost impossible for someone to survive on this amount.
