UK: Serco’s eviction of refused asylum seekers ruled lawful by Scottish court, prompting criticism from human rights campaigners
“Serco's evictions of refused asylum seekers lawful, judges rule”, 13 November 2019
Refugee charities have warned that a dangerous precedent has been set for the state to avoid human-rights obligations after Scotland’s highest court ruled that the evictions of refused asylum seekers by the housing provider Serco were lawful.
Appeal judges at Edinburgh’s court of session refused to overturn a decision made earlier this year by the court’s outer house that Serco’s policy of changing the locks on the homes of refused asylum seekers did not contravene Scottish housing law or human rights legislation.
Judith Robertson, chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, warned that the court’s finding that Serco was not acting as a public authority, and therefore not bound by human rights obligations, had “profound consequences for how people’s rights are protected when public services are delivered by private providers”.
Fiona McPhail, principal solicitor of Shelter Scotland, which secured interim interdicts for many of those under threat of eviction, expressed similar concerns: “It’s the state that has the statutory obligation to accommodate asylum seekers – if by privatising those services, the state can avoid its obligations under human rights law, this sets a dangerous precedent.”
Serco, which handed over its asylum housing contract in Scotland to Mears Group in September, started to implement controversial plans to change the locks on the accommodation of around 300 of asylum seekers living in Glasgow who had been told they could not stay in the UK.
Sabir Zazai, chief executive of the Scottish Refugee Council, said that hundreds of men and women across the city were now facing immediate street homelessness in wintry conditions, as the ruling confirmed that evictions without a court order, which are unlawful in Scotland, can now be carried out by Serco against people in the asylum system.
“The people we work with do not have family networks in Scotland or friends with spare bedrooms where they can stay in a crisis. People have no options. On top of this, there is already a homelessness crisis in Glasgow that this decision will only contribute to”.
A Serco spokesperson said the court was clear that its approach was "completely proper and within the law".
She said Serco had been demonised and subject to extreme criticism despite spending millions of pounds supporting people who no longer had a right to remain in the UK.