Sudan: UKBA concedes non-Arabs from Darfur should get asylum

Tuesday, 03 November 2009 19:10

The UK Border Agency made changes to its 'Operational Guidance Notes' (OGN) for Sudan on 2nd November. It has concluded that non-Arabs from the region of Darfur should be given asylum in the UK and cannot relocate safely to elsewhere in Sudan.

 The UKBA OGN states:

"Conclusion. All non-Arab Darfuris, regardless of their political or other affiliations, are at real risk of persecution in Darfur and internal relocation elsewhere in Sudan is not currently to be relied upon. Claimants who establish that they are non-Arab Darfuris and who do not all within the exclusion clauses will therefore qualify for asylum."

The change follows a string of cases that first of all went the Home Office way.  The Home Office had conceded that Darfuris were persecuted but that they could get protection by seeking refuge in Khartoum. the capital.  Applicants had argued that it was unduly harsh, unsuccessfully.

However, the UNHCR has established that conditions were now more harsh there - in that political dissidents were being arrested, that international organisations monitoring human rights were being excluded from the country, that human rights activists were being arrested and ill treated, and that simply travelling from elsewhere in Sudan made it likely that you would be regarded as suspect by the security services there.

The NRC would encourage non-Arab Darfuris to obtain legal advice on their asylum claims or on making a fresh claim.  The decision may also change the risks to those who have been accepted by UKBA as human rights defenders, opponents of the regim, or who have to live in Khartoum after relocating from elsewhere in Sudan.  They too should take legal advice on a fresh claim.

The OGN can be found here on the UKBA website.