Reports

On this page you can find infor­ma­tion on and down­load links for reports pub­lished by and fea­tur­ing the work of PAFRAS.

Under­stand­ing how asy­lum seek­ers and refugees access and expe­ri­ence men­tal health sup­port in Leeds

A report on PAFRAS/Touchstone Action Research Project 2011–2012
Dzmitry Karpuk, Mary Cun­ning­ham, Rupin­der Kaur, Saman­tha Short, Cait­lyn Can­non, David Odunukwe & Jon Beech

In July 2011, NHS Leeds com­mis­sioned Pos­i­tive Action for Refugees and Asy­lum Seek­ers (PAFRAS) and Touch­stone to under­take some par­tic­i­pa­tive research into

• the way in which Refugees and Asy­lum Seek­ers (RAS) nav­i­gate their way into and through Men­tal Health Ser­vices of Leeds,
• how exist­ing sup­port sys­tems can be made leaner and more responsive,
• how the sys­tem might bet­ter respond to the needs of peo­ple in men­tal dis­tress, but who do not meet the cri­te­ria for men­tal health interventions.

The research ele­ment of the work was hosted and per­for­mance man­aged by Touch­stone within the BME Com­mu­nity Devel­op­ment team. This research is a col­lab­o­ra­tive piece of work draw­ing on the strengths of both Touch­stone and PAFRAS.

The Wages of Fear: risk, safety and undoc­u­mented work

Jon Bur­nett and David Whyte, Decem­ber 2010

The Wages of Fear explores the expe­ri­ences of undoc­u­mented work­ers in the UK. It inves­ti­gates the occu­pa­tional risks fac­ing undoc­u­mented work­ers, and finds evi­dence of rou­tine exploita­tion, injury, and harm. It fur­ther pro­vides a snap­shot of the vio­lent con­se­quences of increased work­place raids.

This report is a joint pub­li­ca­tion of PAFRAS and the Uni­ver­sity of Liv­er­pool, it was writ­ten with finan­cial sup­port from the Uni­ver­sity of Liv­er­pool and the Ken­neth Miller Trust, and we wish to thank them for their assistance.

Refused Sanc­tu­ary then deprived of their health

Lau­rie Ray, July 2010

This report, com­mis­sioned by the Leeds Com­mu­nity Foun­da­tion in the sum­mer of 2009 and pub­lished by PAFRAS, explores the health­care needs of des­ti­tute asy­lum seek­ers and their expe­ri­ences of the health­care sys­tem while tak­ing a crit­i­cal look at health pol­icy nation­ally and the deliv­ery of health ser­vices locally.The research looks at the restric­tions placed upon access to health­care insti­tuted at the level of national pol­icy, but also at both for­mal and infor­mal bar­ri­ers to access at the local level.

Its aims are:

• To set out work­able rec­om­men­da­tions for reform of health pol­icy at national level,
• To make pro­pos­als for the improve­ment of the qual­ity and avail­abil­ity of care for refused asy­lum seek­ers, and
• To help to empower refused asy­lum seek­ers to access the health ser­vices that they are enti­tled to.

Under­ground Lives

March 2009

This report researched and writ­ten by Dianne Tay­lor and pub­lished by PAFRAS in March 2009 is a first-hand inves­ti­ga­tion of the expe­ri­ences and sur­vival strate­gies of des­ti­tute asy­lum seek­ers liv­ing in the UK .

The report, which caused some con­tro­versy at its pub­li­ca­tion, is no loner avail­able through our web­site. We have removed it at the request of some of the indi­vid­u­als whose sto­ries were fea­tured in it, who no longer wish to be in the pub­lic spotlight

If you wish to learn about expe­ri­ences of des­ti­tu­tion in Britain we can rec­om­mend the fol­low­ing reports by other organisations:

• Not Gone, But For­got­ten, British Red Cross (2010)
• Still Des­ti­tute, Joseph Rown­tree Char­i­ta­ble Trust (2009)
• More Des­ti­tu­tion in Leeds, Joseph Rown­tree Char­i­ta­ble Trust (2008)

The Healthy Liv­ing Project Report

Fidelis Chebe, Jan­u­ary 2009

In 2007 PAFRAS received fund­ing from Social Ser­vices to deliver a one year “Healthy Liv­ing Project‟ pri­mar­ily for des­ti­tute asy­lum seek­ers. The objec­tives of the project were to improve the health and well being of des­ti­tute asy­lum seek­ers and, through a pro­gram of health advice, exer­cises and ther­a­pies, to address their phys­i­cal and men­tal health needs. As pilot project, this project also aimed at reduc­ing health inequal­i­ties by enabling refused asy­lum seek­ers access to ser­vices avail­able as well as ser­vices not cur­rently avail­able to them.

PAFRAS sub­mis­sion to the Inde­pen­dent Asy­lum Commission

Jon Bur­nett, Octo­ber 2007

Between 2006 and 2008 the Inde­pen­dent Asy­lum Com­mis­sion con­ducted an eigh­teen month inves­ti­ga­tion into all aspects of the asy­lum sys­tem in the United King­dom. As a front line organ­i­sa­tion work­ing with asy­lum seek­ers PAFRAS pre­pared a detailed response on its work and expe­ri­ences for the com­mis­sion­ers. You can read that report here. To find out more about the IAC and its work go here.