State Sovereignty and the Recognition of Refugee Status: the treatment of asylum seekers in devolved Scotland

Abstract

The term ‘asylum seeker’ refers to a person who flees his or her country due to conflict and requests the right to remain in the host country. According to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees held in Geneva, persons assessed as refugees are entitled to the same civil rights that the natural citizens of the host country have. Until the asylum seeker is certified as a refugee, he/she is a ‘bare life’ standing against the sovereign power of a modern nation state with no political rights. Since the 1990s, many immigrants including asylum seekers have fled to the West, and consequently, these countries have ‘fortified’ themselves in response to the increasing number of immigrants.

In 2000, the Home Office of the United Kingdom established the National Asylum Support Service (NASS). NASS introduced the ‘Policy of Compulsory Dispersal’ which aims to avoid the concentration of asylum seekers in a particular area, especially London. As a result, asylum seekers, who are awaiting the decision of the Home Office, are being dispersed all over the UK. In 2006, the Scottish city Glasgow was hosting the largest number of asylum seekers in the UK.

In 1999, the Parliament of UK devolved autonomy to Scotland in all areas except for defense, foreign policy, and immigration and nationality. It is evident that devolved Scotland is relatively more tolerant towards immigrants including refugees and asylum seekers than England and the rest of the UK, so as to balance Scotland’s declining population.

The Home Office has conducted dawn raids to detain and deport failed asylum seekers who continue their stay. Since 2005, the Scottish Executive has been criticizing the practice of dawn raids as inhumane. As a result of the negotiations between the Scottish Executive and the Home Office, dawn raids were suspended in 2006, but only in Scotland. Westminster has acquiesced to Scottish territoriality to a certain extent. However, in an attempt to outwit Scotland, the Home Office has introduced ‘new tactics’ that may subvert Scotland’s concerns as the purpose of these tactics is to detain failed asylum seekers undercover in Scotland and then transfer them to England. In this action, we can observe the strong but hidden intent that the Home Office and the UK government have to retain their stronghold on the immigration policy which is strongly connected to state sovereignty.