Asylum hotel warning as torture survivors describe harrowing ordeals

Torture survivors have shared harrowing experiences of living in asylum accomodation in a powerful message to ministers.

Clinicians have warned that putting people in hotels, military sites and forcing them to share bedrooms with strangers is dangerous for traumatised survivors. In a report published today charity Freedom from Torture called on the Government to find ways of housing people in communities instead.

Refugee Mwa Mbuyi Kapinga, who fled torture in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said her seven-and-a-half years in asylum accommodation took a devastating toll. Mwa, who has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) said: "I was struggling very much... I couldn’t sleep at night. I was struggling to sleep even during the day.

"I was having flashbacks, headaches. I was on the edge all the time. I would only fall asleep when my body was really exhausted. There’s a point when your body just shuts down.”

And she continued: “When a survivor is struggling in such situations like I was in, you feel like you are on the edge. You can just kill yourself.

"The system can push you to try to finish your life. This happened to me: twice.”

Another torture survivor, Miriame, said: “It was like they’re moving you without telling you where they... go with you. It was disturbing because they just act like you are like a package.

"They take you like a package and bring you somewhere. You don’t know where you are going."

The report, titled A Place To Heal, states: "As a result of the horrors they have endured, survivors of torture are at risk of harm if placed in unsafe and inappropriate asylum accommodation.

"It can be profoundly retraumatising, leading to a deterioration in wellbeing, increased anxiety and depression and thoughts of self-harm or suicide.

"Survivors placed in hotels, former military sites or forced to share a bedroom experience a worsening of trauma symptoms, disruption to essential therapy and delayed rehabilitation."

It calls for the Government to ensure torture survivors are not forced to share a bedroom with strangers. The charity said officials should quickly grant leave - without the need for an interview - to those with "manifestly well-founded claims" from high grant rate nationalities, as well as those from countries to which they cannot be returned.

The Government has vowed to end the use of asylum hotels by the end of the current Parliament in 2029 - but says it wants to do so sooner. The Home Office is exploring the use of military bases as an alternative.

Sile Reynolds, head of asylum advocacy at Freedom from Torture and author of the report, said: “Every day in our therapy rooms, we see first-hand the devastating impact unsafe and unsuitable asylum housing has on survivors of torture.

"These are men, women and children who are trying to recover after unimaginable cruelty. They need stability, privacy and safety – not another source of fear. Better quality and faster asylum decisions would allow the Government to empty the hotels, while locally-tailored and resourced housing models would mean that refugees could rebuild their lives in thriving communities.”