Information on the human rights situation in the asylum seeker’s country of origin is relevant to a determination as to whether the events described by the refugee constitute persecution. But in letters refusing asylum to Sri Lankans, the information about the human rights situation in the Home Office’s own Country Assessment is never brought to bear on applicants’ claims. Instead refusal letters make assertion about the situation in Sri Lanka that is not borne out by the Assessment.
The Medical Foundation has recommended that the Home Office should cease drawing routine, general and negative conclusions about asylum claims and instead properly examine the individual’s account. Adjudicators hearing appeals should not accept the view in Home Office refusal letters uncritically. The Foundation has also called on Sri Lanka to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, indicating its willingness to allow perpetrators of crimes against humanity and other abuses to be brought to justice.