By Reem Makari

A total of 39 refugees from Iran arrived on the border of the Kent Coast over the weekend and are currently in Dover under immigration officials. The refugees were given medical checks and are now waiting for their asylum claims to be accepted in order to stay in the United Kingdom.

All refugees under the age of eighteen are currently under the care of local authorities were they are provided with accommodation and an allowance until they are of age. However, all of the other refugees have to go through the long waiting process that may take up to six months before knowing if their asylum claim would be accepted or not. In that time, they are not allowed to work or travel until their claim has been approved.

The waiting time is one of the big flaws in the system that many refugees experience when they come to the United Kingdom trying to seek asylum. Razia Shariff, the CEO of Kent Refugee Action Network, said: “It takes months, sometimes even years, for claims to be processed and in that time the person is not allowed to work, they’re not allowed to get an education or do anything else. It has a huge impact on the young person’s mental health state. It’s a bit worrying for them because it’s so easy for them to get lost in the system.”

The Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN) works towards helping young refugees when they turn eighteen so that they are getting support while they’re waiting for their asylum claim to be processed.

The situation in Iran at the moment is only getting worse as the political climate is only becoming more conservative, forcing people to seek asylum in Europe or in the United Kingdom as they no longer feel safe being in their home country. Attempting to prove that it is no longer safe in order for their claim to be accepted is more difficult as their is no direct shift in the political climate as it was during the civil war in Syria or during the Arab Spring in Egypt.

Amir Darwish, a Syrian refugee and asylum seeker in the UK can relate to these difficulties with trying to make the home office believe that he is a genuine refugee in order to get his asylum claim accepted. In response to the Iranian refugees, he said, “These people coming into a new world, they need help navigating their way through this. They need to be told that they are welcome instead of b

eing told that they are rejected and that they are a burden.”

Amir is now officially a British citizen and his written his own autobiography titled From Aleppo Without Love: A true story of anguish and despair by a boy from Aleppo. 

In response to the Iranian refugees arriving by boat on the Kent Coast, Home Secretary Javid will be meeting his French counterpart Christophe Castaner to discuss how they be dealing with the situation.

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