A"heartbreaking" spike in deaths by suicide among asylum seekers made 2023 the worst year on record for claimants taking their lives. Campaigners warn there is an urgent need to better understand the mental health risks faced by migrants
The information about the seven cases – involving individuals aged from 19 to 63 – has only come to light following Freedom of Information requests by Liberty Investigates and subsequent use of sources to trace and identify deaths from the anonymised data. The 19-year-old had arrived in Britain by small boat from France last August and his details had been passed to the Home Office’s Third Country Unit , the team responsible for deciding whether a migrant should be barred from applying to stay in the UK under new “inadmissibility” rules which can automatically block claims.
According to the Home Office records, the Somali man, who had been waiting 829 days for a decision on his claim, had previously been arrested several months earlier on suspicion of stabbing another asylum seeker and had been due to stand trial shortly before he died. It is not clear why the man was in police custody at the time of his death.
An expert report warned earlier this year that refugees and asylum seekers in Britain are at higher risk of poor mental health than the general population because of the “complex and unique challenges” that many have faced in reaching their destination and then trying to establish themselves in a new country.