That's how UK immigration staff are describing their refugee decision-making process:
The British asylum process is a lottery and many asylum interviews are rushed, biased and resolved by “cut and paste” decisions by overworked Home Office staff, whistleblowers have told the Guardian.
Former staff employed in deciding asylum claims said some colleagues had a harsh, even abusive, attitude towards applicants, mocking them to one another and employing “intimidation tactics” during interviews.
As a result, the whistleblowers said, the asylum system was in effect a lottery, depending on the personal views of the decision-maker who picked up the file. They said some staff took pride in rarely, if ever, granting asylum.
[...]
“It’s just a lottery,” said another. “Because if you’ve got a caseworker who was particularly refusal-minded and was determined to catch you out then you’re going to have a hard time … There was one particular guy who had a reputation for never granting anything. He kind of took pride in that as well. On the one occasion when he did grant someone, I think someone brought him in a cake.”
It is difficult to see how this meets the requirements of international law, let alone administrative law requirements of fairness and reasonableness. But I guess if its dificult for people to get lawyers, then those requirements mean nothing in practice, and can be ignored.
Further on, the article talks about staff being required to process 225 applications a year - a rate which leaves them no time to properly read the cases, let alone make a good decision. Its reminiscent of the dystopian computer game Papers, Please, rather than the sort of thing you expect to happen in a civilised and functioning country. But I guess where refugees are concerned, the UK hasn't been civilised for quite some time, if indeed it ever was.
I'd like to think that New Zealand does a better job than this, but we've had the same budgetry pressures that the UK has had. Maybe its worth someone sending some pokey OIA requests about staff numbers, caseload, and expected work rates?
