ایمنی در دست ما؟: مطالعه خودکشی و خودآسیبی در پناهجویان

This study examined the incidence of suicide and self-harm in asylum seekers in the UK, both those in detention and in the community. The investigation revealed that data recording is seriously flawed or sometimes non-existent. However, the scanty data those were available from Immigration Removal Centres, coroners’ records and Prison Ombudsman’s reports showed high levels of self-harm and suicide for detained asylum seekers as compared with the United Kingdom prison population. It is suggested that this could be attributed to routine failure to observe and mitigate risk factors. The author makes the following recommendations: coroners should record asylum seeker status and ethnicity of deceased, self-harm monitoring in the community should record asylum seeker status and ethnicity, health care in immigration removal centres should meet the same standards as UK prisons as a minimum, allegation of torture by immigration detainees should trigger a case management review and risk assessment for continued detention, and this process should be open to audit, and interpreters should be used for mental state examinations unless their English has been shown to the fluent.

The identification of at risk groups for suicide and the reduction of risk factors is a stated government strategy1 and a key performance indicator in the prison system.2 Whilst the UK national rate for suicide is 9/100,000 the rate for prisoners is 122/100,000. The risk groups identified by the government publication ‘Suicide is Everyone’s Concern’, are: young adults, male gender, low income, previous traumatic experiences, contact with mental health services and lack of social supports. Asylum seekers carry not just one or two of these risk factors, but the majority of them as summarized in Table 1. The actual incidence of self-harm or suicide in this population is not known. Detention per se increases the risk of suicide and self-harm, and the rates for this in the UK’s detained population are a matter of recognized concern.