The life of refugees

Abstract

Derrick Silove and colleagues (May 5, p 1436)1Silove D Steel Z Mollica RF Detention of asylum seekers: assault on health, human rights, and social development.Lancet. 2001; 357: 1436-1437Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (77) Google Scholar point to a major current social dilemma in western countries. Poverty and political repression in the South consequently creates political refugees in the North, where detention centres are increasingly built and from which people are most frequently deported forcibly to their country of origin. Medical professionals are involved in diverse issues concerning asylum seekers—ie, medical testimonies in cases of alleged torture and treatment of refugees with and without social insurance. Medical testimonies taken with insufficient sensitivity to torture survivors, as well as insufficient knowledge on the part of the physician about the after-effects of torture, may lead to incorrect testimonies, which are likely to be followed by rejection of the asylum claim (own observations). To ensure a minimum standard of humanity, it seems to us appropriate that medical staff with experience in dealing sensitively with people exposed to extreme trauma, including victims of torture, participate in the political decision-making process about asylum seekers.