Despair of 'forgotten refugees'

4.00.00pm GMT Sun 3rd Jan 2010

Society is failing hundreds of destitute asylum seekers in West Yorkshire, a leading cleric has warned.

The warning came after a teenager set himself on fire outside a UK Border Agency dispersal centre in Leeds.

The 19-year-old victim, originally from Afghanistan, is now fighting for his life in the specialist burns unit at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield.

His plight highlighted a much wider problem in the way those who fail to gain asylum are treated, according to the Rev Alan Taylor, of St Aidan's Church in Harehills.

His church runs a drop-in service which helps those deemed 'unreturnable' - as it is too dangerous to send them back to their countries - but who are stripped of benefits and left to fend for themselves.

Rev Taylor, who is also the Lib Dem councillor for Gipton and Harehills, said: "This is a tragic incident which really casts a slur on our society and the way in which we are caring, or supposedly caring, for people who are fleeing hardship of the nature many of us in the UK cannot fully understand or appreciate.

"We really ought to be doing something to protect these weak, wounded and marginalised people

Article by Charles Heslett

Yorkshire Evening Post