Resource

Substantive asylum interviews are one of the main mechanisms by which information is collected in support of someone's asylum claim. During the interview the caseworker is tasked with asking questions to determine whether the individual is at risk of persecution in their country of origin.

To ensure that substantive asylum interviews are fair and trauma-sensitive the Home Office has produced guidance on conducting Asylum Interviews guidance. Caseworkers are expected to provide an environment that is conducive to disclosure and wherein claimants feel able to share their story. Home Office guidelines were introduced to guide interviewers how to carry out effective substantive asylum interviews within which they can establish whether or not a claimant meets the requirements for a human rights or asylum claim to succeed. More specifically, the guidelines provide guidance on interview arrangements and formalities, how to prepare for an asylum interview, and how to investigate an asylum claim. The section on ‘Investigating the asylum claim’ includes information about principles, questioning techniques, and factors that may influence a claimant’s ability to provide adequate evidence.

The guidelines also stress how crucial it is that the interviewer be aware of individual factors that may influence the information gathering process during an interview. These include past treatment by authority figures, education or literacy levels, language barriers, and other factors unique to each claimant such as sexual orientation, the social position of certain members of society, and the fallibility of human memory. Additionally, the guidelines provide information on interviewing techniques. These include the importance of asking open-ended questions to give the claimant an opportunity to share their account without interruptions, and the appropriateness of closed questions such as when the interviewer needs to draw out a statement or fact. The extent to which these guidelines are followed may impact on the conduct of the interview and the extent to which asylum applicants feel able to share details of former persecution.

The purpose of this study, undertaken by the University of Birmingham and Helen Bamber Foundation, was to ascertain whether it was possible to assess the extent of caseworkers’ adherence with the interview guidelines, based on an examination of interview transcripts. The study focused on interviews with sexual and gender-based violence because previous research identified that survivors found interviews particularly traumatic.

While further research is needed, the study raised concerns around disclosure, including:

• In some interviews SGBV incidents were often alluded to, but the researchers would not have known they had occurred if they had not received additional notes from the HBF. This raises the question of how the interviewer was able to make an assessment of an individual’s claim without this information. Interviewers may be reluctant to raise such questions for fear of causing distress, but the consequences of non-disclosure are huge.
• There were instances where signposting and summarising should have been used, and there were also instances where questioning became excessive and it was apparent that the claimant became frustrated and possibly stressed.
• There was evidence of a failure to express empathy with interviewees when they recalled traumatic events. The lack of acknowledgement of individuals suffering in these circumstances may have led them to feel that their experiences were not being validated which may undermine their willingness to disclose further harmful memories.

Read the full report here