Our statement on the Windrush report

After thousands of you wrote to your MP to demand that the Home Office publish the Windrush Report, it has finally been published. Read our statement below.

Sonya Sceats, Chief Executive of Freedom from Torture, said:

“The Windrush scandal has shattered the lives of individuals and families, and has also exposed systemic failings at the Home Office that are politically driven from the very top by ministers. This damning review lays bare serious problems within the Home Office, including evidence of institutional racism. 

“The Windrush scandal does not stand in isolation. As Freedom from Torture has documented, most recently in our joint Lessons Not Learned report published last year, a culture of disbelief and dismissal has led to a dangerously high number of wrong decisions on asylum cases. This has put vulnerable people at real risk of being sent home to face further torture or persecution.

“This review marks a watershed moment for the very highest levels of government. Recently, there have been signs of efforts by civil servants to change the culture inside the Home Office. However, root and branch reform of the way we treat people in our asylum and immigration system is long overdue. For torture survivors and so many others, the human cost of getting it wrong is too great.”