UK Fails to Offer Specialist Help to Most Resettled Syrian Torture Survivors

The UK Home Office failed to fully implement the the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement program, according to the report of the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The UK Home Office has mostly failed to assess whether Syrian refugees resettled in the country were torture survivors and whether they needed specialist help, the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts said Friday.

"It is not clear that survivors of torture are receiving the specialist support and treatment they need. More than half of the refugees resettled as part of the programme up to the end of June 2016 are survivors of torture or violence. However, only a few have been referred to specialist organisations for assessment and rehabilitation services," the committee said in a report on the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement program.

Under the program launched by former Prime Minister David Cameron in 2015, the United Kingdom pledged to accept 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020. Overseen by the Home Office, the program has resulted in over 2,500 refugees being resettled in the country by mid-2016, according to the latest figures.

Identifying torture survivors among these has been difficult despite the Home Office sharing available information on fresh arrivals with local authorities, the report said.

In its recommendations to the Home Office, the committee called for a full review of torture victim identification procedures to be carried out jointly with local authorities within six months.

The UK National Audit Office estimates that some 55 percent of Syrians received in the country are torture survivors.