Torture and the UK’s ‘War on Asylum’: Medical Power and the Culture of Disbelief

Bhatia, Monish; Burnett, Jon

Abstract

This chapter explores medical power in the UK’s ‘war on asylum’, examining how medical expertise has been undermined in the asylum process when this expertise is utilised to add weight to asylum seekers’ claims to have experienced torture. It examines how there have been attempts to narrow the definition of torture in ways which exclude people from the protections to which torture survivors are entitled. It explores the extent to which medical power has been complicit in riding roughshod over existing safeguards to prevent further harm to those who have experienced torture, and also, crucially, how this form of power has been and continues to be challenged.

Citation

Bhatia, M., & Burnett, J. (2019). Torture and the UK’s ‘War on Asylum’: Medical Power and the Culture of Disbelief. In F. Perocco (Ed.), Tortura e migrazioni | Torture and Migration (161-179). Edizioni Ca’Foscari. https://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-358-8/007

• Online Publication Date: Dec 6, 2019
• Publication Date: Dec 6, 2019
• Deposit Date: Apr 5, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: May 22, 2023
• Pages: 161-179
• Series Title: Sapere l’Europa, sapere d’Europa
• Series ISSN: 2611-0040 ; 2610-9247
• Book Title: Tortura e migrazioni | Torture and Migration
• ISBN: 9788869693595
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-358-8/007
• Keywords: Torture; Medical power; Immigration detention; Asylum seekers; Border control
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4076063
• Publisher URL: https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/en/edizioni4/libri/978-88-6969-359-5/torture-and-the-uks-war-on-asylum/
• Contract Date: Aug 25, 2019