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Let Down?
Asylum seeker found dead next to 'starving baby' after losing her job
An asylum seeker was found dead next to her starving child earlier this month shortly after she lost her job.
The body of Mercy Baguma, originally from Uganda and in her thirties, was discovered by police in a flat in Govan, Glasgow on 22 August.
She had told friends she was living in extreme poverty and is understood to have lost her job after her “limited leave to remain” expired and she could not work.
Her one-year-old baby was found crying beside her dead body four days after friends last heard from her.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/mercy-baguma-asylum-seeker-found-dead-glasgow-130027824.html
An asylum seeker was found dead next to her starving child earlier this month shortly after she lost her job.
The body of Mercy Baguma, originally from Uganda and in her thirties, was discovered by police in a flat in Govan, Glasgow on 22 August.
She had told friends she was living in extreme poverty and is understood to have lost her job after her “limited leave to remain” expired and she could not work.
Her one-year-old baby was found crying beside her dead body four days after friends last heard from her.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/mercy-baguma-asylum-seeker-found-dead-glasgow-130027824.html
Comments
Who is to blame and how can this be avoided in the future?
Sad story, as the knock on effect of Covid continues stories like this will happen more often very unfortunately.
That's about as much as I wish to read on it.
Only an unfeeling idiot could say that had she lived, she would have been a high priority for a crisis payment from their emergency relief fund.
As she approached the charity on 11th August, and was found dead on the 22nd, how long might it take to process a crisis payment?
Maybe they should rename their emergency relief fund?
Perhaps something like "you will get some money when we get around to it" fund?
A destitute asylum seeker was found lying dead next to her malnourished baby son in Glasgow, according to a charity.
Mercy Baguma, from Uganda, was found dead in her flat in the city’s Govan area on Saturday with the child crying beside her, Positive Action in Housing (PAIH) said. Authorities confirmed they had discovered the body of a 34-year-old woman.
In a statement, the charity said Baguma had been living in “extreme poverty” after losing her job, following the expiration of her leave to remain in the UK. After she began the process of claiming asylum she was forced to rely on friends and charities to obtain food, it said.
Baguma contacted PAIH on 11 August to ask for help. Though asylum seekers are entitled to a small weekly stipend (£37.75 for each person in a household), she told charity workers that she had not yet received any money.
The last time anyone heard from her was on 18 August.
Her son, found “weakened with starvation”, was taken to hospital
PAIH’s director, Robina Qureshi, said in a statement: “Had she lived she would have been a high priority for a crisis payment from our emergency relief fund
“The question remains, why are mothers and babies being left to go hungry in this city, and why is it being left to charities and volunteers to pick up the pieces?
“Home Office asylum policy has created unimaginable hardship for refugees and migrant households in this city. It is a matter of when – not if – the next tragedy occurs and this reinforces our resolve for a public inquiry.”
And Stewart McDonald, the SNP MP for Glasgow South, called the UK’s asylum system “criminally inhumane”.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/mercy-baguma-asylum-seeker-death-glasgow-home-office-a9687486.html
The lady appears to have done what she could to get help. 11days for an emergency situation can't be good enough.
Are these organisations overun, do they have the right people in the right positions? Are the right policies in place and are they able to handle these situations properly. Don't know anything about the company and they may have helped loads of people in dire straits and this is just one that wasn't handled correctly.
It's very sad.
Are changes needed now or is this a one-off tragic situation?
Wasn't going to look anymore into this however this story has caught me a little. Maybe as it happened in Scotland.
The public are going into their own pockets to give this woman a proper burial.
There is also a fund page going for her son too on the PAIH website.
Heartwarming community spirit. PAIH director said her organisation and other charities are "picking up the pieces". The Home Office are the main culprits it seems going with the MP comments from Labour and Green Party as well.
The Independent understands that Baguma had lost her job following the expiration of her leave to remain in the UK, and had struggled to obtain financial support due to the no recourse to public funds (NRPF) policy, which prevents thousands of migrants from accessing public funds, causing her to fall into rent arrears and extreme poverty.
Mary Atkinson, families together officer at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said Baguma’s death was an “inevitable consequence of the government’s hostile environment policies”.
She added: “When you bar people from working to support themselves, and make it impossible for them to access help, you force people into destitution and despair. Until the hostile environment is scrapped, people will continue to suffer and to die in the most horrific circumstances.”
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/there-will-be-more-tragedies-death-of-mother-with-baby-is-inevitable-consequence-of-immigration-policies-warn-campaigners/ar-BB18p2Rn?ocid=msedgdhp
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/toddler-survived-for-four-days-beside-the-body-of-his-migrant-mother/ar-BB18IW84?ocid=msedgntp
Does not seem like we have the support system in place to help some people in the most basic way. The community helped, the charities I assume helped. The Home Office policies don't appear to have helped.
For a developed country should this even happen once? Whats the solution?
She was clearly supporting herself and her son, as she was working while her limited right to remain was in place.
When this expired, it caused her to lose her job, and therefore her income.
This entitled her to 30 odd quid from the Government.
She would have had to apply for this payment.
Could you believe that this payment may have been delayed by red tape, because I could.
She approached the charity and told them she hadnt received any money.
Her body was found 11 days later, at which point she still had not received any money.
The response from the charity was that had she lived, she would have qualified for a crisis payment.
Maybe if they had been quicker with a crisis payment, she wouldnt be dead.
I am not sure of the circumstances of the childs father, but if he was in the same boat he would have been getting his 30 odd quid per week.
As this payment is per member of the household, although it is probably less for a child, then maybe he thought that the mother was claiming for the child, and that he was entitled to keep all of his 30 odd quid.
I agree that the father has responsibilities, but these are difficult to fulfill if you arent allowed to work, and havent got a pot to pi ss in.