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From The Times
October 23, 2003

Watch asylum terms, says press watchdog

By Richard Ford
JOURNALISTS are to be discouraged from using the phrase “illegal asylum-seeker” under Press Complaints Commission guidance.

The ruling comes after lengthy discussions at the Commission, which says that it has received a rising numbers of complaints about the reporting of asylum issues.

The use of language had led to a number of breaches of the PCC’s Code of Practice, which governs acceptable behaviour in the newspaper industry, a spokesman said. Journalists should “take care to avoid misleading or distorted terminology”, he said.

“By way of example, as an ‘asylum-seeker’ is someone seeking refugee status or humanitarian protection, there can be no such thing in law as an ‘illegal asylumseeker’. An asylum-seeker can only become an ‘illegal immigrant’ if he or she remains in the UK after having failed to respond to a removal notice.”

The Refugee Council said: “We hope that the press will use these guidelines as a basis for improved reporting of this vital issue.”

  • An immigration detention centre earmarked for closure is instead to be expanded, the Home Office said. Campsfield House in Oxfordshire will get an extra 106 male detainees if planners approve, taking capacity to 290.
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