An Asylum Charity is Appealing for the Home Office to allow asylum seekers to work

Available for over a year

Tamba Musa was a journalist in his home country of Sierra Leonne. He was sent to report on a mining strike, while there he witnessed people being killed, arrested and harmed by police. The mine was owned by a British company, and therefore had to abide by human right laws of the UK. After the story aired, he was contacted by human rights lawyers in the UK. The lawyers asked him to come to the UK and testify at the Queens Bench, he eventually agreed after confirmation to conceal his name and job. After he testified, his identity was revealed and he was forced to stay in the UK. Tamba Musa is a refugee and now an asylum guide co-ordinator at Asha, a charity that helps asylum seekers. He told our reporter Bongi Msimanga that he would like to bridge the gap between the local community and asylum seekers. Home Office says allowing asylum seekers the right to work sooner would undermine our wider economic migration policy by enabling migrants to bypass work visa rules. Asylum seekers can take up jobs on the shortage occupation list if their claim has been outstanding for 12 months or more, through no fault of their own. If you or someone you know is affected by this, you can get more information and help from the BBC Action Line www.bbc.co.uk/actionline/ .