The British Government may be prepared to offer you “political asylum” and allow you to settle in the United Kingdom if you have a “well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” (United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1951).

It is not enough to say that you fear persecution; you will need to demonstrate that your fear is a real one. You will need to offer the immigration authorities a detailed account of your experiences in your country of origin, show what has given rise to your fear of persecution, and provide as much documentary evidence or supporting testimony from other people as you can of what you say in your statement.

The persecution you are in fear of must amount to serious harm - torture, execution, arbitrary imprisonment or other types of severe abuse of your human rights. “Persecution” may be by the state authorities themselves, or by other sections of the population from whom the government is unwilling or unable to protect you.

You will need to show that the persecution you fear would result from your belonging to one of the above categories. Religion might include Muslim in a Christian country or Christian in a Muslim country. “Social group” might include women, gay men and lesbians. “Political opinion” may be your own political opinion or it may be one that is “imputed” to you, i.e., an opinion you are believed by others to hold or to be indentified with. The government keeps files on the treatment of individuals in countries throughout the world and will usually consider your claim according to the information it has.

If you are already in the UK you need to apply to the UK Home Office for asylum and you should do this as soon as possible. However, you must get legal advice first: the asylum system is complex and you may find your claim is dealt with very quickly and you may even be detained while it is considered. You need to be ready to explain in detail why you are a refugee and you will need legal assistance to do that well.