Fifteen people were transferred to the Bibby Stockholm, a floating hostel that will ultimately house up to 500 men, from other sites around the country…reports Asian Lite News
A small group of asylum-seekers was moved onto a barge moored in southern England as the government tries to cut the cost of sheltering people seeking protection in the country.
Fifteen people were transferred to the Bibby Stockholm, a floating hostel that will ultimately house up to 500 men, from other sites around the country, according to Cheryl Avery, director for asylum accommodation for the Home Office.
More were expected to arrive later as authorities seek to reduce the number of asylum-seekers housed in expensive hotel rooms that were requisitioned on an emergency basis as the number of arrivals has surged in recent years.
Avery said there had been some “minor legal challenges” to the transfers, but wouldn’t elaborate. A charity for refugees, Care4Calais, said lawyers who intervened got transfers canceled for about 20 asylum-seekers.
“Amongst our clients are people who are disabled, who have survived torture and modern slavery and who have had traumatic experiences at sea,” said Steve Smith, the group’s CEO. “To house any human being in a ‘quasi floating prison’ like the Bibby Stockholm is inhumane.”
The barge, which is owned by UK-based Bibby Marine, is normally used to provide temporary housing for workers when local accommodation isn’t available. With three stories of closely packed bedrooms, the barge resembles a college dormitory, though the rooms are utilitarian. It also includes a kitchen, dining area, common rooms and laundry facilities.
The Bibby Stockholm is moored in Portland Port on the south coast of England, where some locals have opposed the plan because of concern about the impact on the small surrounding community, which already has a shortage of medical services and is connected to the mainland by a single road. Immigrants rights groups are also opposed, saying it is inappropriate to house asylum-seekers in such accommodation.
The government wants to use barges and former military bases to accommodate some migrants after the cost of housing them in hotels soared to 1.9 billion pounds ($2.4 billion) last year.
Home Office Minister Sarah Dines told the BBC that people arriving in the U.K. via unauthorized means should have “basic but proper accommodation” and that they “can’t expect to stay in a four-star hotel.”
The number of people risking the treacherous crossing between Britain and France has spiraled so far this year, fueled by war, global inequality and the climate crisis.
In 2022, 45,755 people crossed in small boats, according to UK government data, heaping pressure on an immigration system that critics warn is broken and underfunded.
About 11,500 people were monitored crossing the Channel in small boats in the first half of 2023. Even though the figure represents a 10% decrease compared to the same period in 2022, most journeys happen in the second half of the year.
Last month, the UK government pushed through the Illegal Migration Bill, a controversial law that gives it powers to detain and remove undocumented migrants from the country.
The UN’s refugee agency condemned the legislation and said it amounts to an “asylum ban,” breaching the UK’s obligations under international law.
Steve Smith, the CEO of refugee charity Care4Calais, told CNN that the move to house refugees on the Bibby Stockholm was “causing a huge amount of anxiety.”
“Amongst those we are supporting are the survivors of torture, people with disabilities and people who have experienced trauma at sea. Housing any human on a ‘floating prison’ like the Bibby Stockholm is unacceptable. Doing so to people like this is completely inhumane. It is causing a huge amount of anxiety,” he said in a statement on Monday.
“This is yet another example of an ill-thought-out, knee-jerk reaction to the Government’s own backlog of asylum claims. If it had been properly planned, we wouldn’t be seeing last-minute, panicked activity to address the serious fire safety concerns that arise when trying to cram over 500 people into a boat built for just 220.”
Freedom from Torture, which provides therapeutic care for survivors of torture seeking protection in the UK, said the government should stop “forcing refugees to live in unsafe and undignified accommodation”.
Senior ministers hope to confirm the use of further barges in the coming months but they have struggled to find ports prepared to host them so far.
A site next to London City airport and another on the River Mersey in Wirral were among those rejected.
However, the government believes a successful scheme in Dorset will help encourage other areas to sign up.
It said there were currently about 51,000 “destitute migrants” in hotels across the UK, costing the taxpayer more than £6m a day.
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