First asylum seekers moved to barge off UK south coast

LONDON — The British authorities has moved a primary cohort of asylum seekers onto a barge docked off the Dorset coast as a part of a concerted push to deter individuals from touring to the U.Okay. by small boats.

The first asylum seekers arrived on the 222-room Bibby Stockholm barge, which is ready to home up to 500 individuals, on Monday, a U.Okay. authorities official, not approved to communicate on the file, confirmed.

The U.Okay. authorities has pushed forward with the controversial plan amid stress to discover another to housing asylum seekers in accommodations, a technique the Home Office says is costing £2.3 billion a yr. 

Earlier on Monday the Home Office minister Sarah Dines advised Sky News that “luxurious hotel accommodation” has been “part of the pull” for criminals trafficking individuals to the U.Okay. Housing individuals on the Bibby Stockholm barge sends “a forceful message that there will be proper accommodation, but not luxurious,” she stated.

“There have been promises made abroad by the organized criminal gangs and organizations which are trying to get people into the country unlawfully,” she stated. 

“They say you will be staying in a very nice hotel in the middle of England. That needs to stop.”

Migrants rights group Care4Calais stated in an announcement on Monday that the asylum seekers it was supporting had had their “transfers cancelled.”

“Human beings should be housed in communities, not barges,” Steve Smith, chief government of the refugee charity, stated.

The plan to home individuals on the boat has been shunned by security teams, with the Fire Brigades Union, describing the 222-room barge as a “potential deathtrap.” 

Assistant General Secretary Ben Selby stated the “main concerns are focused around those large numbers trying to pass through narrow doorways, trying to pass through narrow corridors.”

“If firefighters were needed to make entry on to that, through those narrow corridors, when people were seeking to escape from it in case of a fire, how would they ever reach the seat of that fire and be able to make the necessary rescues?,” he added. 

The first arrivals have been due final week, however the Home Office stated last preparations had been wanted “to ensure it complies with all appropriate regulations before the arrival of the first asylum seekers.”

Campaign group Freedom from Torture has warned housing asylum seekers on barges may very well be “profoundly retraumatising” for many who have survived torture.

“Cramped conditions can be reminiscent of the places in which they were tortured, and being on the water will be a constant reminder of the deadly journeys they made to reach safety,” the stress group stated in an announcement.

The Netherlands is utilizing an analogous system to home asylum seekers, with roughly 900 individuals briefly dwelling aboard the 3000-person Silja Europa.

The British authorities reportedly visited the Silja Europa. The Home Office scrapped separate plans for a barge off the north-west coast of England in June.