Public health and human rights must be prioritised over inhumane immigration policies

Recent weeks have thrown a spotlight on the UK’s escalating inhumane treatment of people forced to flee their homes because of war and persecution. In the past two weeks alone, a Dover immigration centre had petrol bombs thrown at it1; the HM chief inspector of prisons released a damning report on the state of short term holding facilities;2 and outbreaks of diphtheria and scabies, along with a case of meticillin resistant Staphylococcusaureus, were reported in an immigration processing centre in Manston, Kent.3The UK received eight asylum applicants per 10 000 population in 2020/21—far fewer per capita than many other European countries—and even though there has been an increase in asylum applications, this is not, as is claimed, unprecedented.4 As the number of people seeking asylum is subject to external factors, fluctuations are to be expected. To date this year, around 40 000 people have arrived in the UK by crossing…
Read Original Article: Public health and human rights must be prioritised over inhumane immigration policies »