Bibby Stockholm: Home Office breaks rules trying to put disabled asylum seekers and torture victims on barge

Disabled asylum seekers, torture victims and migrants who have suffered “traumatic experiences at sea” are among those that the Home Office has attempted to put on board the Bibby Stockholm – in violation of its own rules.

The Independent understands that a man who is blind in one eye, another partially-sighted person, and migrants with phobias of water were issued transfer orders that were successfully challenged by lawyers.

The department has so far been forced to reverse decisions to move at least 20 people and is now facing a wider challenge against the Bibby Stockholm.

Steve Smith, chief executive of refugee charity Care4Calais, said all of the asylum seekers it was supporting had their transfers to the barge “cancelled” after lawyers wrote to the Home Office.

“Amongst our clients are people who are disabled, who have survived torture and modern slavery and who have had traumatic experiences at sea,” he added.

“To house any human being in a ‘quasi floating prison’ like the Bibby Stockholm is inhumane. To try and do so with this group of people is unbelievably cruel.”

A small group of 15 migrants, each with standard-issue backpacks, arrived on Monday, following delays caused by last-minute safety checks, and the government is not believed to have identified all 500 people it eventually hopes to house on board.

Charity Migrants Organise has sent a pre-action letter to the Home Office calling for it to stop transfers “until and unless all concerns regarding the safety and suitability of the barge have been adequately addressed, including the necessary fire safety checks”.

The letter, sent on Sunday, demanded a new screening process for asylum seekers selected for the barge, and a minimum of 72 hours’ notice of transfer.

It warned of “serious risks” of unlawful detention, targeting by far-right groups, virus outbreaks, fire, overcrowding and a lack of privacy.

Rules imposed by the government itself exclude categories of vulnerable people from the barge, where they will be housed in tiny cabins stuffed with bunk beds, but charities believe many asylum seekers issued with transfer notices have not received advice or support.

Brian Dikoff, legal organiser at Migrants Organise said: “The Bibby Stockholm is not safe and no amount of repurposing can make it so.

“It will never be an appropriate place to put people who are seeking safety here to rebuild their lives.”

The Independent understands that the Home Office intends to only house people on the barge for between three and nine months.

Asylum seekers who arrived in the UK before March are being moved on board from hotels, rather than directly from processing centres near Dover, and if their claims are not decided in the period they may be sent back to hotels.

Internal guidance states that only single men between the age of 18 and 65 can be put on the Bibby Stockholm, and that they cannot be victims of modern slavery or trafficking.

They cannot be disabled, elderly, or victims of torture, rape or other serious forms of psychological, physical or sexual violence.

Those with “complex health needs”, such as tuberculosis and infectious diseases, are also excluded, as is anyone with serious mental health issues.

The Home Office bars anyone who is at risk of suicide or “serious self-harm”, or who has a “history of disruptive behaviour”.

Xural.com