Photo credit: Human Rights Monitor
Thirty asylum seekers in detention in the UK have gone on hunger strike in protest against their imminent removal to France under the Home Office’s controversial “one on, one out” scheme.
The Guardian reports that the group began their hunger strike on Monday and many are due to be forcibly removed to France on Thursday.
Over one hundred people have been forcibly removed from the UK to France under the Home Office’s scheme. In return, a smaller number has been brought to Britain. The aim is to deter asylum seekers from crossing the Channel in small boats.
Two of those already removed to France have since returned to the UK on small boats.
One hunger striker said, “I am exhausted by this situation and find it deeply unfair and unjust. I arrived on a boat with 83 other people, and only 12 of us were moved to a detention centre.
“The rest are being processed through the asylum system normally and are now in hotels. Meanwhile, we are being held here alongside people who may have criminal convictions.”
Charlotte Buckley, the director of Bail for Immigration detainees, a charity supporting some of the hunger strikers, said , “We join those on hunger strike in calling for their right to claim asylum in the UK, which is protected under the 1951 Refugee Convention.”
