IFIR Press Release 8 August 2023 Racist and inhumane housing accommodation for refugees on Bibby Stockholm boat in Portland!

IFIR Press Release

8 August 2023

Racist and inhumane housing accommodation for refugees on Bibby Stockholm boat in Portland!Yesterday, the first group of refugees arrived on the boat Bibby Stockholm, as ministers pushed on with the plans, despite a raft of opposition in Portland, Dorset, on Monday, despite local opposition and repeated delays with hundreds more set to be moved to the 222-cabin barge in the coming days. 

The Home Office said it plans to move 3,000 people to the barge and military sites by the autumn, and its attempts to convert two former RAF bases and an ex-prison into asylum accommodation are subject to an ongoing legal challenge yet to be heard by the High Court. The governments excuse for the use of the barge and former military bases to house asylum seekers will reduce the cost of hotel bills. Several asylum seekers did not board the barge because their transfers were “cancelled” by lawyers. According to one refugee charity the Home Office is also reportedly considers reviving plans to fly people who arrive by unauthorised means 4,000 miles away to Ascension Island. That’s despite an internal government document which states that many could be infected if there was an outbreak of diseases such as diphtheria on board. Similar diseases, including tuberculosis, scurvy and scabies, have already broken out at RAF Wethersfield in Braintree, Essex. And a man died in Manston processing centre in Kent after contracting diphtheria.The United Kingdom’s decision in Parliament last month to enact a new law granting authorities the power to deport individuals arriving on its shores by boat has raised profound concerns among human rights advocates, civil society organizations, and freedom loving people alike. This regressive and punitive measure not only contradicts humanitarian and international law norms, but also jeopardises the safety and dignity of vulnerable individuals seeking refuge and avoids the UK’s international commitments under the UN Refugee Convention.

Dashty Jamal, Secretary of IFIR, said “accommodating refugees on ships such as Bibby Stockholm is a cruel and inhuman decision. The only way to stop problems with migration is by establishing a borderless world where people have equal rights in a peaceful and creative environment”. Dashty also said “Refugees are being forced to leave their homes and countries and claim asylum in other countries. All human rights campaigners should demand an end to the criminalization and persecution of refugees and asylum seekers.”

People who believe in human rights and want to build a free and equal society should stand up to this barbarism to end human misery. All humans are members of a human society, yet capitalism nations and political institutions have tagged people with identities that only serve to divide them. 

Carralyn Parkes, the Labour Mayor of Portland town councillor, has condemned the conditions on the barge being used to house asylum seekers in her local port.  She told Sky News. “It’s awful to think that this government, in the twenty-first century, would even consider housing some of the world’s most vulnerable people on a barge in Portland Port,” These victims, who are being placed on the Bibby Stockholm, have endured unspeakable trauma.  They require stability and assurance that they are safe. The UK should implement a more effective and humane asylum system that assists people to integrating into the UK community and living in dignity.

The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR) calls on all refugee and human rights organisations, trade unions, and people who value freedom to collaborate to develop comprehensive and sympathetic solutions to stop the government from putting refugees on boats where they lack the proper level of freedom to live adequately and sustainably.

We believe that ending this tragedy needs the abolition of capitalism, a system that leaves billions of people in a state of insecurity, starvation, poverty, and conflict.

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Dashty Jamal
Secretary
International Federation of Iraqi Refugees-IFIR
Tel:07856032991 Fax:08712664391