The United Kingdom is looking for a place to handcuff refugees
Migrants trying to cross the English Channel from the continental Europe will travel to Albania for a new refugee center. Ministers believe that opening a center in Albania will be a deterrent to migrants. According to a source from the British government, the probability of an agreement with Tirana now “looks good”. Earlier this week, UK Home Secretary Priti Patel pledged to stop “100 percent” of illegal Channel crossings.
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Britain seems to have found a solution to the migration crisis: illegal migrants trying to enter the country through the English Channel are being offered to be sent to an “offshore” refugee center in Albania, the Daily Mail writes.
Ministers are discussing the opening of a center for migrants on Albanian territory, which they believe will be a deterrent for migrants coming from northern France. According to the Times, anyone who applies for asylum in the UK after arriving illegally, such as by boat or other small vessel, will be transferred to the new center within seven days.
However, the project will cost the British taxpayer £ 100,000 per flight and accommodation per migrant.
Earlier reports of plans to set up offshore centers for migrants, including the use of disused oil rigs in the North Sea, discussed last year eventually failed.
But the likelihood of an agreement with Tirana now “looks good,” a British government source said, although the Albanian foreign minister rejected the idea last month. Earlier this week, Interior Minister Priti Patel pledged to stop a “100 percent” crossing of the English Channel by illegal migrants from France.
A total of 1,185 people crossed the strait between the mainland and the United Kingdom last Thursday. , which exceeded the previous daily maximum of 853. In total, more than 20,000 people entered the United Kingdom this year.
Responding to plans to open an asylum center in Albania, a Home Office spokesman said: “Migrants are risking their lives at these dangerous crossings and it is essential that we do everything in our power to prevent these attempts. and break the business model …. criminal groups that exploit people. People need to seek asylum in the first safe country they arrive in, and as part of our response, it is important that we have a maritime deterrent and work with international partners to end this dangerous journey. ”
When The Sun last The month, the Albanian prime minister's spokesman called the news “completely untrue”.
In March, it was proposed that asylum seekers illegally crossing the English Channel could be transferred to a third country, such as Turkey, to reach the United Kingdom. Other options were the islands off the coast of Scotland, the Isle of Man or Gibraltar.
Humanitarian organizations have called the proposals “inhuman” and the immigration expert said that although there is no law banning such a move, “legal action must be taken.”
On Wednesday, a new study by the British Refugee Council found that almost two-thirds of migrants crossing the English Channel are from the Middle East. More than 61 percent of those on the dangerous 21-mile route from Calais to Dover are citizens of countries like Iran and Iraq.
The largest number of migrants arriving on small ships comes from Iran: From January last year to May this year, 3,187 Iranian citizens arrived on the shores of Great Britain. The figures also show that 2,185 people from Iraq crossed the English Channel during the same period. Other Middle Eastern countries that make up the top ten small ships arriving include war-torn countries such as Syria and Yemen, as well as oil-rich Kuwait. Outside the Middle East, the largest arrivals came from Sudan, with about eight per cent of small ships coming from Vietnam, around six per cent from Eritrea and one per cent from Ethiopia.
According to the British Refugee Council, all 10 largest countries make up 91 percent of those who come ashore in the United Kingdom are countries where human rights abuses and harassment are common.