LONDON: A controversy is developing in Britain after Amnesty International condemned a group of Conservative MPs who urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to deport Albanian asylum seekers, including those who claim to be victims of human trafficking. People with
Over the past year, there has been a significant increase in the number of Albanians entering the UK; Many of those crossing the English Channel in small boats claim they are victims of modern slavery and human trafficking.
The group of more than 50 politicians argued that swift action was needed on the deportation of Albanians to prevent migrants leaving a safe country and reduce the massive backlog in the UK's asylum process.
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"If they (asylum seekers) have in fact been taken (to the UK) against their will, they cannot reasonably object to being returned to their homes," the MPs said in a letter to Sunak.
The features of our laws against modern slavery that prevent it are clearly opposed to the goals of those laws and must be abolished.
One of the signatories, David Davies MP, told Sky News: "The Home Office itself is not interpreting the asylum laws correctly. The aim is for the Albanian ships to last a few days or weeks before they arrive on our shores." Changes should be minimised.
"That is the target, and we believe it is possible. If we don't do this the Home Office will never be able to handle the volume of applications. To date, 420 days have passed without a decision. This continues Will be getting longer.
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He further said that people should not be able to request asylum because they fear persecution by traffickers and criminal gangs.
"I'm not picking on specific Albanians. Closing those gaps is what I want to do," the man said.
Davies was criticized by Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International's UK program director for refugee and migrant rights, who told The Guardian: "There seems to be a lot of rubbish here.
The first question to ask is whether your government is unable or unwilling to protect you from the oppressors. It doesn't specify who your harasser should be.
“It could be blood feud or organized crime. Women may also face discrimination from their families. The main concern is whether the state has the capacity and willingness to offer the safeguards that international law demands.
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"Not every human trafficking survivor being returned is necessarily dangerous," she added, "but returning someone to the place from where they were trafficked is likely to subject them to brutal exploitation once again." Unless there is some notable improvement in their conditions. ,