News / Human Rights

UK to release 100 asylum seekers

Friday, 03 July 2015 3:30 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 03 July 2015 3:31 PM ]

File image of a removal centre in Lincolnshire, England

British authorities have announced that more than 100 asylum seekers are to be released after immediate suspension of the fast track detention system.

The announcement comes against a backdrop of growing pressure on the British government over the legitimacy of the fast-track system.

The fast track system has long been criticized. It was first used by the Home Office in the year 2000 and since then thousands of people have been removed from the country as a result. The latest figures show that 4286 asylum seekers were detained under the fast track scheme in 2013, which is a shocking 73% increase from 2012.

Immigration minister James Brokenshire said “In the light of these issues, I have decided to temporarily suspend the operation of the detained fast-track policy. I hope this pause to be short in duration, perhaps only a matter of weeks, but I will only resume operation of this policy when I am sure the right structures are in place to minimize any risk of unfairness.”

Rights campaigners have already hailed the move.

Jerome Phelps, the director of Detention Action, said: “We welcome this announcement. We hope that today will mark the end of the UK’s routine detention of asylum seekers. It is a further step away from the systematic overuse of detention that was rightly criticized by a cross-party parliamentary inquiry this year. We hope that the Home Office will accept the judgements of the courts and work with civil society to build an asylum system that is both fast and fair, with alternatives to detention that are both cheaper and more just.”

MW/HA

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