The government faces a legal challenge from Care4Calais over its accommodation of asylum seekers at former RAF base Wethersfield, with the charity warning that people are being subjected to “segregation by nationality”.
The charity says the former RAF base, which has been used to house asylum seekers since July, is ringed by security fences and monitored with 24/7 surveillance by on-site security guards and CCTV.
There is no pedestrian access to the site, it is not served by public transport, and is at least 1.5 miles from the nearest village, the charity said.
Care4Calais brought the legal challenge after residents at the site told its volunteers it “feels like being imprisoned”.
A spokesperson from the Home Office said: “Accommodation offered to asylum seekers, on a no-choice basis, meets our legal and contractual requirements and they are free to come and go.”
The government has until 7 November to respond to the charity’s legal challenge before a judicial review is initiated.
The Charity Commission previously reviewed Care4Calais’ decision to issue judicial review proceedings to challenge the UK government’s migration and economic development partnership with Rwanda.
It found the decision was properly made, adequately documented, and was within the range of reasonable decisions open to the trustees of the charity.
‘Segregation by nationality’
A pre-action protocol (PAP) letter issued by lawyers on behalf of Care4Calais accuses home secretary Suella Braverman of failing to provide “a standard of living adequate for the health of the claimants” at the site, a requirement under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.
The letter states that Wethersfield “cannot be rationally regarded” as suitable accommodation due to residents being “physically confined to the camp”.
Furthermore, it argues that separating asylum seekers from the wider UK population amounts to “segregation by nationality” as the remoteness of the site and all-day security make it “effectively impossible for residents to interact with the local community”.
The charity says this is a breach of the home secretary’s statutory powers granted by parliament.
Care4Calais added that the case could also have implications for other government sites, such as Bibby Stockholm and RAF Scampton.
‘Absence of effective screening’ for victims of modern slavery
Another ground in the charity's challenge is the absence of an “effective screening process” for the selection of asylum seekers being accommodated at Wethersfield.
According to the charity, the suitability criteria for the site specifies that survivors of torture, modern slavery or people who suffer from serious mental health concerns should not be selected for it.
However, over the last three months, the charity states it has gathered evidence that people who meet these descriptions are being sent to the former RAF base.
When their accommodation was challenged through PAP letters, the government transferred them to hotels, Care4Calais said.
Home Office: ‘Would otherwise be destitute’
A Home Office spokesperson told Civil Society that people housed at Wethersfield are not detained and are “free to come and go” as they please.
Resources that the government provides at sites such as Wethersfield include meals, primary healthcare provision, a multi-faith room and recreational indoor and outdoor exercise facilities, it said.
The department said the government's use of surplus military sites provides cheaper, more orderly and suitable accommodation for refugees arriving on small boats, as opposed to the “expensive use” of hotels.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Despite the number of people arriving in the UK reaching record levels, we continue to provide accommodation for asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute to meet our legal obligation.
“Accommodation offered to asylum seekers, on a no-choice basis, meets our legal and contractual requirements and they are free to come and go.”
Care4Calais: ‘De-facto prison camps’
Steve Smith, CEO of refugee charity Care4Calais said: “What we are witnessing at sites such as Wethersfield, and indeed the Bibby Stockholm, is a form of segregation.
“Whilst under previous governments, asylum seekers would have been integrated into UK communities through dispersal accommodation, this current government has given up on any pretence of trying to integrate asylum seekers into UK society, by putting them in de-facto prison camps and barges.
“Falsely imprisoning asylum seekers behind barbed-wire fences, placing them under 24/7 surveillance, restricting their liberty and separating them from any semblance of community, is now the chosen policy of this government. We believe it is unlawful.
“We are putting the government on notice. Stop imprisoning asylum seekers in camps and barges, close these sites of segregation and start tackling the real problems in the UK’s asylum system. If they don’t, we will see them in court.”
