By: Angelina Wang

The U.K. government has proposed a new guideline to electronically monitor asylum seekers. Despite their controversial nature, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has defended these plans. Johnson claimed that the monitoring would benefit refugees because it would make sure that they “can’t just vanish into the rest of the country.” Additionally, he said that he was ‘proud’ of how the U.K. treated its asylum seekers.

These new plans specifically target some refugees who have crossed the English Channel. The people targeted are selected based on different factors, including whether or not they have been torture victims. The selected asylum seekers will be monitored constantly with GPS tags and will have to repeatedly report to the government. They will also be banned from some locations and face a curfew. Those who don’t abide by these rules will be detained and prosecuted.

An abundance of criticism has been leveled toward these guidelines, especially by human rights advocates. They note that these rules handle the asylum seekers as if they are criminals and would further deteriorate the conditions and mental health of those who have already experienced trauma and torture.

Regarding the monitoring of asylum seekers, Sue Willman, chairwoman of the Human Rights Committee at The Law Society, claims that the people are “being effectively surveilled 24/7 — while they’re on the toilet, while they’re in bed,” and that “the amount of suffering that can be caused to someone who is a torture survivor or who is mentally ill far outweighs the very minimal benefits for the government.”