By: Emily Chu
Last Saturday, Boris Johnson, the UK’s Prime Minister, upheld the British government’s proposal to monitor refugees electronically. Under the policy, the UK would tag the refugees who came to UK through what Johnson called “unnecessary and dangerous routes” with tracking devices so that the government will be able to track them to make sure they don’t “just vanish into the rest of the country.”.
On Saturday, Johnson defended the plan, stating “This is a very, very generous, welcoming country. Quite right too. I am proud of it, but when people come here illegally, when they break the law, it is important that we make that distinction. That is what we are doing with our policy.”
The policy was created to “maintain regular contact with migrants and help to progress their claims… [and] collect data on how many people abscond from immigration bail.” But Clare Moseley, the founder of the Care4Calais charity, say there is little evidence of refugees absconding.
“I think it’s outrageous. Refugees in general do not abscond,” states Moseley. “They are here to claim asylum, so why would they? They’re not criminals, they’re victims. Things happen to them. They didn’t cause it. It’s just another part of the government criminalizing refugees, which is basically victim-blaming.”
Many others question if the plan is humane. “It’s appalling that this government is intent on treating men, women and children who have fled war, bloodshed and persecution as criminals,” said Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council.
In general refugees want live in a place where they can rebuild their lives and where they feel safe. Many make their way to the UK because it is known to protect human rights. However, current UK immigration policy raises questions about this reputation.
People who are tagged may be subject to curfew, and many others could be put in detention or be prosecuted. However, this is only one part of the story. The electronic tags are only the latest addition to the UK’s Rwanda policy, under which the UK would send some refugees to Rwanda, 4,000 miles away, to claim asylum there. That policy that was announced by the government in April.
Link to articles: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/18/world/europe/britain-migrants-electronicmonitoring.html https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/17/government-rwanda-asylumseeker-policy-lady-amos https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/41320/electronic-tags-proposed-as-latestaddition-to-uks-rwanda-policy https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61849433