a picture of the UK Border at Heathrow airport

Humanists call asylum plan a “barbaric dehumanisation effort”

October 2, 2020

Government and Law

The Home Office have recently confirmed in press reports that they are considering changing how asylum claims are processed in the UK. This includes considering ‘offshoring’ applicants to Scottish islands, floating detention centres or even the possibility of using Ascension Island in the South Atlantic.

Commenting on the planning exercise, Chief Executive of Humanist Society Scotland, Fraser Sutherland, said:

It is clear that recent briefings from the Home Office regarding the UK’s asylum system is an attempt to dehumanise those applying for asylum. The idea that people should be held in floating prisons while their claims are assessed are nothing but barbaric.

Asylum applicants often have fled war, natural disasters or persecution. Decision makers need to consider how they would like to be treated should they ever have to flee such catastrophes.

“The residents of Scottish Islands also deserve more respect than being simply seen as a modern day penal colony by central government.
Fraser Sutherland, Humanist Society Scotland