| schema:articleBody
| - The British government acted unlawfully in its treatment of six asylum seekers housed at a former military camp that failed to meet minimum standards, a judge ruled on Thursday. The interior ministry controversially began hosting hundreds of asylum seekers in Napier Barracks, in Kent in southeast England, last September, despite health officials warning it was unsuitable. Conditions at the former army site were described by asylum seekers' lawyers as "squalid", and almost 200 people tested positive for coronavirus during an outbreak there earlier this year. Six men, all said to be survivors of torture and/or human trafficking, sued the government, claiming that using the camp breached their human rights and could amount to false imprisonment. Following a two-day hearing in April, High Court judge Thomas Linden ruled in their favour, concluding that ministry claims that the site was adequate were "irrational". "I do not accept that the accommodation there ensured a standard of living which was adequate for the health of the claimants," he stated in his decision, citing Covid-19, fire safety and other issues. Linden declined to rule that the barracks could never be used to house asylum seekers and limited his findings to the conditions the six men specifically faced. However, he noted: "If the barracks are to continue to be used, there clearly need to be substantial improvements in the conditions there." A spokesman for Britain's interior ministry, the Home Office, said it would "carefully consider the ruling and our next steps", but that Napier will continue to operate. The site was used "at extremely short notice" as the pandemic hit Britain, "to ensure asylum seekers were not left destitute", he added. "It is disappointing that this judgment was reached on the basis of the site prior to the significant improvement works which have taken place in difficult circumstances." The Home Office and the six men must now try to agree on damages. The court ruling comes as the number of asylum seekers and economic migrants trying to reach Britain by sailing across the Channel continues to increase. The number of people crossing the 21-mile (34-kilometre) stretch of water has almost doubled so far in 2021, with more than 3,100 reaching the English coast in the first five months of the year. The government launched plans earlier this year for what it called the biggest overhaul of asylum rules in decades, saying the current system was "overwhelmed". Home Secretary Priti Patel said the plan would be based "on genuine need of refuge, not on the ability to pay people smugglers". The plan drew fire from refugee groups, who accused the ruling Conservatives of political cynicism ahead of nationwide elections. jj/jit/kjl
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)