United Kingdom - August 2023

On 8 August, the first asylum seekers boarded the barge ‘Bibby Stockholm,’ chartered by the Home Office to house 500 people. In an open letter to Bibby Marine, the shipping operations company that owns the barge, over 50 organizations led by the Refugee Council criticized the detention-like conditions on board, which limit movement to a secure compound within the port and constrain travel beyond it. The Fire Brigades Union has called the barge, which is only designed to house 222, a “potential death trap” and has threatened legal action. In a letter to the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, asylum seekers have described the barge as an “unsafe, frightening and isolated place,” reporting that one man attempted suicide. The barge was evacuated less than a week after its first occupants arrived, due to the contamination of its water supply with potentially deadly legionella bacteria. The Home Office has been criticized for its plans to move asylum seekers back on board before the necessary plumbing repairs are completed.

Sources:  Refugee Council, British Broadcasting Corporation (1), British Broadcasting Corporation (2), The Guardian (1), The Guardian (2), The Conversation