United Kingdom - November 2024

The final group of asylum-seekers moved out of Bibby Stockholm, a barge used to house 500 people in unsafe conditions, on 26 November 2024. Asylum-seekers have been gradually relocated from the barge since July 2024, when the government announced its decision not to renew the contract with Bibby Marine, the shipping operations company that owns Bibby Stockholm. Those whose asylum claims are still pending will be provided accommodation elsewhere in the UK. The barge is set to leave UK waters after the lease expires on 8 January 2025, after a year and a half moored in Dorset. An inquest into the death of Albanian asylum-seeker Leonard Farruku on the barge in December 2023 is scheduled to open in September 2025.

Sources: The Guardian (1), The Guardian (2), European Council on Refugees and Exiles, Home Office, International IDEA