LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th July, 2021) UK Labour lawmaker and chief of the Home Affairs parliamentary committee, Yvette Cooper, on Friday called the government's attention to the "shocking conditions" migrants who crossed the English Channel to seek refuge in the United Kingdom are being kept at an intake unit in Kent, southern England.
"I am writing to raise serious concerns about the shocking conditions the Committee observed during its visit to the Kent Intake Unit yesterday," Cooper wrote in a letter addressed to Home Secretary Priti Patel.
The opposition lawmaker said that during her visit she found 56 asylum seeker, including women, babies and young children, "packed" into the small waiting room.
"We heard that the maximum period of time any individual should be held in this room is 24 hours but that in recent weeks some people have been kept in this small holding room for periods up to 36 and 48 hours," Cooper added.
She also raised concerns about the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak as the holding room had no ventilation, no social distancing and no face masks worn.
According to the lawmaker, the conditions she encountered were very similar to those that were deemed unacceptable by the UK Chief Inspector of Prisons Nick Hardwick during a visit in September, 2020.
"What contingency planning has taken place since September 2020 to ensure there is appropriate safe capacity for fluctuating numbers of arrivals in line with the Inspectorate report?" Cooper asked Patel.
According to unofficial figures, the number of migrants who have made the dangerous journey across the English Channel this year has surpassed the total for all 2020, when 8,417 people reached the UK coasts aboard small boats.
