Caring people across the country will welcome the government’s commitment to offer a safe haven to those fleeing torture and persecution. However, as reported in your article (UK to start small boats returns to France ‘within days’ after EU gives green light, 4 August), the new UK-France pilot scheme, while offering a pathway to sanctuary for a small number of refugees, relies on the mass detention of those arriving, many of whom are survivors of torture.
Freedom from Torture is one of the world’s largest torture rehabilitation centres. We work with men, women and children from all over the world who have survived unimaginable cruelty. From our clinical work, we know that detention is profoundly harmful for survivors. Many were tortured in detention, so locking them up again reopens deep psychological scars and can be severely retraumatising. In recent years, systems in this country to identify and secure the release of survivors from immigration detention have degraded.
International cooperation is vital in response to the global movement of refugees, not only to ensure safety for survivors but also to stop repression in the first place. Safe routes to sanctuary must be part of any humane approach. But the focus on protection seems secondary in this scheme. As long as torture and persecution remain tools of oppression wielded by authoritarian states, people will continue to flee across borders in search of safety.
Sonya Sceats
Chief executive, Freedom from Torture
