‘Shambles’: Migrants moved from overcrowded centre – as 222 children put in hotels are missing
Hundreds of migrants have been moved from an overcrowded immigration centre in Kent – with the government accused of presiding over a “shambles”.
The Manston processing centre is designed to hold up to 1,600 people for no more than 24 hours – but as of Monday, there were 4,000 on the site.
Sky News has been told that some migrants are threatening to self-harm and go on hunger strike, with unrest “spreading across the camp”.
And in other developments, new figures suggest 1,322 asylum-seeking children have been housed in hotels rather than long-term homes over a three-month period – and 222 of them are missing.
Last night, immigration minister Robert Jenrick said “good progress” has been made in alleviating overcrowding at Manston, with the number of migrants there “falling substantially”.
Mr Jenrick expects more people to be moved today, and said: “Unless we receive an unexpectedly high number of migrants in small boats in the coming days, numbers will fall significantly this week.
“It’s imperative that the site returns to a sustainable operating model and we are doing everything we can to ensure that happens swiftly.”
Local Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale has also said that “several hundred” have been relocated, but it is unclear whether they are being taken to hospitals or alternative accommodation.
On Monday, Sir Roger had warned the situation at Manston was a “breach of humane conditions” – and given there have been reported outbreaks of MRSA and diphtheria, he described overcrowding as “wholly unacceptable”.
The British Red Cross also said: “It’s clear that immediate action is required to ensure that the men, women and children who have just made a dangerous and potentially traumatic journey have their basic needs met in a safe environment.
“No one should experience overcrowded accommodation that puts them at risk of disease and potentially being detained unlawfully.”
‘Unrest is spreading across the camp’
In an exclusive interview, Sky News has been told that some migrants inside Manston are threatening to self-harm and go on hunger strike in protest at being detained.
The Prison Officers’ Association represents 170 people who are working at the site – and assistant general secretary Andy Baxter, who saw conditions for himself when he recently visited the centre, has warned “unrest is spreading across the camp”.
Mr Baxter told Sky’s Lisa Holland: “Our members are facing threats from people constantly saying ‘What’s happening to me? Where am I going? When will I be getting moved on?’
“When our members can’t give them an answer, people start making threats to have sit-down protests, threats to go on hunger strike and people making threats of self-harm.”
He said some POA members have concerns for their safety, and there have been a few incidents of people making homemade “weapons” from things like wooden cutlery and toothbrushes.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Migrants ‘threatening self-harm’
Warning that there could eventually be a “serious breakdown in public order” at Manston, Mr Baxter added: “So far there are no incidences of those weapons being used on anyone – it seems to be something that people want to carry – but our members are really concerned.”
Some of the people being held at Manston have been there for weeks as there is no alternate accommodation to move them to, and they cannot leave until they have somewhere to go.
It is difficult to speak to people inside because they have had their phones taken off them.
But the charity Humans for Rights Network shared accounts with Sky News from two asylum seekers who were in Manston about a month ago. They are both 16-year-old teenagers from Sudan, and are now in hotels in London.
One said: “I spent 17 days in Manston. I slept on a blanket and was covered with another blanket which was not enough for me and I was feeling cold. There were daily fights between people during my stay.”
The other said: “There were no beds in the tents, not even chairs. We used to put the food boxes on the floor and slept on them.
“I spent all the time in the clothes they gave me when I arrived and they were wet with rainwater. A skin disease spread during my stay and I was afraid of getting infected with it.”
We can’t independently verify these accounts, but Mr Baxter described seeing “large marquees with quite poor facilities” – and a lack of beds and furniture.
Councils struggling to cope
Away from Manston, councils have “significant concerns” about unaccompanied children being sent to live in hotels by the Home Office – with local authorities often not informed ahead of time.
More than 1,300 child migrants were placed in hotels this summer – and as of 19 October, 222 of these young people are missing.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has said that, when a child goes missing from hotel accommodation, the Home Office works “very closely with local authorities and the police to operate a robust missing persons protocol”.
The Local Government Association is urging the government to work more closely with councils – and help them support children coming to the UK without parents or guardians.
Louise Gittens, chair of the LGA’s children and young people board, said: “Councils don’t want to see any child placed in a hotel by government, which is completely unsuitable for unaccompanied children.
“It is deeply concerning and unreasonable that these hotels, which were introduced as a short-term emergency measure, remain in use, especially as the number of children going missing from them continues to grow.
“We urgently need a plan to tackle this crisis and ensure children can move quickly to their permanent placements.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Braverman and migrant row explained
Braverman criticised
Yesterday, peers in the House of Lords criticised Ms Braverman – with Labour’s home affairs spokesperson Lord Coaker describing the situation regarding asylum processing as a “shambles” with “terrible consequences for people”.
His Liberal Democrat counterpart, Lord Paddick, attacked the “woeful track record” in processing claims – as well as the home secretary’s “reckless rhetoric”.
But former Brexit secretary Lord Frost defended Ms Braverman, and said: “We have seen over the last couple of days what seems to me to be an almost obsessional pursuit of the home secretary who is dealing with a series of extremely difficult substantive problems.
“A pursuit on the basis of leaks, anonymous briefings, the usual oversensitivity about words.”
World
‘Widespread sexual violence’ took place during Hamas’s 7 October attacks, report by Israeli experts says
A newly released report led by Israeli legal and gender experts presents detailed evidence alleging “widespread and systematic” sexual violence during the Hamas-led terror attack on 7 October.
Warning: This story contains descriptions of rape and sexual violence
The findings, published by the Dinah Project, argue that these acts amount to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), and assert that “Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon of war”.
The report draws on 18 months of investigation and is based on survivor testimonies, eyewitness accounts, and interviews with first responders, morgue personnel and healthcare professionals.
According to the Dinah Project, the documented patterns – such as forced nudity, gang rapes, genital mutilation, and threats of forced marriage – indicate a deliberate and coordinated use of sexual violence by Hamas operatives during the attack.
Reported incidents span at least six locations, including the Nova music festival, and several kibbutzim in southern Israel.
A destroyed car near the police station in Sderot, following the 7 October attacks by Hamas. Pic: AP
One section of the report describes victims “found fully or partially naked from the waist down, with their hands tied behind their backs and/or to structures such as trees and poles, and shot”.
At the Nova music festival and surrounding areas, the investigators found “reasonable grounds to believe” that multiple women were raped or gang-raped before being killed.
The report’s findings are consistent with earlier investigations by the United Nations and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Read more:
What is the possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal?
Israeli soldier describes arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza
The UN’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict previously concluded that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” CRSV took place during the attack.
Destroyed vehicles near the grounds of the Supernova electronic music festival. Pic: AP
Significantly, the Dinah Project urges the international community to officially recognise the use of sexual violence by Hamas as a deliberate strategy of war and calls on the United Nations to add Hamas to its list of parties responsible for conflict-related sexual violence.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The nature and scale of sexual violence on 7 October have been a subject of intense controversy, with some accusing parties of weaponising the narrative for political ends.
This report seeks to confront what its authors call “denial, misinformation, and global silence,” and to provide justice for the victims.
Hamas has denied that its fighters have used sexual violence and mistreated female hostages.
World
Israeli soldiers ‘psychologically broken’ after ‘confronting the reality’ in Gaza, UN expert says
A UN expert has said some young soldiers in the Israeli Defence Forces are being left “psychologically broken” after “confront[ing] the reality among the rubble” when serving in Gaza.
Francesca Albanese, the UN Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, was responding to a Sky News interview with an Israeli solider who described arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza.
She told The World with Yalda Hakim that “many” of the young people fighting in Gaza are “haunted by what they have seen, what they have done”.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Ms Albanese said. “This is not a war, this is an assault against civilians and this is producing a fracture in many of them.
“As that soldier’s testimony reveals, especially the youngest among the soldiers have been convinced this is a form of patriotism, of defending Israel and Israeli society against this opaque but very hard felt enemy, which is Hamas.
“But the thing is that they’ve come to confront the reality among the rubble of Gaza.”
An Israeli soldier directs a tank near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel. Pic: AP
Being in Gaza is “probably this is the first time the Israeli soldiers are awakening to this,” she added. “And they don’t make sense of this because their attachment to being part of the IDF, which is embedded in their national ideology, is too strong.
“This is why they are psychologically broken.”
Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF spokesman who is now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said he believes the Sky News interview with the former IDF solider “reflects one part of how ugly, difficult and horrible fighting in a densely populated, urban terrain is”.
“I think [the ex-soldier] is reflecting on how difficult it is to fight in such an area and what the challenges are on the battlefield,” he said.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Ex-IDF spokesperson: ‘No distinction between military and civilians’
‘An economy of genocide’
Ms Albanese, one of dozens of independent UN-mandated experts, also said her most recent report for the human rights council has identified “an economy of genocide” in Israel.
The system, she told Hakim, is made up of more than 60 private sector companies “that have become enmeshed in the economy of occupation […] that have Israel displace the Palestinians and replace them with settlers, settlements and infrastructure Israel runs.”
Israel has rejected allegations of genocide in Gaza, citing its right to defend itself after Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘Israel has shifted towards economy of genocide’
The companies named in Ms Albanese’s report are in, but not limited to, the financial sector, big tech and the military industry.
“These companies can be held responsible for being directed linked to, or contributing, or causing human rights impacts,” she said. “We’re not talking of human rights violations, we are talking of crimes.”
“Some of the companies have engaged in good faith, others have not,” Ms Albanese said.
Read more:
Israeli soldier describes arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza
British surgeons on life in Gaza
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The companies she has named include American technology giant Palantir, which has issued a statement to Sky News.
It said it is “not true” that Palantir “is the (or a) developer of the ‘Gospel’ – the AI-assisted targeting software allegedly used by the IDF in Gaza, and that we are involved with the ‘Lavender’ database used by the IDF for targeting cross-referencing”.
“Both capabilities are independent of and pre-ate Palantir’s announced partnership with the Israeli Defence Ministry,” the statement added.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike