STAR Stirling (Student Action for Refugees) are demanding that Priti Patel and the UK Home Office immediately and permanently cease the use of Napier Barracks in Folkestone Kent, to house asylum seekers. Since September 2020, the UK Home Office has been using the former army barracks as housing for asylum seekers, where they face a curfew, constant harassment from far-right protests and no access to mental health support. These are people who had to flee their country because it was NOT safe, yet are being kept in prison-like conditions here in the UK with no information about when they will be released.

“Too many of us have fled our countries to seek their freedom and now we are here, we are being treated like prisoners. If I knew that I was going to be in prison again after I fled my country, I wouldn’t have come here.” Egyptian resident of the Napier Barracks (Al Jazeera). 

The treatment that those living in Napier Barracks have received is inhumane and abhorrent, with a lack of access to medical treatment, unhygienic living conditions and a lack of community. Consequently, this culminated in a Covid outbreak where nearly 200 residents were infected as they were unable to socially distance and did not have the support in place to tackle the outbreak. Furthermore, there is only one nurse on site who has to help all residents, almost 400 people at its peak, and there is no mental health support on-site. In a resident survey completed by ICIBI and HMIP, every single resident at Napier said that they had felt depressed at some point and a third had felt suicidal. 

Napier Barracks cannot be allowed to remain open. The UK Government has a duty of care towards those who seek asylum here, and there is no doubt that housing people in Napier Barracks fails this duty. The UK Government and Priti Patel must shut the barracks and move all residents into appropriate and safe accommodation where there are no curfews and there is access to proper medical support. 

We acknowledge that shutting down Napier Barracks is but one small step on the road towards justice for asylum seekers in the UK. Nevertheless, it is crucial that Priti Patel and the UK Home Office shut down Napier and place those living there in safe accommodation. Everyone, no matter who they are, deserves safe and hygienic accommodation and access to sufficient medical care. This is evidently not the case at Napier Barracks, so let's close the barracks today!

[Sources]

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/an-inspection-of-the-use-of-contingency-asylum-accommodation-key-findings-from-site-visits-to-penally-camp-and-napier-barracks  

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/i-feared-i-would-die-life-inside-the-napier-barracks-asylum-seeker-housing/ 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/24/covid-cases-among-asylum-seekers-at-napier-barracks-higher-than-thought

https://www.refugee-action.org.uk/fires-dont-happen-in-a-vacuum/ 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/9/cold-dark-horrible-refugees-slam-uk-asylum-centre-conditions