People across Tyneside have signed an open letter calling on the Port of Tyne to refuse to take part in Government plans to accommodate people seeking asylum on a giant barge on the Tyne.
Bibby Stockholm - a huge three-storey barge which will house around 500 migrants - is set to arrive in Portland Harbour, in Dorset, this month. And reports in The Guardian in June suggested that talks had been held over the Government securing more barges and disused cruise ships, with Tyneside listed as one of numerous possible destinations where a barge could be docked.
It has prompted hundreds of local residents, refugee groups, and councillors to sign an open letter from Asylum Matters - a charity that works to improve the lives of refugees and people seeking asylum through campaigning -which is addressed to the Port of Tyne calling on them to refuse to take part in any Government plans to accommodate people seeking asylum on a barge on the Tyne, warning that the plans would create a "floating prison".
The letter said that such plans would retraumatise people fleeing war and persecution and added that the use of similar facilities in other countries have resulted in human rights violations and humanitarian crises, with a typhoid outbreak and reports of mistreatment and deaths on ships in the Netherlands.
Today Port of Tyne said it "would not be able to accommodate this facility at the port". A spokesperson for Port of Tyne said: "We would not be able to accommodate this facility at the port, as we continue to focus on building momentum in our market-leading automotive, logistics, and offshore renewables hub."
Signatories of the letter included the Elected Mayor of North Tyneside, medical professionals, faith leaders and trade union representatives, and over 220 residents from across Tyneside.
Jennifer Laws, Campaigns Manager at Asylum Matters said: "People across Tyneside are urging the Port of Tyne to utterly reject any proposal to create floating prisons on the Tyne. People seeking asylum belong in communities, not warehoused in military camps or barges.
"Government incompetence has allowed a massive backlog to build up within the asylum system. It should focus its resources and time sorting out its ability to perform basic administration, dropping punitive measures and giving people seeking safety swift, fair decisions on their asylum claims."
The letter follows successful campaigns on the Wirral and Teesside calling on port and harbour operators to refuse to take part in any Government plans to accommodate people on giant barges. Last month reports suggested that Liverpool and Teesside would be the locations for the next two vessels, following the Bibby Stockholm barge in Dorset.
However, PD Ports on Teesside, confirmed in June that it had not received any communication from the government about the barge and it would "simply would not be viable to facilitate any such accommodation" to the nature of it being "in constant operation." And it has also been reported that plans to use a vessel to house asylum seekers in Liverpool would not proceed after the plan was rejected by Peel Ports, who operate the waters.
A Home Office spokesperson said: "The pressure on the asylum system has continued to grow and requires us to look at a range of accommodation options which offer better value for the British taxpayer than expensive hotels.
"This is why we continue to source new alternative sites and vessels to accommodate migrants, which are more manageable for communities, as our European neighbours are doing."
