#border controls

This special report analyses data from 286 first hand testimonies of violent pushbacks carried out by authorities in the Balkans, looking at the way practices of torture have become an established part of contemporary border policing. The report examines six typologies of violence and torture that have been identified during pushbacks from Croatia and Greece, and also during chain-pushbacks initiated by North Macedonia, Slovenia and Italy. Across the report, 30 victim testimonies of torture and inhuman treatment are presented which is further supplemented by a comprehensive legal analysis and overview of the States response to these allegations.

23.01.20. The Daily Mail:

“UK ON KILLER VIRUS ALERT. Death toll in China doubles++NHS helpline on standby++Yet arrivals into UK from infected city say: All we got was a leaflet.”

People arriving from Wuhan to the UK did not even have their temperature checked – something other countries were insisting on - before being allowed to enter the country. All they were given was a leaflet (in English) telling them to see a doctor if they felt poorly.

94,580 deaths later and we have Johnson refusing to tell us why he ignored the advice form his own Home Secretary that borders needed to be closed.

21.01.21: Independent:

“Boris Johnson refuse to say why he overruled Priti Patel and kept borders open when pandemic started.”

We now have the worst death rate per head of population than any other country in the world. We know there are new, more infectious variants of the virus that are quite likely to be resistant to our existing vaccines. Yet, only now, (and I mean one hour ago as I write this) did the government say it was “considering" closing the borders.

How many more people will die because of this government's incompetence and failure to act in time?