By Kolbassia Haoussou

I came to the UK in a small boat after being tortured in my home country in Central Africa.

My journey to find sanctuary was long, difficult and dangerous. I know only too well that nobody gets into an overcrowded, unstable dinghy to cross one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes without a desperate need to find safety.

The Home Office has confirmed that one person sent to France under the ‘one in, one out’ scheme is now back in the UK, having crossed the Channel not once but twice since the Government introduced the policy. What this reveals is the Home Secretary’s fundamental failure to understand why refugees continue from France in their search for safety.

Deterrence policies like the ‘one in, one out’ deal and the cash-for-humans Rwanda deal before it do not ‘work’ on the Government’s own terms, and they certainly do nothing to preserve life and ensure access to protection for those fleeing unimaginable horrors. 

Freedom from Torture’s clients – survivors of torture who have fled oppressive........

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