Plans by the United Kingdom to detain and deport asylum seekers who arrive on its shores by unauthorised means, such as in small boats, is a replica of Australia’s notorious Operation Sovereign Borders, activists, lawyers and refugees in Australia say.
The UK’s proposed Illegal Migration Bill, they say, will be ineffective against people smugglers, like the Australian policy, and will also destroy the lives of people seeking asylum through indefinite detentions and a disregard for human rights.
Immigration detention in Australia is akin to “torture”, Ian Rintoul, a political…