MSF reacts to UK government's offshore detention plan

"It is horrifying to learn about the UK government’s callous plan to create offshore detention centres in Albania. This is the latest in a string of cruel policy proposals coming from the Home Office which will only cause greater suffering to people who are fleeing persecution, conflict, and poverty. 

"MSF has seen the disastrous mental health impact of this approach. On Nauru island, where the Australian Government has an offshore processing centre, close to one-third of MSF’s refugee and asylum seeker patients had attempted suicide. Children as young as nine were found to have self-harmed, thought about suicide or attempted to take their own lives. 

"In the absence of safe, legal routes, the reality is that these inhumane policies do not deter desperate people, but rather make it more dangerous for people to seek safety, with devastating effect.  

"Parliament must not allow these proposals, which would be facilitated by the Nationality and Borders Bill, to go any further."