Human-rights groups fought back on Tuesday against government plans to send back asylum-seekers young and old to the blood-soaked battle zones of Iraq and Afghanistan.

A £4 million “reintegration centre” is planned in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul for child asylum-seekers in Britain to be shunted into.

Documents for the new centre have revealed plans to dump a dozen boys aged 17 and under at the centre in war-ravaged Afghanistan every month if they are denied the right to remain in Britain.

Immigration Minister Damian Green said: “No one should be encouraging children to make dangerous journeys across the world.”

He said that Britain is looking “to help these young men in their home countries and to return those safely to their home nations with appropriate support once they arrive.”

The centre would provide the children with a “supervised home” until they are 18 and provide training, business start-up grants and short-term accommodation to 120 adults a month.

Refugee and Migrant Justice chief executive Caroline Slocock said: “We are very concerned by the decision to forcibly deport children back to this war-torn country and we hope the new government will reconsider.

“We work with many children who have fled Afghanistan in fear to seek protection in Britain.

“They have often endured long, arduous and dangerous journeys to get here and forcibly removing them to Kabul is likely to put their safety and welfare further at risk.

“This reception centre would apparently cost £4 million – a huge price in an already wasteful and inefficient asylum system. That money would be better spent providing the right support for asylum-seeking children in this country.”

End Child Detention Now co-ordinator Clare Sambrook added: “This is terrible, disheartening news. If this policy goes ahead, we’ll be deliberately putting young lads in harm’s way. What does that say about us?”

Meanwhile a charter flight carrying Iraqi nationals is scheduled to leave Britain for Baghdad via Sweden in the early hours of this morning.

Amnesty International stressed that such removals to Baghdad are not safe and should not take place.

The human rights group opposes any forcible return to Iraq in the country’s current situation of insecurity and instability.

Amnesty International refugee programme director Jan Shaw said: “It’s unfathomable that Britain can consider Baghdad a safe place to return people.

“Our report in April documented scores of civilian killings, some of whom were tortured and their bodies mutilated before they were dumped in the street. Bombings continue to take scores of lives.

“As far as we are concerned, removing someone to Iraq should only take place when the security situation in the whole country has stabilised.

“Until the situation improves and it is safe to return to Iraq, these people should be offered some form of protection in Britain.”

Source: Morning Star

By Will Stone