The UK government's migration strategy encounters significant legal challenges as lawyers aim to halt deportations to Bulgaria, citing allegations of harsh conditions for returned migrants. Since Labour's 2024 election victory, over 24,000 returns have occurred, with 200 to Bulgaria alone. Legal representatives argue that deportees may face treatment violating human rights. Reports include allegations of negligence by Bulgarian authorities regarding refugee safety, compounded by claims of violence and coercion in return processes, prompting a humanitarian organization's findings regarding the troubling treatment of those returned.
In January, the Guardian reported allegations of the Bulgarian authorities ignoring emergency calls and obstructing efforts to rescue three Egyptian teenage boys, who later died in sub-zero temperatures near the Bulgaria-Turkey border in late December.
This week, No Name Kitchen (NNK), a humanitarian organisation working with refugees in the Balkans, said it had collected the testimonies of 21 people, including 17 Syrians, returned to Bulgaria from other European countries, and found more than two-thirds of them had subsequently faced abusive treatment.
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