The Home Office is planning to deport vulnerable asylum seekers and suspected victims of trafficking on a new charter flight on Thursday, the Guardian has learned.

The flight will be going to Switzerland, Germany and Austria under Dublin convention legislation, EU rules that require asylum seekers to claim asylum in the first safe EU country they arrive in and not move from one to another.

EU countries can send people who have already made an asylum claim in one EU country back to that country, a right the UK retains during the Brexit transition period.

But lawyers for those scheduled for Thursday’s flight say they are exempt from this rule until they are properly assessed, because the Home Office cannot automatically deport those suspected to be victims of trafficking or people suffering from trauma and mental health problems caused by torture and other forms of persecution.

At least eight of those on the flight are known to be Eritrean and at least two are Iranian. Asylum seekers from countries such as Eritrea generally pass through Libya, known as a place where vulnerable migrants are trafficked.

The Home Office is supposed to refer suspected victims of trafficking to the National Referral Mechanism so they can be assessed. In recent days several high court injunctions have been obtained on behalf of Eritrean asylum seekers believed to be victims of trafficking but who have not been assessed as such. These injunctions will prevent them from flying on Thursday. Read more

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