Some 200 suspected war criminals are roaming the streets of Britain, and of those, just three have been removed from the country over the past 18 months.
With crimes ranging from mass murder to torture and rape, these suspects cannot be sent back to their home countries because of EU human rights laws.
The fugitives – many of them asylum seekers – are mainly form Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. More than 30 have been given the right to stay.
Human Rights groups say the Home Office figures, which were released under Freedom of Information rules, prove Britain is a "safe haven" for war criminals.
“A major concern is what is happening to those suspects. Does the UKBA [UK Border Agency] refer them all to the Metropolitan Police for investigation with a view to seeing if they can be prosecuted here? Unless and until there are a significant number of prosecutions for these types of crimes, suspects will continue treating the UK as a safe haven.”
Michael McCann MP, chairman of the All-Party Group for the Prevention of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity, has criticized the UKBA for not acting quickly enough when suspicions came to light. He also expressed frustration at the difficulty in obtaining answers from the agency about the full scale of the problem.
“We need a frank exchange between the UKBA and police, and we need Ministers to provide straight answers to straight questions."
Last year it emerged that a former henchman of Robert Mugabe had been given refuge in the UK.
Phillip Machemedze tortured political opponents of the Mugabe regime, allegedly breaking his victim's jaws with pliers. He first came to Britain with his wife in 2000 after switching sides to back Mugabe's rivals.
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