Archive
Out of sight, out of mind: EU planning to offshore asylum applications?
In a letter sent to EU heads of state last month, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen named 2024 “a landmark year for EU migration and asylum policy,” but noted that the agreement on new legislation “is not the end.” She went on to refer to the possibility of “tackling asylum applications further from the EU external border,” describing it as an idea “which will certainly deserve our attention.” Read More
Austria calls for EU to adopt UK-style Rwanda plan for refugees
A demand for "asylum procedures in safe third countries" is one of five items on a wishlist put together by Gerhard Karner, Austrian interior minister. Read More
UK: New campaign to keep Campsfield immigration detention centre closed
In 2019, Campsfield detention centre near Oxford was closed following the publication of a government review on the treatment of vulnerable people in immigration detention. Local campaigners had staunchly opposed the centre for years. Now, the government intends to reopen it and house up to 400 men there, pending deportation - possibly to Rwanda. A new campaign aims to halt the plans. Read More
UN Special Rapporteurs critical of UK-Rwanda deal
On 1 July 2022, five UN Special Rapporteurs (SRs) wrote to the UK government to provide a legal analysis of the UK-Rwandan Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of 14 April 2022 to establish an “asylum partnership arrangement”, focusing on the UK state’s obligations under international human rights law. This MoU raises concerns regarding its compatibility with such obligations. Read More
UK: Open letter to the Prime Minister and Home Secretary about plans to send people seeking asylum to Rwanda
Statewatch has joined more than 150 other human rights groups, charities and civil society organisations calling on the UK government to scrap the plan to send asylum-seekers who arrive in the UK by crossing the Channel in small boats to Rwanda to have their claims processed. Read More