Migration Watch UK: News

UNHCR Guidelines – Sexual Orientation

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) published on 23 October 2012 a new set of Guidelines on International Protection relating specifically to claims to refugee status based on sexual orientation under the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees.  These Guidelines supplement the UNHCR Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status issued for the guidance of decision takers in countries which are signatories to the 1951 Convention.  The Handbook does not have the force of law but in practice is heavily relied on by civil servants and judges taking decisions on asylum applications and appeals….

To see the full Briefing Paper No 8.67 click here.

Asylum and Temporary Admission

For a general discussion of the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees together with the New York Protocol of 1967, (together referred to in this paper as “the Convention”) you are referred to Legal Briefing Paper 8.32 “Asylum Seekers – a serious case of misunderstanding” and also to the definitions of “asylum”, “asylum seeker”, “humanitarian protection” and “refugee” in Legal Briefing Paper 8.0.

See the full Briefing Paper No 8.61

Letter by Sir Andrew Green in The Sunday Times 11 March, 2012

Foreign Student Count

Simon Walker, the director-general of the Institute of Directors, could hardly be more wrong about the government’s policy on foreign students (“Cameron’s immigrant student blunder”, Think Tank, last week). The government’s aim is to not to discourage bright international students who are clearly beneficial.

Rather it is to clamp down on widespread abuse. In India, for example, applications rose by 30% in the first year of the new, looser, points-based system, and an examination of a sample of applications in Delhi in June 2010 found that more than a third included false documents.

His suggestion that students be taken out of immigration statistics would do nothing to address abuse but it would destroy the government’s credibility since they comprise 60% of visa applicants. Half a million non-European Union students arrive here every year and there are still no checks on their departure so these measures are vital. The fuss the university lobby is making simply amplifies the negative message that it complains of.

60th Anniversary of the Refugee Convention

The following comment can be attributed to Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migration Watch UK.

 

"The situation has changed beyond recognition since the Refugee Convention was signed 60 years ago. There is now widespread abuse. Over half of all applicants in the UK only claim when detected. Nearly two thirds (60%) of all cases decided in the last five years were rejected after a long and expensive legal process but less than half of them are being removed. Those, like ourselves, who are serious about genuine refugees must be equally serious about removing asylum seekers who turn out to be bogus if public support for the system is to be sustained."

 

Notes to Editors:

1  Claims when detected

2  Outcome of cases

3  Numbers Removed

A Quarter of a Million Failed Asylum Seekers Granted Amnesty

Summary

1 The latest (and largest) exercise in granting settlement to failed asylum seekers is the continuation of a sorry tradition of amnesties that has resulted in over 250,000 failed asylum seekers being granted settlement since the early 1990s. Once settlement is achieved additional dependants can then join the person in the UK so the total number is likely to be much higher. It is now essential for the integrity of the immigration system that no more backlogs are allowed to develop.

Current Amnesty

2 During the late 1990s and early 2000s the Home Office allowed the build up of a backlog of around 400,000 cases. The exercises to clear these legacy cases resulted in 161,000 grants of settlement (ILR)…

See the full Briefing Paper No 11.25.

North African Crisis Could Test the Asylum System to Destruction

The recent instability caused by revolutionary change and military conflict in some Arab countries in North Africa has the potential to generate substantial flows of migrants into the EU. EU Ministers will meet on 11 May to consider what might be done.

Some migrants will be genuine refugees but many will be economic migrants. Anyone who sets foot in the UK and claims asylum has the right under the 1951 Refugee Convention to have his or her case heard and also has a right of appeal if refused. Applicants are supported by the taxpayer throughout the process which takes months, and often years. The UK's record in removing those whose cases eventually fail is extremely poor.

In theory, the UK can return economic migrants who claim asylum to the EU country in which they first arrived but that requires proof of their point of arrival which is often impossible to obtain.

Read the full Press Release and research document Briefing Paper No 9.29

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The Immigration Appeals System Revised - 2010 Version

This Briefing Paper 8.30 substantially amends and brings up to date the previous version dated March 2005 (now deleted), taking account of recent changes in the law

Introduction

1 The immigration appeals system has undergone major changes twice in recent years. Until April 2005 there was a two tier system, the first tier consisting of adjudicators sitting alone and the upper tier being the Immigration Appeal Tribunal. The Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 [Referred to hereafter as “the 2004 Act”] created the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal, which was in essence a single tier tribunal and began operation on 4 April 2005. This Tribunal has itself now been abolished and superseded by further reforms which took effect from 15 February 2010. The hearing and disposal of asylum and immigration appeals has been taken over by the unified tribunal service created by the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. Please refer to Briefing Paper 8.35 for details of the new tribunal.

BBC Today programme: asylum seekers, Calais

Sir Andrew Green was interviewed on the Today Programme at 8.35 this morning about the asylum seekers' camp near Calais, together with Donna Covey, the Chief Executive of the Refugee Council.

Sir Andrew said that the reason for people queueing up in Calais must be that Britain was perceived as a "soft touch". The official statistics suggested that this might be the case as anyone reaching Britain and claiming asylum had a nearly 80% chance of staying, often illegally.

He suggested that the government should take three steps:

1 Double the resources for removal.

2 Clamp down on employers of illegal labour.They had started to do this.

3 Take on the absurd arguments for an amnesty which could only make a bad situation worse.

You can hear the discussion on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme web site.

Migrationwatch media information

Migrationwatch website has been revamped and updated. This should make it easier to find any information on immigration and asylum issues you may require. In particular, two overview papers: "What is the problem?" and "What can be done?" may prove to be useful.

Legislative Developments

In September 2008 Briefing Paper 8.28, summarising the contents of the Draft (Partial) Immigration and Citizenship Bill, gave an account of the Bill’s contents and of the views on it which we submitted to the Home Affairs Committee of the House of Commons……

… There is now before Parliament a Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill, which received its first reading in the House of Lords on 14 January and will have its second reading in that House on 11 February. The main purpose of the Bill is to give legal effect to the merger of immigration and customs functions in the UK Border Agency. It contains also certain new provisions on the acquisition of citizenship by naturalisation and on immigration. It does not cause Migration Watch any great concern, but it will bring to 11 the number of Acts of Parliament since 1971 and make ever more pressing the need for consolidation.

Read the full text of this Briefing Paper 8.33