UNHCR Urges UK to Uphold its 'Fair and Compassionate' Asylum Policies
UNHCR Urges UK to Uphold its 'Fair and Compassionate' Asylum Policies
This week UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, visited Dover, the UK’s main Channel port in Kent, to see first-hand the arrival by boat of people seeking protection in the UK.
On that day, several dozen arrived from four countries, all of which are in throws of or recovering from conflict and major insecurity. One group included a 6-year-old with his mother.
Their details were registered and they were transported to temporary accommodation to wait for their claims to be examined. The screening and transfers were efficient from boat to intake and sensitive to COVID-19 requirements. Border officials were firm but fair, while being polite and professional. They handled the arrivals compassionately and in accordance with law.
This week, interest in the question of how to respond to the UK sea arrivals and manage asylum seekers and refugees in the UK has intensified in light of a series of newspaper reports suggesting the Government has studied moving asylum-seekers offshore, to islands or ferries, or creating barriers in the Channel to prevent entry into UK territory.
These were also among the issues addressed by UNHCR officials to Parliament’s Home Affairs Committee on Wednesday. UK Representative Rossella Pagliuchi-Lor put the situation in a regional and global context and stressed that the UK’s borders are well managed.
“Processing asylum claims offshore has been proven to cause great suffering and come at a huge financial cost... Putting morality and costs aside, it would not absolve the UK from its legal obligations.”
To be sure, the numbers arriving by boat have risen, she stressed, to an estimated 6,000-7,000 this year. But the overall number of asylum claims in the UK has been falling. What has changed is the method of arrival, which has garnered media and political attention.
In the meantime, as was witnessed in Dover this week, the UK remains extremely effective in managing its borders, helped by its geography and a dedicated and well-resourced Border Force.
“UNHCR will continue to advocate for an asylum system that is fair and compassionate,” Ms. Pagliuchi-Lor said, reiterating UNHCR’s commitment to keep working with the Home Office to enhance the efficiency of the current asylum regime.
She noted that asylum applications to the UK fell in the second quarter by 37% compared with the previous year. In the year to June 2020, the total number of asylum applications in the UK was 40,591 including dependents. That compared to 133,280 in Germany, well over 100,000 in both France and Spain and over 70,000 in Greece.
“Processing asylum claims offshore has been proven to cause great suffering and come at a huge financial cost,” she said. “Putting morality and costs aside, it would not absolve the UK from its legal obligations.”
Similar concerns would be held about housing or processing asylum seekers on ferries off the UK coast. Past experience of similar experiments in other countries suggests that such seemingly temporary fixes can take years to unwind, and appear particularly risky during a pandemic.
One solution to deterring dangerous journeys would be to strengthen legal pathways, like refugee resettlement and family reunion, which allow refugees to come to the UK in safety and obtain the support they need to integrate and stand on their own feet.
While the UK is a leading country in global refugee resettlement, bringing almost 20,000 refugees affected by the Syrian war to the country in the last five years, arrivals have been suspended since March.
"It is important that the UK, as well as many other countries, make more serious effort to facilitate family reunion,” said Vincent Cochetel, UNHCR’s Special Envoy for the Central Mediterranean. He stressed that it is a right, allows a greater proportion of women to obtain protection and provides better integration outcomes.
It would also take away at least some demand from smuggling rings, which prey on the vulnerability of those willing to risk their lives.
The true crisis, Mr Cochetel stressed, lies in developing countries, which host 85% of the world’s 26 million refugees. He told Parliament that UNHCR is investing to improve communications with Diaspora communities and social media monitoring in countries of origin and transit to dissuade dangerous onwards movements.
The UNHCR officials stressed that those who make it to the UK and do not need protection or have other recognized reasons to remain, should be returned, either to safe countries where they first arrived or have claimed asylum already, or, in the case of migrants, to their homes. Such returns are not easy. But UNHCR officials stressed that intra-EU returns would be made harder if, after the end of this year, there is no UK-EU transfer agreement for asylum-seekers.
UNHCR officials also expressed concerns about inflammatory language being used which portrays arrivals as “illegal” – seeking asylum is a fundamental right – and portraying them an existential threat.