Fifty-eight others rescued, with many suffering from hypothermia after dinghy capsizes less than a kilometre from French shore
A man and a woman are reported to have drowned on Wednesday trying to cross the Channel to the UK in a small boat.
Fifty-eight others were rescued, with many of the survivors understood to have been suffering from hypothermia.
Continue reading...Psychologist noted ‘risk factors’ for possible reoffending including ‘attitudes’ stemming from his own childhood abuse, court documents reveal
The plaintiff who overturned the legality of indefinite immigration detention in the high court was found to be owed protection because he experienced forced labour and his brother was abducted and killed in Myanmar.
Previously unreported details of the stateless Rohingya refugee, known as NZYQ, were contained in court documents published on Tuesday, including that the judge did not find he had shown remorse in relation to his conviction for the rape of a 10-year-old boy, despite pleading guilty. The documents also show a psychologist had noted “risk factors” for possible reoffending including “attitudes” stemming from his own childhood abuse.
Continue reading...Discontent among people housed at Essex site is growing, with residents complaining about conditions
James Cleverly has said he hopes to close down the controversial mass accommodation centre in Wethersfield “as soon as practicable”, in a departure from government policy to move asylum seekers out of hotels and on to sites like the Essex military base.
Wethersfield, most recently used by Ministry of Defence police, is the Home Office’s largest mass accommodation site in the UK for people seeking asylum, with several hundred people accommodated there.
Continue reading...Coastguard and fishing boat rescue dozens, including girl who later died, with search ongoing
A two-year-old girl has died and other eight people were reported missing after a boat carrying about 50 people across the central Mediterranean sank in waters off the coast of Lampedusa, Italian authorities said.
The Italian coastguard, aided by a local fishing boat, managed to rescue 42 people on Monday, including the baby girl, but she subsequently died onboard a rescue vessel en route to the island, the Italian foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said on Tuesday.
Continue reading...As record numbers make the perilous journey between Colombia and Panama, Médecins Sans Frontières is treating far more survivors of sexual violence, including children
Armed bandits are exploiting the record number of people crossing the Darién Gap – a 100km stretch of jungle connecting Colombia and Panama – to kidnap and rape desperate migrants, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
The organisation said it treated 397 survivors of sexual violence this year – many of them children – once they safely reached Panama. There have been reports of “group rapes in tents set up for that purpose in the mountainous rainforest and swampland”.
Continue reading...Prime minister says he ‘will do whatever it takes’ as senior Tory criticises former home secretary’s hardline proposals
Downing Street has not ruled out asking MPs to spend some of what is meant to be their Christmas break dealing with the PM’s “emergency legislation” on Rwanda.
This is one proposal made by Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, in her Telegraph article this morning. (See 10.01am.)
I think we are prepared to do whatever is necessary to ensure that we can get this in place and get flights off the ground.
I wouldn’t speculate on parliamentary process but I cannot impress [enough] the importance that the prime minister places on this necessary legislation to deliver for the public on the important priority of stopping the boats.
Sunak suggested he would blame Labour if the Lords refuses to pass his “emergency legislation” on Rwanda (see 11.40am) quickly. Asked if he would call an early election if the Lords block the law, he replied:
It doesn’t have to take a long time to get legislation through – and that is a question for the Labour party.
We’re determined to get this through as quickly as possible. So the real question is: is the Labour party going to stand in the way and stop this from happening, or are they going to work with us and support this bill so we can get it through as quickly as possible?
Sunak declined to say whether favoured holding an early election on the issue of Rwanda deportations if his bill got held up. Earlier today Sir Simon Clarke suggested this. (See 10.56am.) But, for obvious reasons, the prospect might not appeal.
Sunak claimed he was making “real progress” on stopping small boats. He said:
I think people just want the problem fixed. That’s what I’m here to do, and this year, we’ve already got the numbers down by a third.
That’s because I’ve got new deals with the French, a new deal with Albania. We’re working with Turkey and Bulgaria, multiple other countries. We’re tackling the criminal gangs, we’re cutting through the backlog.
Sunak said he would “take on” people trying to stop Rwanda flights taking over, whether it was Labour or the House of Lords. He said:
We can pass these laws in parliament that will give us the powers and the tools we need. Then we can get the flights off and whether it’s the House of Lords or the Labour party standing in our way I will take them on because I want to get this thing done and I want to stop the boats.
He said his patience was “wearing thin” with this issue. He said:
People are sick of this merry-go-round. I want to end it – my patience is wearing thin like everyone else’s.
Continue reading...People in Calais and Dunkirk may die due to lack of shelter and sanitation, NGOs tell government officials
Twelve organisations working with asylum seekers in northern France have warned French government officials of a “catastrophic situation” as large numbers of people try to survive in insanitary conditions while they wait for a change in the weather so they can try to cross the Channel to the UK.
The warning is contained in a letter to French government officials signed by NGOs including L’Auberge des Migrants, Calais Food Collective, Médecins du Monde Nord Littoral, Utopia 56 and Le Secours Catholique délégation du Pas de Calais.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed
‘A ceasefire is where we need to get to,’ Zoe Daniel says
Asked by RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas if she supports calls for a ceasefire, Zoe Daniel says:
If you call for a ceasefire, you’re letting down the Jewish community, if you don’t you’re allowing death and destruction to happen in Gaza.
At the end of the day, if I say to you right now, yes, I support ceasefire, that will make zero difference to what is happening in in Gaza.
I’m a former foreign correspondent. I know the logistics of this, of course, a ceasefire is where we need to get to, but you have a terrorist organisation in the middle of this. If there’s just a ceasefire, and there’s no capacity there to try to dismantle Hamas, does that allow Hamas to regroup? What does that actually lead to? That said, I’ve said to you before, very clearly, and I still stick to the position that the Israeli government has to adhere to international law and the rules of war, and I think, in some ways, has not been.
Continue reading...Downing Street says legislation will make clear ‘Rwanda is safe’ and will address court’s concerns after policy ruled unlawful. This live blog is closed
At his Institute for Government Q&A Sir Mark Rowley, commissioner of the Metropolitan police, refused to say what he felt about Lee Anderson, the Conservative party deputy chair, declaring yesterday that ministers should just ignore the supreme court judgment saying the Rwanda police was unlawful. Asked to respond, Rowley just said:
Politicians hold me to account, I don’t hold them to account.
Starmer travelled north of the border just hours after a revolt within his party over a ceasefire in Gaza resulted in the resignation of eight of his frontbenchers.
The Labour leader highlighted what he described as the “failure” of the UK government to negotiate a trade deal with India, a key exporter for Scotch whisky.
Continue reading...Australian-funded humanitarian program has not funded housing, food and medical services for over a year, providers say
Refugees and asylum seekers held by Australia in Papua New Guinea for 10 years will be evicted from their accommodation in a week – and have their groceries, medical and security services cut – because the bills for their accommodation, healthcare and food have not been paid for more than a year.
Many of the 64 men have been living without electricity, and some without food, for more than two weeks.
Continue reading...Prime minister says he is prepared to ‘revisit legal frameworks’ to stop the boats as supreme court says policy is unlawful
Reed says the court has had to decide whether the Rwanda policy breaches the non-refoulement rule.
The policy is in the Home Office’s immigration rules, he says.
Continue reading...Immigration minister Andrew Giles hits back at Peter Dutton, saying parties have ‘shared rejection and revulsion’ at criminal conduct of those released
Labor has hit back at Peter Dutton for politicising the high court’s ruling on indefinite detention, arguing that “none” of the 81 people released so far arrived on the Albanese government’s watch.
On Tuesday the opposition leader claimed the government should not have released people from immigration detention on the basis there was “another” – unspecified – “option available” to prevent their release and still comply with the court ruling.
Continue reading...Exclusive: document tendered in high court shows half a dozen have been in detention for more than a decade
More than half of the 92 people in immigration detention the Australian government warned it would have to release if it lost a landmark high court decision had their visas cancelled by ministers due to serious concerns about criminality.
A document tendered in the high court, seen by Guardian Australia, reveals the majority (78) are owed protection, including citizens of war-torn or authoritarian countries such as Afghanistan, Iran and Sudan. Half a dozen have been in detention for over a decade.
The standfirst of this story was updated on 10 November 2023 to clarify the number held in detention for more than a decade was six not 46.
Continue reading...Majority of migrants rescued in Matehuala were from Central and South America and included 34 children
Authorities have found 123 people from Central and South America trapped in a trailer in the central Mexican state of San Luis Potosí, the country’s immigration agency said on Thursday.
Officials from the state attorney general’s office found the people in Matehuala, a city on the border of Nuevo Leon, on Wednesday after a local reported hearing cries for help from a locked trailer box.
Continue reading...Ahmad* was approved for relocation to UK before Home Office refusal meant he missed evacuation from Afghanistan in 2021
An Afghan former interpreter with the British army has resettled in the UK with his family after a lengthy legal battle with the government, more than two years after being initially approved for relocation.
Prior to the Taliban takeover, Ahmad* worked as an interpreter in Helmand province. In late 2020 he was approved for relocation to the UK before later facing a Home Office refusal, and missing the opportunity to evacuate as Britain and international allies withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021.
Continue reading...EU wants to discuss implications of deal after Italy announces new migration policy
Swedish ministers sent a letter today to EU institutions calling for strengthening security cooperation and implementing an effective migration returns policy.
Gunnar Strömmer, Sweden’s minister for justice, together with minister for migration Maria Malmer Stenergard, said “it is of utmost importance for the over-arching future security of the EU zone that the EU reaches an agreement on the EU pact on migration and asylum.”.
This entails both making more effective work within our own countries and in relation to our cooperation with third countries. More can be done realistically within the legal framework we have today. More discussions on cooperation on returns are necessary.
Continue reading...Since 2020 more than 7,500 children in UK have waited more than a year for initial asylum decision – and 57 for more than five years
Thousands of lone child asylum seekers have been left in limbo by the Home Office without a decision on their protection claims, with dozens waiting more than five years, official data has revealed.
Home Office data shows that over the past three years more than 7,500 children who travelled alone to the UK waited more than a year for an initial decision on whether or not to accept their asylum claim.
Continue reading...Neighbouring country would house up to 3,000 people rescued at sea by Italian boats, with some exceptions for vulnerable groups
Italy’s far-right government has announced plans to create centres in Albania to accommodate asylum seekers, the prime minister said on Monday, hailing it as a “historic” deal with Tirana to manage migration flows.
“I am pleased to announce with Albanian prime minister Edi Rama a memorandum of understanding between Italy and Albania concerning the management of migration flows,” said Giorgia Meloni. “Italy is Albania’s top trading partner. There is already close collaboration in the fight against illegality.”
Continue reading...Investigation finds evidence that many calls received prior to 2021 Channel disaster were treated as less urgent
UK coastguards downgraded 999 calls from refugees pleading for help as they headed to England days before the worst Channel disaster for decades, new internal documents reveal.
HM Coastguard potentially breached its own policy by categorising 999 calls from distressed passengers on as many as four small boats carrying 155 people as not in need of urgent rescue, according to analysis of incident logs obtained by the Observer and Liberty Investigates.
Continue reading...Suella Braverman signs ‘migration and security agreement’ with Austrian counterpart in move to work more closely together
Austria is seeking to adopt a Rwanda-style deal to deport asylum seekers to a third country, having agreed a deal to work with the UK on migration.
Suella Braverman signed a “migration and security agreement” with her Austrian counterpart, Gerhard Karner, in which the two countries agreed to work more closely together.
Continue reading...