Home affairs committee members say site is still engulfed in crisis despite government assurances
Manston processing centre is still engulfed in a crisis despite government reassurances, a committee of MPs who visited the site has said.
Families of people seeking refuge in the UK are still sleeping on mats for weeks on end, the home affairs select committee (HASC) discovered.
Continue reading...Standoff over rescue ship in Catania is first test of migration policy under Giorgia Meloni
Italy’s new far-right government has enacted its controversial new anti-migration plan, which provides for the pushback of mostly male asylum seekers of adult age rescued in the central Mediterranean whom Rome does not deem qualified for international protection.
The move has sparked a row in the country and has provoked the protests of jurists, lawyers and charities who consider it a breach of international law on rescue at sea.
Continue reading...Australian census data shows 102,000 people left New South Wales and 10,000 abandoned Victoria
Far more people are moving to Queensland than any other state or territory, while New South Wales recorded the biggest net loss, Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows.
There was a net gain of more than 100,000 people to the Sunshine State in the five years to 2021, according to internal migration numbers from the census.
Continue reading...Heathrow centre finally emptied on Sunday despite minister expecting everyone to be evacuated by Saturday evening
Dozens of immigration detainees were finally removed on Sunday from a Heathrow immigration centre where a disturbance broke out on Saturday after a power cut, despite a government minister saying he expected everyone to be evacuated by Saturday evening.
Robert Jenrick issued a statement undertaking to empty the centre of detainees by the end of Saturday.
Continue reading...Children and the sick were allowed off when boat run by German organisation SOS Humanity docked in Sicily
In the first test of its immigration policy, Italy’s new far-right government has prevented 35 asylum seekers from disembarking from their boat, claiming they did not qualify for asylum.
On Saturday night, Rome allowed the ship Humanity 1, run by the German search-and-rescue organisation SOS Humanity and carrying 179 people, to enter the port of Catania, in Sicily, and begin disembarking only children and sick or “vulnerable” people.
Continue reading...Two Afghans tell of how they were taken from Manston centre and left without accommodation or money
People taken from Manston immigration holding centre have described their dismay at being deposited late at night in central London, without accommodation, appropriate clothing or money.
Amid growing controversy over the circumstances in which large numbers of people were bussed out of the acutely overcrowded camp, the Home Office has insisted that it only released asylum seekers who told staff that they had family or friends they could stay with.
Continue reading...Activists fear for their safety after limited UK riposte to assault on demonstrator outside Chinese consulate
Hong Kong migrants who fled repression by China said they fear for their safety and are calling on the UK government to take a bolder stance after a pro-democracy protester was beaten in the grounds of a Chinese consulate two weeks ago.
The assault in Manchester drew swift condemnation from activists and politicians across the Commons as videos circulated showing a senior Chinese diplomat forcefully grabbing a pro-democracy protester’s hair before the protester was wrestled to the ground and beaten by a group of men.
Continue reading...Immigration minister says number of people at Kent processing centre has fallen substantially
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Hundreds of migrants have been moved out of an immigration centre in Kent amid concerns it had become dangerously overcrowded.
The immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, said the number of people at the Manston migrant processing centre had fallen substantially on Tuesday, with more expected to be moved on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Girl became separated from parents and disembarked on island of Lampedusa after 26 hours at sea
A four-year-old girl who was separated from her parents as they tried to board a migrant boat from Tunisia to Italy was forced to make the journey across the Mediterranean without them.
The girl, referred to as Linda by Italian authorities, disembarked on the island of Lampedusa on 17 October after 26 hours at sea on a crowded wooden boat carrying a further 70 asylum seekers from Tunisia.
Continue reading...Roger Gale says home secretary is only really interested in playing to the right wing of the Conservative party
JK Rowling has described the SNP MSP who quit the Scottish government in a row over plans to allow self-identification for transgender people as a “heroine”.
The author, who is known as a vocal critic of the reforms, praised Ash Regan, saying: “This is what a principled politician looks like.”
Her comments on Twitter came after Regan stood down as community safety minister in the Scottish government. She said then that her conscience would not allow her to vote for the gender recognition reform (Scotland) bill, quitting her ministerial post just hours before it faced its first vote at Holyrood.
Rowling, who has previously tweeted a picture of herself wearing a T-shirt calling Scotland’s First Minister a “destroyer of women’s rights” took to social media to praise Ms Regan.
The Harry Potter author wrote: “This is what a principled politician looks like. @AshtenRegan will rightly be seen as a heroine when future generations of Scottish women look back at the profoundly misogynistic legislation currently being pushed through by the Sturgeon government.”
Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said she imagines policymakers in France and Germany would look at the UK immigration numbers and “wondering what the fuss is about”.
She said the backlog had increased because, as numbers have risen, capacity for decision-making not increased and there are fewer asylum claim decisions being made over the last year or so than before the pandemic.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
The UK experienced a period for most of the 2010s where there were actually very low numbers of asylum claims by historical standards.
Continue reading...Bodies tentatively identified as adults being secretly transported to South Africa on perilous ‘southern route’
Dozens of Ethiopian people whose remains were found in mass graves in northern Malawi last month most likely suffocated to death while being secretly transported, investigators and campaigners believe.
The tragedy came amid a spate of incidents underlining the dangers faced by tens of thousands of people who entrust their lives to criminal networks that promise passage to South Africa, the most developed country on the continent.
Continue reading...Home secretary makes admission in letter to committee of MPs
Priti Patel signed off on hotel accommodation for asylum seekers whenever it was required, her allies have told PA Media. Echoing a briefing given to Danny Shaw earlier (see 9.41am), PA Media says:
A source close to Patel told the PA news agency: “There was never any overcrowding [at the Manston centre] when she was there. What would happen was if it got to the point where people were getting worried about conditions we would sign off on more hotels.”
Despite the political difficulties, the cost to the taxpayer and the potential for a media backlash, Patel agreed to hotels because “it was the right thing to do”.
Continue reading...Vessel travelling north collides with Cuban coast guard ship near Bahía Honda, reports say
A boat off northern Cuba travelling toward the United States sank Saturday after a collision with a Cuban coastguard ship and at least five people died, Cuban state media reported on Saturday.
The craft reportedly flipped over after the crash near Bahía Honda, about two hours from the capital, Havana. Among the five known dead were a minor and three women, while 23 people were rescued, the Cubadebate report said.
Continue reading...Draft deal includes targets and staff bonuses for tackling the number of asylum seekers in the UK
Rishi Sunak is aiming to reach an agreement with France to address the unprecedented number of Channel crossings by asylum seekers which could include new targets and bonuses, according to reports.
Ministers and officials are expected to review a draft deal that was previously close to being signed with France, which encompasses targets for how many boats are stopped from reaching the UK and a minimum number of French officers patrolling the beaches at any one time, sources told the Times.
Continue reading...Government considering proposals so that officials could ‘quickly’ remove migrants from country if they are unsuccessful
Albanians could be given a “bespoke route” to have their immigration cases heard upon arrival in Britain so officials can “quickly” remove them from the country if they are unsuccessful, MPs have been told.
Government figures circulated earlier this year claimed about 60% of migrants making Channel crossings every day were from Albania, although officials noted the numbers fluctuate.
Continue reading...Vessels carrying at least 380 people could ask Italian authorities to disembark them in Sicily safe port
Two NGO rescue boats carrying hundreds of asylum seekers in the central Mediterranean are expected to face the first test of migration policy under Italy’s new far-right government after Rome threatened to prevent them from entering Italian waters.
The Norwegian-flagged Ocean Viking, operated by the NGO SOS Mediterranée, has more than 200 people onboard. The other vessel, Humanity One, flying the German flag and run by the German charity SOS Humanity, is carrying about 180. Most left Libya on small boats. Both ships could ask the Italian authorities for authorisation to disembark their passengers in a safe port in Sicily.
Continue reading...On Monday, 66-year-old is to be honoured in Athens for his actions on night both tragic and awe-inspiring
Michalis Protopsaltis does not see himself as a hero. When the news of the shipwreck came through, he did, he says, what any man in his position would do. The construction company owner dispatched a crane to the Kythira clifftop and, one by one, began saving the 80 Afghan immigrants scrambling for dear life in the waters below.
Three hours elapsed before the last refugee – originally bound for Italy on a yacht that had set sail from the Turkish town of İzmir – was winched to the top.
Continue reading...Bodies of four men, believed to be en route to South Africa, found less than a mile from where 25 bodies were exhumed in Mzimba
Authorities in Malawi have discovered four bodies in a forest close to where dozens more were found in a mass grave on Wednesday.
Police say the bodies were found yesterday morning, less than a mile from where 25 others were exhumed in Mtangatanga Forest Reserve in the northern district of Mzimba.
Continue reading...Structure would protect areas identified as posing potential risk of large-scale migration from Russia
Finland’s main political parties have backed building a fence along parts of the country’s border with Russia, with work on a short pilot section expected to start as soon as funds have been allocated, Finnish media have reported.
Neighbouring Norway, which also shares a border with Russia in the far north, on Wednesday said it had arrested a seventh Russian national suspected of illegally flying drones or taking photographs in restricted areas in recent days.
Continue reading...UNHCR says circumstances of ‘shocking’ discovery unclear amid rising tension between two countries
The UN refugee agency is demanding an urgent investigation into the discovery of 92 naked people on Greece’s land border with Turkey, calling the incident shocking and saying it had been “deeply distressed” by images of the group.
The men, mainly from Afghanistan and Syria, were found close to the frontier after crossing the Evros River in rubber dinghies, according to Greek police. Children were among the group, a UNHCR spokesperson told the Guardian.
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