Category Archives: Refugees

Albanese government deports two more men to Nauru in secret, infuriating human rights advocates

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Exclusive: Sources say a Sudanese national and another man were chartered to the former regional processing centre last week, joining one other person

Another two men from the NZYQ-affected cohort have been deported to Nauru in a process human rights advocates say is shrouded in secrecy.

Sources told Guardian Australia a Sudanese national, who was detained in the Yongah Hill centre just outside of Perth, and another man held in a different centre were chartered to Nauru last week.

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First person arrives on Nauru triggering Australia’s $2.5bn deal with island nation

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Deal between federal government and Nauru expected to last 30 years and apply to around 350 people released under high court’s NZYQ ruling

Australia has commenced its $2.5bn deal with Nauru to offload more than 350 people from the NZYQ cohort after the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, confirmed the first arrival had landed on the tiny Pacific island last week.

Burke said Nauruan authorities had confirmed the arrival on Friday, as reported by the ABC, triggering the first yearly instalment of $408m.

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‘They can’t dismiss Leo so easily’: how the pope has confounded conservatives

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As pontiff prepares for visit of King Charles, the contours of his papacy are slowly becoming apparent

When King Charles meets Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican this week, the two leaders are likely to discuss pressing global issues as well as sharing a historic moment of prayer.

In the face of volatility and rising nationalism, Leo, the first North American chosen to lead the Roman Catholic church, has begun to outline the contours of his papacy after a low-key start to his five-month-old papacy.

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Thailand to let Myanmar refugees work to counter aid cuts and labour shortages

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The move, welcomed by UN, will allow thousands of people living in camps to support themselves and their families

Thailand is setting a global precedent this month by giving refugees permission to work in the country in an effort to tackle aid cuts and its own labour shortages.

More than 87,000 refugees living in nine refugee camps along Thailand’s border with Myanmar have been totally reliant on handouts of food and foreign aid.

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Kosovo offers to become first country to accept Britain’s refused asylum seekers

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Kosovo is an outlier in the region, whose other leaders say ‘looking for places to dump immigrants’ is evidence the UK is in ‘a very dark place’

Kosovo has become the first country to indicate it will accept Britain’s refused asylum seekers as part of government plans to set up “return hubs” in third countries.

Albin Kurti, the prime minister of Kosovo, said he “wants to help the UK” and confirmed discussions were taking place with officials from the UK, the Times reports. The plans would seek to send people whose asylum claims had been turned down to foreign detention centres once they had exhausted all avenues of appeal.

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Border failings in Europe are eroding trust in nation states, warns Mahmood

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Home secretary to tell meeting of interior ministers that international cooperation is way to curb irregular migration

The failure to bring order to European borders is eroding trust in politicians and the concept of nation states, Shabana Mahmood will warn.

As she hosts a meeting of fellow interior ministers to discuss migration routes through the western Balkans on Tuesday, the home secretary will say that international cooperation is the way to curb irregular migration.

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Badenoch says Tories open to quitting more treaties to increase deportations

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Party leader uses conference speech to outline proposal for UK to exit ECHR as part of wider bonfire of protections

A future Tory government would be open to dismantling more treaties as a means to deport people from the UK, Kemi Badenoch has said at the start of a Conservative party conference focused almost exclusively on immigration policy.

Making the first of two addresses to the gathering in Manchester, the Tory leader formally set out her proposal for the UK to quit the European convention on human rights (ECHR) as part of a wider bonfire of protections including an end to legal aid in immigration and asylum cases and the right to take migration decisions to tribunals or judicial review.

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Iran may release hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees into Iraq and Turkey

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Tehran considers move as part of multi-pronged offensive after bombing of nuclear sites and restoration of sanctions

Iran is considering releasing hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees across its western borders with Iraq and Turkey. It would be part of what officials describe as a necessarily more offensive and unpredictable strategy in the wake of the bombing of its nuclear sites and the European reimposition of UN sanctions.

The multi-pronged offensive includes expansion of its missile programme, strengthening air defences, suspending cooperation with the UN weapons inspectorate and on 18 October blocking the establishment of a UN committee to oversee the administration of the reimposed sanctions. Officials remain opposed to reopening talks with the US, believing the talks would fail.

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Starmer to end asylum ‘golden ticket’ of resettlement and family reunion rights

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People granted asylum will have to earn right to invite family in plan charities call ‘straight from populist playbook’

People granted asylum will no longer be given “the golden ticket” of resettlement and family reunion rights, Keir Starmer said, amid deepening concerns from charities that his words are demonising refugees.

As the prime minister prepared to discuss illegal migration with European leaders, No 10 outlined plans to strip successful claimants of the right to automatically invite spouses and children to join them.

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Shabana Mahmood accuses asylum seekers of making ‘vexatious, last-minute claims’

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Home Office says it will review modern slavery laws to save PM’s ‘one in, one out’ returns deal with France

Shabana Mahmood has accused asylum seekers of making “vexatious, last-minute claims” to avoid removal to France as the Home Office said it would review modern slavery laws to save Keir Starmer’s returns deal.

After an 11th-hour injunction that scuppered Labour’s “one in, one out” scheme, the home secretary said she would stop claimants “suddenly deciding that they are a modern slave on the eve of their removal”, adding that it made a “mockery of our laws and this country’s generosity”.

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No 10 denies ‘one in one out’ migrant deal with France is ‘shambles’

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Plans to forcibly remove people who arrived in small boats abandoned for second day

Downing Street has denied that the government’s returns deal with France is in chaos after plans to forcibly remove from the UK people arriving in small boats were abandoned for a second day.

Asked by reporters if the latest delay meant the so-called “one in one out” agreement was “a shambles”, the prime minister’s spokesperson said “No”.

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Four dead, including two children, attempting to cross Channel to UK in last 24 hours

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Number of attempts to cross Channel has been particularly high for several days, say French authorities

Four people including two children have died in two separate incidents while trying to cross the Channel to the UK in the last 24 hours, while three others are missing in a third incident.

On Tuesday night off the coast of Sangatte, France, three people lost their lives while travelling on a dinghy with 38 people onboard. Three others are missing after an incident in Neufchâtel-Hardelot, France, on a boat with 115 people onboard.

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UK couple may have to evict Ukrainian refugees owing to planning rules

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Rosemary Duckett, 80, and her husband, Anthony, 88, say situation is ‘bureaucracy gone mad’

A couple who the prime minister thanked for housing Ukrainian refugees have been told by their local council they may have to evict their current guest due to planning rules which the couple describe as “bureaucracy gone mad”.

Rosemary Duckett, 80, a retired magistrate and former chair of her local YMCA, and her husband, Anthony, 88, have been providing accommodation in a room above their garage to Ukrainian refugees since 2022.

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‘Put them up anywhere’: Cooper backs St George’s flags as No 10 says asylum seekers could be housed in industrial buildings – UK politics live

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Home secretary earlier suggested warehouses could be used instead of hotels, while PM will urge ministers to go ‘further and faster’ on immigration in Tuesday meeting

Lamb says the Greens are “the antidote to Reform”.

That gets a big round of applause.

We’re a home for all those people across the country holding their heads in their hands as the Labour government lets them down again and again and again, whether it is switching from the aid budget or from people with disabilities and not bringing in taxes … we need.

And that is why, in reaction, a new Green wave is sweeping the country as people turn to us.

It’s already become a bit of a cliche, but we are really moving into a multi-party system, with the Greens poised to help create the next government.

And, like all the best cliches, it has the distinct advantage of also being for true.

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‘Most of this is symbolic’: the new wave of anti-migrant vigilantes in Europe

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‘Citizen patrols’ and self-styled protective forces are fuelling social fears and the far right, say experts

Sporting black shirts emblazoned with an iron cross, a dozen or so men marched through the centre of Reykjavík, courting attention on a buzzy Friday night. In Poland and the Netherlands, vigilantes thronged along the German border, ready to turn back any asylum seekers they came across. In Belfast, they roamed after sunset, demanding to see the identity documents of migrants and people of colour.

Each of the groups, who are part of a renewed wave of anti-migrant vigilantes that have sprung up in recent months across Europe, have sought to cast themselves as a sort of protective force. But those who have studied vigilantes warn that their actions often exacerbate security concerns, sow fear and fuel the far right.

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Minister orders immigration centre to remove ‘balloon craft’ job ads

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Outsourcing firm Mitie listed several roles aimed at providing ‘safe and productive’ environment for detainees

Jobs aimed at improving the wellbeing of people at an immigration detention centre, including holding workshops in floristry and balloon craft, are unnecessary and should be removed, a government minister has said.

The outsourcing firm Mitie, which manages the Heathrow immigration removal centre (IRC) in west London, listed several roles online, including a painting and decorating tutor and gym manager, for salaries ranging between £31,000 and £38,000.

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‘I can’t sleep, I can’t get on with my life’: how Europe’s tougher rules are keeping families apart

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Tighter family reunification laws are causing long separations, traumatising children, and can push people towards traffickers, campaigners say

Standing outside Germany’s parliament in June, Ahmad Shikh Ali fought back tears as he held up a blurry photo of his three-year-old son. Since fleeing Aleppo more than two years ago, Shikh Ali had done all he could to secure his son a safe future: moving to Hanover, getting full-time employment and wading through endless paperwork so that his wife and son could join him.

He was close to reuniting with his family, with just two cases in front of his in the queue. That was, until Germany’s lower house of parliament passed a bill in June to suspend family reunifications for migrants like him for at least two years.

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Uganda reaches agreement with US to take in some failed asylum seekers

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African country’s foreign ministry says the two states are working on the details of a deal over deportees

Uganda has reached an agreement with the US to take in deportees from third countries who may not get asylum but are “reluctant” to go back to their own countries, according to Uganda’s foreign ministry.

The country will not accept people with criminal records or unaccompanied minors under the temporary arrangement, ​​the Ugandan foreign ministry’s permanent secretary said in a statement. He did not say whether Uganda was receiving any payment or other benefits and how many deportees it would accept.

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Anti-racism and anti-immigration protesters in Falkirk face off outside asylum hotel

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Counter-demonstration offers welcome to refugees as anti-migrant protesters gather outside Cladhan hotel

Anti-racism campaigners held a counter-demonstration against people protesting against “uncontrolled illegal immigration” outside a hotel used to house asylum seekers in Scotland.

Stand Up to Racism Scotland, Falkirk Trades Union Council and local people said they organised the gathering in Falkirk on Saturday to show that refugees are welcome in the town.

Organisers described it as a “safely stewarded community event with music, speeches from the local community, the trade union movement, local campaigns, faith groups and others”.

Demonstrators held placards with messages such as “stop the far right”, “refugees welcome” and “migrants make our NHS”.

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Sudan cholera outbreak kills 40 in a week as health centres overwhelmed

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MSF charity calls situation ‘beyond urgent’ as thousands seeking refuge from war rely on contaminated water

The “worst cholera outbreak in years” has killed at least 40 people in the last week in Sudan, according to the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières.

Overwhelmed medical centres are resorting to treating patients on mattresses on the floor, MSF said, as the country’s two-year civil war aids the spread of the disease.

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