Strict asylum rules and poor treatment of migrants are pushing people north to the UK

Strict asylum rules and poor treatment of migrants are pushing people north to the UK
Europe’s increasingly strict asylum rules, growing xenophobia and hostile treatment of migrants were pushing them north.(FILE/AFP)
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Updated 19 June 2024
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Strict asylum rules and poor treatment of migrants are pushing people north to the UK

Strict asylum rules and poor treatment of migrants are pushing people north to the UK
  • Europe’s increasingly strict asylum rules, growing xenophobia and hostile treatment of migrants pushing them north
  • Some migrants don’t even try for new lives in the EU anymore

AMBLETEUSE, France: The rising tide crept above their waists, soaking the babies they hugged tight. Around a dozen Kurds refused to leave the cold waters of the English Channel in a futile attempt to delay the inevitable: French police had just foiled their latest attempt to reach the United Kingdom by boat.
The men, women and children were trapped again on the last frontier of their journey from Iraq and Iran. They hoped that a rubber dinghy would get them to better lives with housing, schooling and work. Now it disappeared on the horizon, only a few of its passengers aboard.
On the beach of the quiet northern French town of Ambleteuse, police pleaded for the migrants to leave the 10-degree-Celsius (50-degree-Fahrenheit) water, so cold it can kill within minutes. Do it for the children’s sake, they argued.
“The boat is go!” an increasingly irritated officer shouted in French-accented English. “It’s over! It’s over!”
The asylum-seekers finally emerged from the sea defeated, but there was no doubt that they would try to reach the UK again. They would not find the haven they needed in France, or elsewhere in the European Union.
Europe’s increasingly strict asylum rules, growing xenophobia and hostile treatment of migrants were pushing them north. While the UK government has been hostile, too, many migrants have family or friends in the UK and a perception they will have more opportunities there.
EU rules stipulate that a person must apply for asylum in the first member state they land in. This has overwhelmed countries on the edge of the 27-nation bloc such as Italy, Greece and Spain.
Some migrants don’t even try for new lives in the EU anymore. They are flying to France from as far away as Vietnam to attempt the Channel crossing after failing to get permission to enter the UK, which has stricter visa requirements.
“No happy here,” said Adam, an Iraqi father of six who was among those caught on the beach in a recent May morning. He refused to provide his last name due to his uncertain legal status in France. He had failed to find schooling and housing for his children in France and had grown frustrated with the asylum office’s lack of answers about his case. He thought things would be better in the UK, he said.
While the number of people entering the EU without permission is nowhere near as high as during a 2015-2016 refugee crisis, far-right parties across Europe, including in France, have exploited migration to the continent and made big electoral wins in the most recent European Parliamentary elections. Their rhetoric, and the treatment already faced by many people on the French coast and elsewhere in the bloc, clash with the stated principles of solidarity, openness and respect for human dignity that underpin the democratic EU, human rights advocates note.
In recent months, the normally quiet beaches around Dunkirk, Calais and Boulogne-Sur-Mer have become the stage of cat-and-mouse games — even violent clashes — between police and smugglers. Police have fired tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets. Smugglers have hurled stones.
While boat crossings across the Channel represent only a tiny fraction of migration to the UK, France agreed last year to hold migrants back in exchange for hundreds of millions of euros. It’s an agreement akin to deals made between the European Union and North African nations in recent years. And while many people have been stopped by police, they are not offered alternative solutions and are bound to try crossing again.
More than 12,000 people have reached England in small boats in the first five months of the year, 18 percent more than during the same period last year, according to data published by the UK’s Home Office. The Home Office said 882 people arrived in the UK in 15 boats on Tuesday, the highest daily total of the year.
The heightened border surveillance is increasing risks and ultimately leading to more deaths, closer to shore, said Salomé Bahri, a coordinator with the nongovernmental organization Utopia 56, which helps migrants stranded in France. At least 20 people have died so far this year trying to reach the UK, according to Utopia 56. That’s nearly as many as died in all of last year, according to statistics published by the International Organization of Migration.
People are rushing to avoid being caught by authorities and there are more fatalities, Bahri said. In late April, five people died, including a 7-year-old girl who was crushed inside a rubber boat after more than 110 people boarded it frantically trying to escape police.
Authorities in the north of France denied AP’s request for an interview but have previously defended the “life-saving” work of police and blamed violence on smugglers who have also attacked officers.
A spot on a flimsy rubber dinghy can cost between 1,000 to 2,000 euros (around $1,100-$2,200) making it a lucrative business for the smuggling networks led primarily by Iraqi Kurdish groups. They can earn up to $1 million a month (approximately 920,000 euros) according to a report published earlier this year by The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.
Sitting around a fire in an abandoned warehouse-turned-migrant camp in Calais, Mohammed Osman contemplated his limited options. The 25-year-old Sudanese man was studying medicine in Moscow when the civil war broke out in his home country a year ago. He suspended his dream of becoming a doctor. Forced to flee the fighting, his family could no longer afford to pay for his university fees and Osman was forced to leave Russia, where his visa only allowed him to study, not work. He crossed to Belarus and then to Poland where he says he was pushed back and beaten by Polish guards several times.
Eventually, he made it across the border and reached Germany where he tried to apply for asylum but was ordered to return to Poland, as per EU rules. All he wants now is to finish his medical studies in the UK, a country whose language he, like many other Sudanese people, already speaks. The issue, as always, is how to get there. Talks of potential deportation to Rwanda have only added more stress and frustration.
“So where is the legal way for me?” he asked. “I am a good person. I know that I can be a good doctor. … So what is the problem?”
In another makeshift camp near Dunkirk that police routinely attempt to clear, more dreams were held in suspense. Farzanee, 28, left Iran to follow her passion: becoming a professional bodybuilder. Back home she was banned from taking part in competitions and persecuted for her sport.
“I was even threatened with my family, that’s why I left my country,” she said, refusing to provide her last name out of fear for her and her loved ones’ safety.
Together with her husband, they managed to get a visa for France with a fake invitation letter. But even on EU soil they fear they could be deported back to Iran and believe only the UK to be safe. They have tried — and failed — to board boats to the UK “seven or eight times” but have vowed to keep trying until they make it.
“Us and other Iranians like me, we have one thing in common,” explained Farzanee’s husband Mohammad. “When you ask them they will tell you: ‘free life or death.’”
A few days after this interview, Mohammad and his wife Farzanee made it safely to the UK


China’s foreign minister to visit Britain on Thursday for talks

China’s foreign minister to visit Britain on Thursday for talks
Updated 37 sec ago
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China’s foreign minister to visit Britain on Thursday for talks

China’s foreign minister to visit Britain on Thursday for talks
  • Wang Yi to hold talks with his British counterpart David Lammy
  • Issues to be discussed include international security and the war in Ukraine

LONDON: China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi is due to visit Britain on Thursday to hold talks with his British counterpart David Lammy in a sign that relations between the countries are normalizing after years of tensions.
Issues to be discussed include international security and the war in Ukraine, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesman told reporters.
Lammy and Wang will revive the UK-China Strategic Dialogue, a forum last held in 2018 to discuss bilateral issues.
That dialogue was paused during the COVID-19 pandemic and after Britain restricted some Chinese investment on worries over national security and over a crackdown on freedoms in Hong Kong.
The Labour government, in power in Britain since July, has made improving ties with China one of its main foreign policy goals after a period under successive Conservative governments when relations plunged to their lowest level in decades.
British finance minister Rachel Reeves visited China last month in a bid to revive economic and financial talks that had been frozen since 2019.
Wang’s visit will come two days after the start of an inquiry ordered by British government into China’s stalled plans to build a large embassy in London.
The Chinese government purchased Royal Mint Court, a historic site near the Tower of London, in 2018 but had its requests for planning permission to build the new embassy there rejected by the local council.
The stalled project had been a source of diplomatic tension between the two countries.
Lammy and interior minister, Yvette Cooper, recently come out in support of the plan, which is opposed by local politicians and residents.


Anti-minority hate speech in India rose by 74 percent in 2024, research group says

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi flashes victory sign as he arrives at the BJP headquarters to celebrate the party’s win.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi flashes victory sign as he arrives at the BJP headquarters to celebrate the party’s win.
Updated 27 min 59 sec ago
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Anti-minority hate speech in India rose by 74 percent in 2024, research group says

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi flashes victory sign as he arrives at the BJP headquarters to celebrate the party’s win.
  • India Hate Lab said a third of hate speech incidents last year occurred from March 16 through June 1 during the height of election campaigning
  • Group cited remarks by Modi in April in which he referred to Muslims as “infiltrators” who have “more children”

WASHINGTON: Instances of hate speech against minorities in India such as Muslims increased 74 percent in 2024, a Washington-based research group said on Monday, with incidents ballooning around last year’s national elections.
India Hate Lab documented 1,165 instances of what it considered to be hate speech in 2024, compared with 668 a year earlier, that it observed at events such as political rallies, religious processions, protest marches and cultural gatherings.
“The fact that 2024 was a general election year in India, with polling held in seven phases between April 19 and June 1, played a crucial role in shaping the patterns of hate speech incidents compared to 2023,” the group said in a report.
India’s embassy in Washington had no immediate comment.
The report comes days before a White House meeting between US President Donald Trump and India’s Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government is blamed by rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International for the mistreatment of minorities in India.
Modi’s government and party have denied being discriminatory and said their policies, such as food subsidy schemes and electrification drives, benefit all Indians.
India Hate Lab said a third of hate speech incidents last year occurred from March 16 through June 1 during the height of election campaigning, with May being a “notable peak.”
The group cited remarks by Modi in April in which he referred to Muslims as “infiltrators” who have “more children.”
Modi won a third successive term and denied stoking divisions. His Bharatiya Janata Party failed to win a majority and relied on coalition allies to form a government.
India Hate Lab said 80 percent of hate speech incidents last year occurred in states governed by the BJP and its allies.
The group, founded by US-based Kashmiri journalist Raqib Hameed Naik, is a project of the Center for the Study of Organized Hate, a nonprofit think tank based in Washington. The BJP has said the group presents a biased picture of India.
Rights advocates, in noting the plight of Indian minorities, point to a 2019 citizenship law the UN called “fundamentally discriminatory,” anti-conversion legislation that challenges the constitutionally protected right to freedom of belief, and the 2019 revoking of Muslim majority Kashmir’s special status.
They also highlight the demolition of properties owned by Muslims that authorities said were illegally constructed, and a ban on the hijab head covering — commonly worn by Muslim girls and women — in classrooms in Karnataka in line with new school uniform rules when the BJP was in power in that state.
India Hate Lab said it used in its report the United Nations’ definition of hate speech: prejudiced or discriminatory language toward an individual or group based on attributes including religion, ethnicity, nationality, race or gender.


Life in limbo for refugees as Trump suspends US admissions

Life in limbo for refugees as Trump suspends US admissions
Updated 47 min 3 sec ago
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Life in limbo for refugees as Trump suspends US admissions

Life in limbo for refugees as Trump suspends US admissions
  • Many refugees live in poverty in countries such as Iran, Turkiye, Uganda, Pakistan and Kenya
  • Often banned from working, they live in decrepit housing and usually lack most basic services

NAIROBI/KABUL: Eleven suitcases, stuffed with puffer jackets and winter boots, stood ready outside Somali refugee Hassan’s corrugated iron home in Kenya’s sweltering Dadaab camp.
His dream of a new life in Seattle was finally within reach.
The 24-year-old and his family of 10 were due to fly to the United States on Feb. 10, ending a wait of more than 15 years and filling Hassan with hope for a fresh start on the US Pacific coast.
That was until US President Donald Trump suspended refugee admissions as one of his first acts in office on Jan. 20.
“When I found out our flight was canceled, it was very bad news for us,” Hassan told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Dadaab in eastern Kenya’s Garissa county.
“My father sold everything, even his sheep. I was born here in Dadaab and thought I was finally leaving this place, but maybe God has other plans,” added Hassan, whose name has been changed to protect his identity.
From Somalia to Afghanistan, thousands of refugees who fled conflict, disaster or persecution, and were approved for resettlement in the United States, have been left stranded after Trump halted the country’s refugee program. The suspension of the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) was to ensure public safety and national security, Trump said in an executive order. It will be reviewed in three months to determine if it sufficiently benefits Americans, the order said.

People gather during a protest against US President Donald Trump’s intensified enforcement of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, US on February 8, 2025. (REUTERS)

This is not the first time that Trump has placed restrictions on refugees.
In his first term, he banned arrivals from some Muslim-majority nations, temporarily halted the resettlements and slashed the country’s admissions cap to a record low.
But refugee rights groups said the new suspension of USRAP was unprecedented.
Erol Kekic, a senior vice president at the Church World Service — a charity that screens refugees for US resettlement — said it was “devastating” and “heart-breaking.”
“We have never seen anything like this at this level before, despite the changes that have taken place during the first Trump administration,” Kekic told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“Refugee resettlement is one of those proud traditions in the United States that has been practiced for such a long time, and we’re hoping to try to find a way to continue to do it.”
NO OPPORTUNITIES
According to the United Nations, nearly 38 million people worldwide are refugees — and 65 percent of them come from just four countries: Syria, Venezuela, Ukraine and Afghanistan.
Many refugees live in poverty in countries such as Iran, Turkiye, Uganda, Pakistan and Kenya, and face a barrage of challenges. Often banned from working, they live in decrepit housing and usually lack the most basic of services.
Kenya is home to more than 820,000 refugees, most of whom fled neighboring Somalia after it descended into civil war in 1991. Over the years, more refugees have streamed in, uprooted by drought, famine and persistent insecurity.
Many are housed in sprawling refugee camps like Dadaab — a settlement spread over 50 square km (19 square miles) of semi-arid desert that is home to more than 415,000 people.
Residents have few ways to earn a living other than rearing goats, manual labor and running kiosks sewing clothes, selling camel meat or charging cell phones from solar panels.
Kenya forbids refugees from leaving the camp to seek work.

A woman waves a Mexican and American flag together during a protest against US President Donald Trump’s intensified enforcement of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, US on February 8, 2025. (REUTERS)

As a result, people are poor and bereft of options.
They live in tarpaulin tents or shacks made of corrugated iron and branches, and rely on rations of cooking oil, milk powder, rice and sugar sent by foreign donors.
Many Somali refugees have lived in Dadaab for decades; some were born in the camp and have never seen life outside.
With most unable to return home to Somalia, tens of thousands have sought a better life whole continents away.
While the United States is often a prized destination, US policy on refugee resettlement is complex.
Vetting and screening — X-rays, vaccinations and a host of other medical examinations — can take more than a decade.
Refugee upon refugee recounts the same tale of years lost to process and procedure, interviews, screenings and then — finally — approval granted only to see their long-awaited escape flights suspended until further notice, no explanation given.
During Trump’s first term, the fear of languishing in camps for years saw young men lured by people smugglers into risky, illegal routes to Europe or to the United States via Mexico.
“These people smugglers are smart. They target young men who are desperate after having their flights canceled and promise to take them through another route,” said Abdirahim, 29, who had his flight canceled in Trump’s first term and now again in his second term.
“But many boys just go missing. Or their families here in Dadaab get calls from smugglers in Libya who have kidnapped them and demand thousands of dollars in ransom,” added Abdirahim, whose name has been changed to protect his identity.
‘WE ARE NOT BAD PEOPLE’
As well as refugees, thousands of Afghan and Iraqi nationals — people who had worked with the US government and been granted Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) to resettle in the United States — have also been left in limbo.
In Afghanistan, many people have been forced into hiding fearing reprisals after the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
Subhan Safi, 28, worked with US troops as a plumber for three years. In December 2023, he was granted an SIV and more than one year on, was still awaiting evacuation from Kabul.
“I have been waiting to get on a flight ... but now I am facing an uncertain future and do not know what will happen next,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in Kabul.
“I’m still hopeful that the US president’s decision will change, and that people like me, who are at risk, will be allowed entry. I’m very eager to start a new and better life,” added Safi, whose name has been changed to protect his identity.
The US State Department would not say how many people were awaiting resettlement, but confirmed admissions were on hold.
“Consistent with President Trump’s Executive Order ... the Department of State is coordinating with implementing partners to suspend refugee arrivals and case processing activities,” it said in a statement to the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

People watch demonstrators march during a protest against US President Donald Trump’s intensified enforcement of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, US on February 8, 2025. (REUTERS)

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said it was analizing the order, and was ready to work with Trump to find solutions.
“Refugee resettlement is a life-saving measure for those most at risk, including survivors of violence or torture, women and children at risk, and individuals with legal or physical protection needs,” said a UNHCR spokesperson.
Dadaab refugees said they had no choice but to hope that Trump would lift his suspension after the three-month review.
Some even said they didn’t blame him.
“I agree with President Trump. Illegal people should not be in his country. I think once he has deported all the illegal people, he will let the refugees come and do their jobs,” said Abdi, 24, who has been waiting 16 years for resettlement.
“We are not bad people. We want go to the US but we want to go properly and legally,” added Abdi, whose name has been changed to protect his identity.


Indian PM Modi to meet Trump on US trip this week

Indian PM Modi to meet Trump on US trip this week
Updated 10 February 2025
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Indian PM Modi to meet Trump on US trip this week

Indian PM Modi to meet Trump on US trip this week
  • Two leaders enjoyed cordial relations during Trump’s first term as president
  • The US is India’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade worth more than $118 billion

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump this week, as New Delhi seeks closer ties with Washington in various fields, including technology, defense and trade.

Modi will be among the first foreign leaders to meet Trump at the White House during his second term. Before flying to the US, he will make a stop in France to meet French President Emmanuel Macron and to attend the AI Action Summit.

“I look forward to meeting my friend, President Trump,” Modi said in a statement before his departure on Monday.

“Although this will be our first meeting following his historic electoral victory and inauguration in January, I have a very warm recollection of working together in his first term in building a Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership between India and the US.”

The two leaders shared cordial relations during Trump’s first term as president.

In 2019, Trump joined Modi at a “Howdy Modi” rally in Houston, Texas that drew about 50,000 people and was billed as one of the largest receptions for a foreign leader in the US.

When Trump made his first visit to India in February 2020, Modi hosted him in his home state of Gujarat, where the “Namaste Trump” welcome event was attended by about 100,000 people.

“This visit will be an opportunity to build upon the successes of our collaboration in his first term and develop an agenda to further elevate and deepen our partnership, including in the areas of technology, trade, defence, energy, and supply chain resilience,” Modi said.

India considers the US as one of its “strongest international partnerships” in recent years, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said on Friday.

The US is India’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade worth more than $118 billion in 2023-2024 and India posting a trade surplus of $32 billion.

Modi’s visit comes just days after US authorities deported 104 Indians in shackles on a military plane, a much-publicized transfer that sparked outrage among legislators and citizens in the South Asian nation.


Sri Lankan president makes first Middle East trip for World Governments Summit

Sri Lankan president makes first Middle East trip for World Governments Summit
Updated 10 February 2025
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Sri Lankan president makes first Middle East trip for World Governments Summit

Sri Lankan president makes first Middle East trip for World Governments Summit
  • President will be accompanied by foreign minister
  • Visit is Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s third international presidential trip after India and China

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s new president embarked on his first Middle East trip on Monday to participate in the World Governments Summit 2025 in Dubai.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake secured the top job in September, taking over the leadership of a country reeling from the 2022 economic crisis — the worst since its independence in 1948 — and the austerity measures imposed under a bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund.

He has so far made two foreign trips: to India in December, where he met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Droupadi Murmu, and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar; and to China, where he held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

During the Dubai trip, Dissanayake will address the annual summit that brings together leaders, policymakers, and experts from around the world to discuss global governance, public policy, and the future of governments.

Accompanied by Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath, he is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with the UAE leadership and witness the signing of several agreements.

“Sri Lanka is set to enter into agreements on fuel and gas purchases, power and energy projects and trade and investment ... Setting up of a joint commission between Sri Lanka and UAE will be another highlight of the visit,” Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry said in a statement to Arab News.

“Government-to-government projects are to be entered into and memoranda of understanding are expected to be signed. Negotiations on the import of fuel and gas advantageous to Sri Lanka will be among the priorities.”

Other agreements that the Sri Lankan government are going to pursue include job opportunities for its expat workers, promotion of tourism and education.

“Sri Lanka is looking forward to promote the export of tea and gems while attracting tourists from UAE. Besides the bilateral meeting with the president of the UAE, meetings will also be held with the business community,” the ministry said.

“Sri Lanka is looking forward to increase investments from the UAE.”

More than 350,000 Sri Lankans live and work in Dubai. The president is expected to have a meeting with the diaspora as well.