CONFIDENTIAL
2(d) IRREGULAR MOVEMENTS
LINE TO TAKE
In keeping with the principle that a refugee should seek protection in
the first safe country, the United Kingdom does not generally regard
those arriving from third countries as able to benefit from the
protection of the Convention in the United Kingdom. The recent increase
in Western Europe of so-called "irregular movements" involving the
arrival of those who dispose of their documents en route or who acquire
forged travel documents has thrown a severe burden on receiving States,
in particular their asylum procedures. The United Kingdom is a leader
in the discussions presently under way with UNHCR aimed at stemming
this traffic.
BACKGROUND
Irregular movements of refugees involve the movement of a refugee from
a country which can offer him safety, but not necessarily employment or
long-term prospects, to a country where his future will be more secure
both economically and socially. In travelling to the third country
such refugees will often dispose of airline tickets and baggage labels
to prevent any possible return. In practice, if it is possible to
identify the country from which they have come the case can be turned
round quickly at the port and the person returned to the country of
first refuge. However, once a person has spent some weeks here it is
very difficult to ensure that he is allowed to re-enter the country of
most recent embarkation, and we may well have to accept responsibility
for the person.
Western States have reacted to this flow by the
imposition of increasingly stringent conditions on asylum seekers,
penalties on carrying companies (where these can be identified) and the
Ministerial announcement of a visa regime for India, Pakistan, Bangladesh,
Nigeria and Ghana, while designed for purely immigration reasons must
have some spin-off effect on potential asylum seekers. The United Kingdom
has not otherwise tightened up the availability of social benefits etc for
asylum seekers, but the backlog of cases awaiting decision is likely to
exceed 5,000 by the end of 1986.
CONFIDENTIAL