UK plan to hold asylum-seekers outside EU set to divide states

Date: 28/05/03

By Martin Banks

EU JUSTICE ministers and non-governmental organisations are set to clash next week over controversial UK plans to establish reception centres for asylum-seekers outside the European Union.

The proposal - to be discussed at a Justice and Home Affairs Council in Luxembourg on 5-6 June - has been criticized by human rights campaigners and some member states.

The blueprint envisages reception centres being set up in countries such as Albania or Ukraine. Only those asylum-seekers whose applications were successful would be allowed to enter the EU.

Under the plan, asylum-seekers already in the EU could also be transferred to the centres while their applications are being considered.

The UK proposals also foresee the establishment of 'safe havens' where refugees would stay until they could safely return home.

There were more than 100,000 asylum applications in the UK last year, and British premier Tony Blair has pledged to halve the number by September this year.

David Blunkett, the country's home secretary, has received support for his plan from Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Italy. But other nations, including Portugal, are sceptical.

The UK-based Refugee Council says it is "extremely concerned", adding that "these proposals amount to a shifting, rather than a sharing, of responsibilities".

A spokesman for Amnesty International, which has also voiced strong criticism, said: "The real goal behind the UK proposals appears to be to reduce the number of spontaneous arrivals in Britain and other EU states by denying access to territory and shifting asylum-seekers to zones outside the EU where refugee protection would be weak and unclear."

António Vitorino, the commissioner for justice and home affairs, admits that "several questions" remain over the scheme, including who would be responsible for running the centres.

Britain wants the centres to be run by the International Organisation for Migration and the UN High Commission for Refugees, but they too have voiced concerns about possible violation of human rights.

A spokesman for Vitorino said: "Everyone agrees the asylum system needs changing to combat the abuses which are currently taking place. The general consensus is the UK proposals are sound but there are lots of practical problems that still need addressing.

"Either way, this is a matter of some urgency so time is short if some sort of agreement is going to be reached before the end of the Greek presidency [at the end of June]."

UK plans to establish reception centres for asylum-seekers outside the European Union are expected to be discussed at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 5-6 June 2003.