Remote Controls: how UK border controls are endangering the lives of refugees

Brand new research published by the Refugee Council shows UK border controls in countries outside Britain are failing to protect refugees who may be fleeing persecution in their home countries.

A wide ranging series of interviews, coupled with fieldwork in Turkey, one of the common transit countries to the UK, revealed that UK border controls may result in refugees being sent back to the country of persecution. Officials employed by the British government and stationed out in transit countries are briefed to stop people coming to the UK without proper documents, despite the fact that refugees are generally unable to get documents from the governments that persecute them. These officials, and the airline personnel who work with them, have no method of identifying those who desperately need to get to safety.

The report, Remote Controls: How UK border controls are endangering the lives of refugees, reveals the UK has implemented a series of measures that extend its border controls far beyond its shores. Immigration officials are posted to refugee countries of origin, such as Sri Lanka, and transit, such as South Africa, a country which is used by Zimbabweans as a route to safety. Visa regimes, carrier sanctions, and Airline Liaison Officers based in foreign airports, also exist to control travel to the UK, without any allowance for the need for refugees to get to safety. As a result, many end up stranded in countries such as Turkey that have limited provision for refugees, and which may end up sending refugees back to their country of origin, potentially seriously endangering their lives.