NPR

epwc wrote: ↑Tue Apr 30, 2024 10:48 am They have some brilliant podcasts:

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campa ... y-podcast/
https://www.amnesty.org/en/witness/
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/in-their-own-words-podcast

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Mon Apr 29, 2024 5:43 pm

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Mon Apr 29, 2024 7:22 am

laurent wrote: ↑Mon Apr 29, 2024 7:06 am
Also there is a free travel accord between Ireland and the UK which does not exist between France (EU) and England.

the fact that England wants to free itself from basic decency is a matter for those who believe dickensian England is a worthy goal to attain.

Ireland wants to remove migrants to the last safe developed country they came from - sensible, mature grown up politics
Britain wants to remove migrants to the last safe developed country they came from - dickensian, disgusting, a threat to the rules based international order

The difference is that Ireland has a treaty that the UK signed to allow them to return these people, & the UK used to be part of one, that would allow it to do the same, but didn't want to continue with it, because it was more important to "Get Brexit Done"

The CTA Allows free travel for Irish citizens, & British citizens, no-one else !

Ireland to redesignate UK as 'safe' for asylum

Irish Justice Minister Helen McEntee said she would close a "loophole" in Irish law

A plan to draft new Irish legislation which would redesignate the UK as a "safe country" to which asylum seekers can be returned has been approved.

Irish government ministers collectively approved the plan brought to Cabinet by Justice Minister Helen McEntee.

How we found Europe’s most wanted migrant-smuggler

I am sitting in a shopping mall in Iraq, face-to-face with one of Europe’s most notorious people-smugglers. His name is Barzan Majeed, and he is wanted by police forces in several countries, including the UK.

Over the course of our conversation - both here and the next day at his office - he says he does not know how many migrants he has transported across the English Channel. “Maybe a thousand, maybe 10,000. I don’t know, I didn’t count.”

The meeting is the culmination of what had seemed like an impossible task a few months earlier. Together with Rob Lawrie, a former soldier who works with refugees, I had set out to find and question the man known as Scorpion. For several years, he and his gang controlled much of the people-smuggling trade - in boats and lorries - across the English Channel.

More than 70 migrants have died making the crossing by boat since 2018 - last month, five people were killed off the French coast, including a seven-year-old girl.
...
At every stage, we shared our discoveries with the authorities in the UK and Europe.

Ann Lukowiak, a public prosecutor in Belgium who was involved in convicting Scorpion, still hopes that one day he will be extradited from Iraq.

“It’s important to us to have sent the signal that you can't do what you want,” she says. “We will eventually take him down.”

Full story at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3g92zkd7n4o

One of Europe’s most notorious people-smugglers has been arrested in Iraq following a BBC investigation.

Barzan Majeed was arrested in Iraqi Kurdistan on Sunday morning, a senior government official said. For several years, he and his gang were heavily involved in the people-smuggling trade - in boats and lorries - across the English Channel.

The BBC tracked down Majeed - also known as Scorpion - to the city of Sulaymaniya, where he said he had transported thousands of migrants across the channel.

A senior member of the Kurdistan Regional Government said that officials were able to use the BBC's findings to locate Majeed. “It was at 7am this morning that the arrest was made outside his home, they arrested him the moment he stepped out of the home and arrested him without any major problems,” the official said. “We are now looking at charges against him here first and foremost, and then we will be discussing with European police and prosecutors who want to question him and deal with him.”

The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) also confirmed the arrest.

Refugees sent to Rwanda from remote UK island speak to BBC

A group of migrants was transferred to Rwanda from a remote UK territory by the British government over a year ago. They say they feel isolated and unsafe - with one describing the African country as an “open prison”.

With political parties divided over the government’s controversial plan to send asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda, the BBC has travelled to the African state to speak to four of the migrants already there - albeit under a separate agreement - about their experience in the country.

The small group arrived from Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean. They say their complex medical needs, in some cases as the result of past rape and torture, are not being met in Rwanda.

Each of them receives the equivalent of $50 (£39) a week for food and other essentials, but under the terms of their stay - agreed by the UK and Rwandan governments - they are not permitted to work.

All four say they have faced harassment and unwanted sexual advances on the street. They say they are, in effect, “self-imprisoned” - too scared to go out - while they wait for the UK to find somewhere permanent for them to live.

Full story https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c511kkwej7jo