Blunkett backed on asylum centres | Politics | The Guardian
Blunkett backed on asylum centres
Thinktank supports processing migrants outside EU borders
Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Tue 22 Apr 2003 09.33 BST
A leading leftwing thinktank has come out in support of home secretary David Blunkett's controversial plan to send all asylum seekers to processing centres outside the EU.
But Demos says in a study published today that the British government's plan for international transit processing centres is unlikely to work unless it is part of a comprehensive system to handle all those who want to come to Europe, including tourists and other visitors.
European commission officials have been asked to submit a detailed working paper on Mr Blunkett's radical scheme to deal with asylum seekers in time for the next European summit in June.
The idea of offshore processing centres has been floated at a time when Tony Blair has announced a commitment to halving the monthly total of asylum applications in Britain by September. The prime minister is believed to have met Downing Street and Home Office officials last Thursday to review progress.
The Demos report says a new international system is needed to undercut the flow of illegal migrants into Europe. It suggests that a network of EU "mobility service points" be set up where anybody travelling to Europe can register as a visitor, a migrant worker, a sponsored resident or a refugee.
The report, People Flow, suggests that everyone entering Europe would need to register and get a visa.
Visitors would have to provide proof of ability to cover their travel expenses; workers would need a job offer or to qualify under a points system; and sponsored residents would need to be vouched for by a naturalised citizen.
The report is jointly written by Theo Veenkamp, a former director-general of the Dutch asylum reception service, and Tom Bentley, director of Demos and a former special adviser to Mr Blunkett.
The pamphlet suggests that asylum seekers and other migrants who do not fit into the other categories should be sent to an international transit centre outside Europe where they would be given shelter while their applications were processed.
It suggests that while some transit centres would be in areas of upheaval and displacement, others would be at key locations on the borders of Europe or near transport hubs.
People would have to pay, possibly through loans or payment in kind, for the support they were given in the centres to send a powerful message to potential migrants about the level of welfare support they could expect if they left home.
Those who were recognised as refugees would swiftly get new passports and EU citizenship, while those who were rejected would be given help to return home.
"Governments are under increasing pressure to control immigration, which has become a lightning conductor for fears about security and terrorism threats," said Mr Veenkamp. "But increasing global mobility and the pressure on Europe's borders makes control impossible to achieve."
He said a new model was needed which acknowledged the complex reasons for migration and which helped people to make realistic decisions about their prospects in a different country before they left home.
well, that looks to be the case.
