BRITAIN has deported more than 50 asylum seekers fleeing the Syrian civil war in a move that contrasts with the approach taken towards refugees by Germany.
The Home Office said 52 Syrian nationals were forcibly removed in the year ending in June, but claimed none was sent back to Syria. They were returned instead to other “safe” countries through which they had travelled before arriving in the UK.
Under the European Union’s Dublin Convention, migrants can seek asylum in the first EU state they enter.
Last week Germany said it had stopped applying the Dublin Convention in the face of the refugee crisis and would accept Syrian asylum seekers even if they had first entered the EU elsewhere. German officials said the move was “humanitarian” as well as practical.
The Home Office said Britain had given sanctuary to almost 5,000 Syrian nationals and their dependants since the civil war began in 2011. However, only 216 people have benefited from a special scheme to resettle “vulnerable” people, including rape victims. It said 87% of initial asylum applications made by Syrians last year were granted.
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Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday that the EU was planning to offer African countries more than €1bn in exchange for the repatriation of migrants who have entered the bloc illegally but have no right to asylum.
European leaders including David Cameron will meet their African counterparts in Malta in November to discuss the offer. They will also discuss the creation of EU-funded refugee centres in Africa, where refugees would be able to apply for asylum without making the perilous journey into Europe.
“If an African country is ready to take back its people, who have no chance of getting asylum in Europe, then we Europeans must support that,” said Jean Asselborn, the foreign minister of Luxembourg, which currently holds the EU presidency. “If [the summit in] Malta is to be a success, the EU must offer the Africans something substantial.” More than 340,000 irregular migrants have been detected at EU borders this year.
The developments came as four men appeared in court in Hungary after the discovery last week of a lorry in Austria containing the bodies of 71 people. They were remanded in custody and Austria is expected to seek their extradition.
Three children were in hospital in Austria last night after being found badly dehydrated on Friday in a minivan containing 26 migrants.