CoE Human Rights Commissioner raises concerns over treatment of refugees and migrants in the UK

25th March 2016 | News

25 March 2016 On 22 March, a number of concerns were raised about the negative human rights impact of restrictive policies on asylum and immigration in the UK by Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights. These were published in a Memorandum...

Deportations to Afghanistan from the UK can resume, despite worsening security situation

11th March 2016 | News

11 March 2016 Last week, the UK Court of Appeal lifted the suspension on the deportation of asylum seekers whose claims were not accepted to certain provinces of Afghanistan, which had been in place since August last year. The case related to asylum seekers who sought...

Chief Inspector of Prisons calls for a time limit to immigration detention in the UK, in damning report

3rd March 2016 | News

3 March 2016 The largest immigration detention centre in Europe, Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre in the UK, has been found to have deteriorated to an ‘unacceptable condition’. The Chief Inspector of Prisons in the UK, Peter Clarke, has published  a damning...

Amnesty International: UK and France must share responsibility for the global refugee crisis

19th February 2016 | News

19 February 2016 Amnesty International has issued a statement calling on the governments of the UK and France to cooperate to allow refugees and migrants currently living in squalid conditions in camps in northern France, who have family links to the UK, to be swiftly...

UK Home Office fails Eritrean asylum seekers using flawed Country of Origin Information

29th January 2016 | News

29 January 2016 ECRE member, the British Refugee Council, publicised a new independent report by Dr. John Campbell which reviews the Country of Origin Information guidelines on Eritrea used by the Home Office to adjudicate asylum claims. The report, commissioned by...