All Articles: safe country
Why sticking to the Refugee Convention still matters
When someone says that refugees should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach, what they really mean is that other countries should look after refugees. They want others to do what they would not do themselves. Their words are really addres ...
1st April 2021New statement of changes to the Immigration Rules: HC 1043
On 10 December 2020 the Home Office published a statement of changes to the Immigration Rules that appears to be a flagrant breach of the UN Refugee Convention. The purpose of the main change is to: Enhance our capacity to treat as inadmissible to the ...
11th December 2020Helpful case on when failure to claim asylum in a safe country damages credibility
Immigration judges must assess whether an asylum seeker had a reasonable opportunity to claim asylum in a safe third country before holding that a failure to do so should damage their credibility, the Court of Appeal has ruled. KA (Afghanistan) v Secr ...
12th June 2019Are refugees obliged to claim asylum in the first safe country they reach?
There has been considerable fuss made in the last week about a handful of refugees crossing the English Channel to claim asylum here in the UK. Here I’m going to look at the numbers, the wider context, what we know about refugee decision making ...
2nd January 2019Should refugees claim asylum upon arrival in their first ‘safe’ country?
“Why don’t asylum seekers stop before they get here?” I have been asked this question many times. There are lots of safe countries on the way, so the argument goes. Why wait until they arrive in the UK to make their claim? They’re not going to ...
20th June 2017