Border Criminologies 286d ago

In April, the UK government announced new proposals to send people seeking asylum in the UK to Rwanda. In Denmark a similar plan of externalization of asylum processing is currently being pursued. Last year the Danish government passed a bill to facilitate the transfer of asylum processing and protection to a third country and later drafted a memory of understanding with Rwanda. Like the UK government, they argue that this model presents a new and more human and dignified solution to the so-called ‘migration crisis’. Yet a broad range of state, nonstate and activist actors have raised significant concerns about the legal, political, and ethical implications, as well as the economic cost, of exporting asylum to third counties like Rwanda. This webinar scrutinised the latest deals. While outsourcing humanitarian responsibilities to countries outside Europe is not new in European asylum and migration governance, a pertinent question is if these new partnerships are the beginning of new era for Europe’s anti-refugee policies, or rather a continuation of ongoing racialized deterrence and externalization measures? To explore this question, a panel of legal and migration scholars examined the implications for asylum seekers, but also the future legal implications for refugee protection in Europe and beyond. The first part of seminar was dedicated to better understand how the new asylum partnerships externalise European legal obligations to asylum seekers and the role of Rwanda both in reaching this deal and then in being assessed as a ‘third safe country’. The second part of the seminar contextualised the proposals by exploring previous and ongoing externalization efforts in North Africa and Israel. This Oxford Border Criminologies webinar event was co-organised with Ida Marie Savio Vammen, Danish Institute for International Studies, ODID visiting researcher. Chair and introduction: Vicky Taylor All Roads Lead to Rwanda? Comparing the UK and Denmark Externalisation Arrangements: Nik Tan Refugees and Border Control in the Rwandan Context: Nicola Palmer North African dynamics and European externalization: Ahlam Chemlali The deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda: lessons from the Israeli experience: Maayan Niezna