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SubscriptionsColumn / Investigation: A Hostile Environment
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‘The Strangers’ Case? The Government’s Approach to Human Dignity, Asylum Seekers and a Lesson from Shakespeare’
We must all examine our values and actions in relation to vulnerable populations, writes Iain Overton
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The Fleet Street ‘Friendlies’ Climb On Board Braverman’s Prison Ships
The Home Secretary’s tabloid-pleasing plans to float desperate refugees offshore are designed to distract from the Government’s own failings, reports Adam Bienkov
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The Real Truth About the European Court of Human Rights? It Hardly Ever Overrules the UK
Per person, the ECHR dealt with fewer human rights challenges concerning the UK than anywhere else in 2022, Josiah Mortimer reports
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‘If we Complain about the Hotel, We’re Told Home Office will Move us to Rwanda’
A new report has lifted the lid on the degrading situations the Home Office is placing vulnerable people seeking asylum in
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Braverman Praises Rwanda while US State Department Slams Human Rights Abuses in the East African Nation
Brian Latham reports on the dangers facing migrants deported to Rwanda, and an overlooked clause which allows Rwandan refugees to be resettled in the UK
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‘Anywhere But Here’
Europe and the UK are both looking to push migration concerns back beyond their own borders – the human cost is devastating, reports Simon Speakman Cordall
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‘Where Tunisia Leads, Britain Follows’
Tunisia’s populism and racially-charged purges offers chilling context for the UK’s migration clampdown, writes Simon Speakman Cordall
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‘Is There Any Comparison Between Braverman’s Migration Bill and Nazi Germany?’
Brad Blitz looks at the storm of controversy over Gary Lineker’s comments on the Illegal Migration Bill, and while he finds no evidence of Nazi policy, does hear echoes of fascist rhetoric
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‘Threatening to Leave the ECHR would be the Perfect Terrain for Next Conservative Election Campaign’
The Government may do just enough to rile up the Conservative Party’s voter base by engineering yet another pointless row with European bodies, writes former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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Compassion-Free Conservatism: ‘Suella Braverman Uses Vote Leave Playbook Against Vulnerable Refugees’
The new ‘Illegal Migration Bill’ is using the same dishonest tactics used to take Britain out of the EU to secure the Conservatives a fifth election victory, writes Adam Bienkov
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Channel Crossings: Government ‘Whipping Up Hatred’ with ‘Unworkable’ Asylum Plans
Lauren Crosby Medlicott reports on Rishi Sunak’s new law banning people entering the UK ‘illegally’ from claiming asylum or re-entering in the future
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‘Sunak’s Anti-Asylum Bill Could Pit Britain Against the United Nations’
The Prime Minister’s law will stand in defiance of the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, writes Brian Latham
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‘My Life Just Stopped’: Punishing Immigration Rule Leaves Families in Limbo
Sian Norris speaks to a family who will have been in the UK 33 years before they are granted indefinite leave to remain
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‘Are You Paying for this Room?’ Three Years of Far-Right Attacks on Migrant Hotels
The riot outside a hotel in Knowsley housing asylum seekers was the inevitable outcome of a long-standing organised campaign, Sian Norris reports
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Small Boats: the Post-Brexit Migration Story the Media Doesn’t Report
Thom Brooks’ report reveals the Government has created the Channel migration ‘small boats’ crisis through its hard Brexit policies
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Lee Anderson’s Culture Wars: How the Conservative Party is Flirting with Far-Right Hate to Appeal to its Base
Max Colbert documents the weaponisation of xenophobia among Tory politicians, with evidence suggesting the Government is encouraging extremism rather than countering it
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LGBTQ+ People at Risk of Abuse and Trauma in Immigration Detention
A pilot study into the experiences of LGBTQ+ people held in immigration detention found incidents of homophobic bullying and abuse
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What the Knowsley Riot Tells Us About the Far Right Today
Friday’s violent scenes reveal the modern far-right’s tactics, its driving ideology – and how hate has been mainstreamed by the UK Government. Sian Norris reports
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‘Small Boats – Lazy Minds’
None of the solutions to the Government’s concerns about migrant boats crossing the Channel require the UK’s withdrawal from the ECHR, writes Brad Blitz
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Unequal Justice: How Victims Lose Out on Criminal Compensation
Maya Esslemont and Sian Norris reveal how crime victims are struggling to access the financial support they are entitled to
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Government Condemns Iran’s Human Rights Abuses – While Threatening Iranian Refugees with Deportation to Rwanda
Sian Norris speaks to an Iranian refugee about the impact of the Rwanda scheme on people seeking asylum from the repressive regime
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The Risks Facing Unaccompanied Children Seeking Asylum in the UK
Recent reports of kidnap highlight the Home Office’s failure to protect vulnerable young people who have made the dangerous journey to the UK for sanctuary, reports Lauren Crosby Medlicott
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Death of Rwandan Journalist – Another Red Flag for UK’s Flagship Deportation Scheme
John Williams Ntwali joins a list of critics who have died or disappeared in Rwanda
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Undocumented Immigration: Two Very Different Approaches
Brian Latham looks at the very different attitudes to migration in Southern Africa compared to the UK
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Fresh Concerns About Risk to LGBTQ+ and Middle Eastern Migrant People in Rwanda
Buried in the High Court judgment which found the Rwanda scheme to be lawful are claims that LGBTQ+ and Middle Eastern asylum seekers have faced discrimination
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Falling Through the Cracks: Migrant People at Risk of Homelessness
From arriving in the UK with nowhere to turn, to falling through the cracks and sleeping rough, Byline Times looks at the experiences of migrant people who are homeless
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Rwanda Will No Longer Take Congolese Refugees, as UK Vows to Deport Migrants to the Country
Sian Norris reports as Kigali declares it will not welcome refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, undermining claims it is a safe country to deport migrant people
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Mother of Four Refused Housing and Told to Return to Libya Based on Google Search
A council has refused a family homelessness support as they are satisfied the mother has accommodation in a country riven by conflict and violence, Sian Norris reports
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Rwanda’s Human Rights Problem Makes it a Dangerous Destination for Migrants
Brian Latham reports on why human rights violations in Rwanda mean the Government’s deportation plans put vulnerable people at risk
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‘Unbelievably Callous’: Refugee Rights Experts React to Sunak’s Immigration Plans
Sian Norris reports on how plans to reduce migration and the asylum backlog ignore the realities of people fleeing war, persecution and violence – and the lack of safe routes open to people seeking asylum
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Little Evidence of Victims ‘Gaming’ Modern Slavery System, says Regulator
Claims made by successive Home Secretaries that victims are gaming modern slavery laws to avoid deportation are not backed up by the data, says the Office for Statistics Regulation
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Fast-Track Deportations of Migrants: Are ‘Safe’ Countries Really Safe Countries?
Media reports that people will face fast-tracked deportations to countries considered safe missed one big question: are these countries, in fact, safe? Sian Norris reports
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The Day Far-Right Hate was Normalised in the House
A debate on asylum accommodation and safeguarding echoed far-right online chat, in a worrying shift of the Conservative Party’s migration rhetoric, Sian Norris reports
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REVEALED: Yarl’s Wood Immigration Detainees Suffered in ‘Unacceptable’ Conditions During Record Heatwave
As the Home Office faces mounting criticism over its treatment of asylum seekers at Manston processing centre, a new investigation by Sascha Lavin for the Byline Intelligence Team paints a troubling picture of conditions at another notorious immigration removal detention centre this July
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‘Heightening Tensions from the Far-Right’: Braverman’s Dangerous Asylum Approach
Campaigners and experts warn that the Home Secretary’s rhetoric serves to undermine the human rights and safety of people in need
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Home Office Spends £76 Million on Legal Challenges Since Johnson Entered Downing Street
As the Rwanda plan is challenged again in the High Court, Sascha Lavin reveals the vast scale and cost of legal challenges against the department behind the controversial scheme
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Government Denies £4 Million Cost of Living Support from Sanctioned Welfare Claimants
Punitive sanctions are compounding the financial problems of some of the most vulnerable people, reports Nic Murray
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What the Home Secretary’s Immigration Plans Will Mean for Vulnerable Migrants and Modern Slavery Victims
Sian Norris considers the implications of Suella Braverman’s potential plans for migrant people crossing the Channel, with insights from experts
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‘We Need to Hear This from Labour’: Asylum and Immigration Fall Off Party’s Agenda
As Home Secretary Suella Braverman says her ‘dream’ is to see refugees flown to Rwanda, Lauren Crosby Medlicott looks at Keir Starmer’s alternative
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‘Operation Red Meat’ Continues Despite Asylum Crackdown Failures
Sascha Lavin reports on how the Home Office is pursuing flawed migration policies to retain a base of reactionary support – no matter how ill-conceived
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The UK-Rwanda Partnership: A Timeline
The controversial Rwanda scheme has rarely been out of the headlines. The Byline Intelligence Team, in partnership with the Action On Armed Violence charity, takes a look at the story so far
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How Rwanda’s Stifling of the Press Prevents Proper Accountability for Asylum Scheme
When Iain Overton was denied a journalist visa to report on violence against refugees in Rwanda, he and the Byline Intelligence Team investigated press repression in the country
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Exclusive Investigation Reveals 13th Refugee Shot in Rwanda in 2018
The Byline Intelligence Team has uncovered the killing of an 13th Congolese refugee in 2018 – undermining Government claims that ‘no similar incidences had occurred’ since the shooting of 12 people earlier that year
