PUBLICATION
From deterrence to criminalisation
By Institute of Race Relations
'New laws are criminalising asylum seekers and migrants and those who seek to act in solidarity with them', says leading UK human rights lawyer Frances Webber in a major review of developments in European asylum law from 2002-2005 published by the Institute of Race Relations today.
'Asylum: from deterrence to criminalisation' draws attention to the threat posed to international conventions by the adoption of a penal framework to prevent the arrival of would-be refugees in Europe and to aid the departure of failed asylum seekers. 'When asylum law is drafted within a criminal law framework, it is inevitable that the human rights parameters that influenced the original Geneva Convention will be undermined', concludes Webber.
The review, which covers over one hundred cases, examines a number of prosecutions brought against individuals who, through their humanitarianism, have sought to assist asylum seekers or undocumented migrants. Human rights activists, lawyers and religious leaders are among those who have been prosecuted for such innocuous and unthreatening activities as housing the destitute, exposing degrading conditions in detention centres, or advising those under threat of deportation of their legal and civil rights.
Asylum: from deterrence to criminalisation by Frances Webber is issue No. 55 of the IRR European Race Bulletin, which is published four times a year). It is available from the Institute of Race Relations, 2-6 Leeke Street, Kings Cross Road, London WC1X 9HS. Telephone +00 44 (0)20 7837 0041. 19pp. Price £7. The Institute of Race Relations is precluded from expressing a corporate view: any opinions expressed are therefore those of the authors.
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