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Arab News
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
UK must restart processing of Syrian asylum claims: Charity
LONDON: Government ministers in the UK are facing calls to restart the processing of Syrian asylum applications after new figures revealed that more than 7,000 people remain in 'indefinite limbo.' After the fall of the Assad regime in December, the UK paused decisions on Syrian asylum and permanent resettlement claims, the BBC reported. The pause has remained in place for five months, but now many Syrians living in Britain have been left in limbo, awaiting decisions on their applications. The Refugee Council charity has called for the resumption of claim processing on a case-by-case basis, while the government said decisions were paused 'while we assess the current situation.' The Home Office lacks 'stable, objective information available to make robust assessments of risk' relating to Syrians, a source told the BBC, adding that Britain's policy on the matter 'will remain under constant review.' The newest figures, for the end of March, show that 7,386 Syrians in the UK are awaiting an initial decision on their asylum claims. After the UK paused decisions on Syrian asylum applications, the number of claims filed by Syrian nationals fell by 81 percent, figures show. Those claiming asylum often lack the right to work in Britain, but are provided with government-funded accommodation and financial support. This leaves many Syrians 'stuck in limbo' and increases the burden on the taxpayer, said Jon Featonby, chief policy analyst at the Refugee Council. At the end of March, more than 5,500 Syrians were living in UK government-funded accommodation. The British government has pledged to clear the large backlog of overall asylum claims, but Featonby said the Syrian issue is creating a 'blockage' in the system. He added that many Syrians also fear the UK government changing its position on the Syrian Arab Republic and judging it a safe country. This could lead to the rejection of thousands of asylum applications.
Irish Times
16-05-2025
- General
- Irish Times
‘They were Buncrana sons' – the Co Donegal lives and tragic deaths of two immigrant teenagers
At The Exchange in Buncrana, an English class is under way. About 20 people from a multiplicity of nationalities are grouped around the table. A babble of different languages fills the room as they practise the day's lesson. The community centre began supporting asylum seekers when the first International Protection Accommodation Service (Ipas) facility opened in the Co Donegal town two years ago; there are now two Ipas centres in Buncrana, which are home to about 150 people. 'We immediately opened up a weekly drop-in cafe, just to get to know people, then we soon saw the need for English classes,' says Ruth Garvey-Williams, a volunteer at The Exchange and chairperson of Insight Inishowen, one of the groups which operates the community centre where an international church also meets. READ MORE 'We have gradually got to know the whole community,' says Garvey-Williams. 'We have become very, very close.' It was at The Exchange that Garvey-Williams met Emmanuel Familola and Matt Sibanda . Her face lights up as she speaks of the teenagers – 16-year-old Familola was 'quite quiet, a lot of people have called him a gentle giant, because he's a strapping lad, and a beautiful nature, such a trustworthy person', she says. Other families would 'entrust their kids to them, like he would walk some of the girls down to the youth club ... he was a safe pair of hands who would take care of the other kids', she said. Sibanda was from Zimbabwe, had just turned 18 last month and was about to sit his Leaving Certificate next month. 'He was an exceptional student, was getting very excited about going off to college, he was a very good footballer, and just an exceptional young man,' she says. He always had a 'beaming smile' on his face. The two teenagers who died drowning on the coast of Buncrana, Co Donegal were 16-year-old Emmanuel Familola (left) and 18-year-old Matt Sibanda. Last Saturday, Familola and Sibanda were enjoying the sunshine at Ned's Point, a well-known spot with a pier, slipway and beach. It is also the home of the Lough Swilly lifeboat. It is at the end of a scenic 10-minute walk along the lough shore from the centre of town. The teenagers were playing football with friends when their ball went into the water. They went to retrieve it and got into difficulties. Sibanda's body was recovered later that evening. Familola was taken to hospital but later died. He had been brought to the shore in the water by a third friend. That friend is described as a 'hero' by a local man who knew Familola but does not want to be identified because he works with residents in the Ipas centre where the 16-year-old lived. 'Emmanuel was a lovely boy,' he says. Flowers and candles have been left at a spot overlooking the stretch of water where the two boys went into the water. A message of condolence reads: 'Thinking of your families and friends at this heartbreaking, tragic time. May your God be with you all.' Ruth Garvey-Williams, a volunteer at the Exchange community centre in Buncrana, Co Donegal. Photograph: Joe Dunne Familola and Sibanda were 'both an oldest son, their [mother's] first child, the light of their life, their world,' says Garvey-Williams. 'How do you even come to terms with that?' Familola was from Nigeria. He came to Buncrana with his mother Glory and two younger brothers as international protection applicants in 2023. Sibanda, his mother Bonnie and younger sibling arrived from Zimbabwe a few months later. 'People sort of glibly talk about refugees and asylum seekers without stopping to think about what that actually means,' says Garvey-Williams. 'It's somebody who's been through such devastating trauma, such difficult circumstances that they have literally had to pick up and flee, often leaving homes, leaving jobs, leaving houses, cars. 'We're not talking about economic migrants, we're talking about people who have been pushed into a situation because of something that's happened, huge hardship and huge trauma and very real fear for their safety. 'I'm aware that's the case for these families. They have come here because they wanted to keep their children safe from harm, and which parent doesn't want to do that?' In Buncrana, they built new lives. Familola was a pupil at Scoil Mhuire in the town, while Sibanda attended Crana College. After their deaths, principals Evelyn McLoughlin and Kevin Cooley spoke of the 'devastation' in both schools at 'this heartbreaking loss'. 'Emmanuel and Matt were deeply respected and valued members of our student bodies, and their passing has left us all in profound shock,' they said in a statement. The beach at Ned's Point outside Buncrana, Co Donegal where teenagers went to retrieve their football. Photograph: Joe Dunne Fionán Bradley, a local Fianna Fáil councillor and teacher who taught Familola, described him as 'a model student'. '[He] did anything he was asked, never, ever spoke back, just impeccable manners – a real gentleman,' says Bradley. Both boys volunteered at The Exchange. Familola 'helped out with various things, like printing out certificates for the volunteer programme, and helping with the food pantry we had, even doing some nasty jobs,' says Garvey-Williams. 'We had to recycle some food that had gone off, and he got his hands dirty, he was willing to just muck in.' She says Sibanda was 'the oldest' and was 'like a big brother to all the other children in the centre'. 'He would encourage them to study and do their homework; he was setting a great example because he was such a good student himself, but also just watching out for them.' The day before the tragedy, Sibanda had been preparing for his part in a Shakespeare production the centre is to put on in June. 'He said: 'Oh, I'd like to do that, and so we were taking measurements for his costume, and he was all excited,' says Garvey-Williams. 'That was Friday, and then Saturday, he was gone.' People arrive for a prayer vigil is held in St Mary's Oratory in Buncrana, Co. Donegal. Photograph: by Joe Dunne Familola had just returned from Dublin where he had been on a week's work experience at the Department of Foreign Affairs. 'He arrived back on Friday night, and his Mum has a load of photos on her phone of him meeting all these different ambassadors, and she was so proud of him, even as we were in the hospital she was showing us all these photos,' says Garvey-Williams. 'It's that sense of: here is someone with such potential.' Buncrana and the Swilly has known many tragedies. In the week since the loss of Familola and Sibanda, many have spoken of other losses on the water, including the five family members who died when their car slipped off Buncrana pier in 2016. There have been calls for initiatives such as a water safety campaign aimed at schools and Ipas centres and the return of a municipal swimming pool to the town. In the wake of this latest tragedy, the town has again come together. 'This is one of the things I really love about Buncrana,' says Garvey-Williams. 'I moved here from England and I fell in love with this community because it's in times of trouble and hardship that Buncrana just seems to shine, everybody stands together and pulls together. Hundreds attended a vigil in Familola and Sibanda's memory at St Mary's Oratory on Sunday . 'It afforded people an opportunity to do the only thing they could do, which was just to physically come and be present and show the refugee community that they are being supported and will continue to be supported,' says Bradley. 'It was so evident for the families at the vigil that they are very much a part of this community and very much welcome here.' A fund to support their families has so far raised more than €38,000. Garvey-Williams says she has been 'overwhelmed' by the number of people stopping her on the street to say: 'Can you pass on my condolences?' In the past, there have been attacks on centres used for refugee accommodation in the area. In 2023, a firework was thrown into one of the Buncrana Ipas centres in what the owners said was an attempt to set it on fire. Another building was set on fire the following year. 'The town has been very supportive [of the asylum seekers], silently supportive,' says the Ipas centre worker. Social media, he says, is not reflective of reality. There is a right-wing element that is 'very noisy', he says, but it's not a majority, as seen in multiple elections. This tragedy displayed how the people came out to show their presence physically at the vigil. 'Tragic as this is, it has changed the hearts and mind of people who before may have wavering on the immigration question,' he says. 'Once the people saw, at the vigil, the mother and the child and the absolute despair, I believe it melted the hearts of Buncrana.' Garvey-Williams says the grief of the families is 'unimaginable'. 'The one comfort they have had is the outpouring of love from the local community,' she says. This has shown that the boys were 'part of our community. They weren't just outsiders; they weren't 'non-nationals' – or whatever those horrible words are – they were part of our community. 'They were Buncrana sons.'
The Guardian
06-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
US talks are an opportunity for Rwanda to expand its geopolitical influence
Talks between Rwanda and the US to host deported migrants is the latest move by the African country to position itself as a useful option for the anti-migration policies of allied governments. Previous high-profile attempts, however, including with the UK, Israel and Denmark, failed after becoming beset by controversy. On Sunday, Olivier Nduhungirehe said the talks with Washington DC were in the early stages. The Rwandan foreign minister told state TV: 'Those reports are true. We are engaged in discussions with the government of the United States of America.' The US-based Handbasket newsletter first reported discussions between Rwanda and the US last month, citing a US State Department cable saying Rwanda had agreed to take in deportees who were unable to be sent to their home countries for fear of persecution. Although details about the planned deal are scant, this is not the first time that Rwanda has explored such an arrangement for resettlement. In 2022, the country entered an agreement with a previous UK government to receive asylum seekers from Britain. Under the deal, asylum claims would be processed in Rwanda. Successful applicants would remain there, while unsuccessful ones would be given the option to leave Rwanda or receive residency. The agreement, which included plans for financial support for relocation and accommodation, faced legal challenges as well as criticism from opposition politicians and human rights activists. The government said it would tackle illegal migration and aid Rwandan development. But critics said it was unlawful and posed risks for the safety of refugees. The deal, which cost the UK hundreds of millions of pounds, eventually fell through when Keir Starmer cancelled it after the Labour party came into power last year. In his address on Sunday, Nduhungirehe acknowledged Rwanda's previous experience with similar migration plans, saying the US idea was 'not something new to us'. Rwanda was also previously involved in a programme between 2014 and 2017 to take African asylum seekers from Israel. The agreement was shrouded in secrecy, but details started emerging in 2018 as Israel's supreme court weighed whether to approve a programme to give African migrants the option of a cash incentive for deportation or be detained indefinitely. In 2017, Volker Türk, the assistant high commissioner for protection at the UN refugee agency, said 4,000 people from Eritrea and Sudan had been relocated under the 2014-17 programme to two African countries 'named in media reports as Rwanda and Uganda'. The scheme collapsed when Israel's supreme court suspended deportations in 2018. Rwanda has also explored a migration deal with Denmark. After the European country's passage of a law to process asylum seekers outside Europe in 2021, the two countries announced that they were looking at establishing a programme for the transfer of asylum seekers arriving in Denmark to Rwanda for consideration of their asylum applications and protection, with the option of settling in Rwanda. They said: 'The current global asylum and migration system is dysfunctional and a new approach is required.' Critics condemned it, saying Denmark was shifting responsibility for refugee protection. In 2023, the country paused the plan, seeking to work with other EU countries in a regional solution. Paul Kagame has in the past defended migration plans to send people to Rwanda. Speaking on state television in 2022, the Rwandan president said: 'We are not involved in buying and selling of people, with the UK or anybody. It's just a problem that needs to be solved and Rwanda is ready to help.' The latest talks with the US present an opportunity for the country to financially leverage the migrant crisis in the west as well as expand its geopolitical influence. Notably, the discussions are happening at a time when the US is pushing Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to enter bilateral economic agreements with the US that would bring western investment to support mining in the countries. The proposed deals are part of a US-led process to end fighting in the mineral-rich eastern DRC, where Rwanda has been accused of fuelling the conflict by backing rebels.
