Launch of new report on mass deportations - Wednesday 20th November, 7pm‏

Launch event: new report on mass deportations

Corporate Watch and Stop Deportation invite all those concerned to the
launch of our major new report: 'Collective Expulsion: The case against
Britain's mass deportation charter flights'.

The launch will be combined with a workshop involving legal practitioners
and campaigners who work on this issue to explore ways we can challenge
and stop deportation charter flights.

The event will be held at Garden Court Chambers on Wednesday, 20th
November, 7pm.
Address: 57- 60 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3LJ
Nearest tube station: Holborn.

Some of our findings have been reported in the Guardian, Private Eye, Open
Democracy and on the Freemovement immigration law blog.

Email contact@corporatewatch.org to let us know you're coming


Why this report

The UK's Home Office has used specially chartered flights to deport
rejected refugees and migrants en masse for 12 years now. Charter flights
are becoming the standard method of conducting enforced deportations to a
growing list of destination countries. There is now at least one flight a
week to 'popular destinations', such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria,
which are often closely linked to the UK's most controversial foreign
policy adventures.

The policy was introduced in 2001 ostensibly to save 'taxpayers' money'
and effect 'volume removals' of people who refuse to 'cooperate' with the
immigration authorities. Officials have also claimed the programme was
designed to send a clear message, both to the British public and to
migrant communities, that the UK is serious about enforcing its 'tough'
immigration policy. Yet, the programme was, and is still being, sold to
the public on the basis of unfounded myths and outright lies, which have
gone unchallenged for far too long.

This report, examines in detail each of these and other deceptions
underpinning the programme and debunks them using previously unpublished
data covering the first 10 years of the programme. The sources range from
Freedom of Information requests, statistical analysis of official figures,
court cases, to government and media reports, in addition to case studies
based on testimonies from migrants deported on these flights or
organisations that worked with them.

Having debunked the myths, the report's authors, Phil Miller and Shiar
Youssef, then attempt to unravel the 'ulterior motives' behind the UK's
deportation charter flights, bringing to light little-known statements by
government officials, secretive meetings and agreements and dodgy
political deals. The motives examined range from a targets culture
introduced by Labour and maintained by the current, Conservatives-led
coalition government, to political agendas revolving around the UK's
foreign policy and disciplining migrant diaspora communities.

The next section explores a number of important legal questions concerning
mass deportation flights, delving into the murky depths of European and UK
case law, international treaties and other legal instruments. Among other
things, the authors argue that deportation charter flights constitute a de
facto policy of 'collective expulsion' and must, therefore, be prohibited.
Even without this, a number of procedural issues that can be used to
challenge the legality of these flights are also explored in detail. This
is followed by two short sections on specific issues with significant
legal implications: overbooking and the use of 'reserves', and the more
recent use of monitors and doctors on mass deportation flights.

It is important to remember that, unlike deportations by commercial
flights, there are no other commercial and procedural barriers to the
exceptional, brutal policies and practices surrounding mass deportation
charter flights. There are also no other passengers to witness what
happens on these flights – unlike the unlawful killing of Jimmy Mubenga,
which took place in full view of British Airways customers, leading to a
damning inquest verdict on the use of fatal restraint techniques. On
charter flights, immigration officers and private security guards can
virtually get away with anything, as they often do, in order to enforce
the government's 'tough' immigration policy. Hence, this report not only
calls for the immediate halt of the deportation charters programme on the
basis of detailed factual findings and legal arguments, but also
challenges different practices and procedures that have been
institutionalised or taken for granted during the 12 years of this shadowy
programme.

To achieve this, we would like to bring together as many campaigners and
legal practitioners interested in these issues as possible, and explore
ways in which they can collaborate and work together more effectively in
order to stop these flights. This is particularly important now, in the
context of mass deportations becoming an integral part of the UK's
'immigration management' regime, a regime that has recently seen new
worrying and xenophobic developments, such as regular immigration checks
on the street and the 'go home' advert vans. Mass deportations, using
specially chartered aircraft away from the public gaze, are a logical
extension of this drive to get rid of as many unwanted migrants as
possible by any means possible.