Asylum: a policy primer

Post Date: Apr 4th, 2012 | Categories: Advocacy | COMMENT

Dr Matthew Gibney, of the University of Oxford, examines key questions underlying asylum polices, focusing on the challenge of protecting human rights while ensuring that immigration controls are not undermined. The tension is growing in Hong Kong between Immigration and civil society as hundreds of failed CAT claimants are rounded up, detained and served with removal/deportation orders. HK Government closely examines and evaluates UK policy and so should we, considering what lies ahead when Castle Peak Bay Immigration Centre (capacity: 400) overfills with former asylum-seekers too scared to be deported home. Let’s find the answers to these questions:
– who is a refugee, asylum seeker or has ‘undetermined status’?
– is asylum a trump card over normal immigration controls?
– what policies do states use to deter and prevent asylum?
– which claimants have strong protection needs (Duty Lawyer Service)?
– what is the ‘asylum gap’ and ‘informal asylum’ (now growing in HK)?
– why have Removal Orders become a strong control tool?
– does the government perspective clash with civil society’s view?

 



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