Offshore processing in the UK

In 2024, the UK passed the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024, requiring decision-makers in the UK to treat Rwanda as a ‘safe country’ to which asylum seekers can be removed in all but very limited circumstances. While this law was being debated in parliament, Kaldor Centre researchers provided expert commentary on the risks of the UK’s plans and the lessons it could learn from Australia.

In the UK Constitutional Law Association Blog, Kaldor Centre Senior Research Fellow Madeline Gleeson and Professor Theodore Konstadinides of the University of Essex sought to settle the debate about whether  Australia’s offshore processing policies are comparable to the UK’s proposed Rwanda plan. They drew from the Australian experience to argue that the Rwanda plan was unlikely to achieve its stated policy objectives; risked creating a serious humanitarian crisis and violating international law; might expose the UK government to financial, legal and reputational liabilities; and carried domestic political risks.

In Australian Outlook, Madeline Gleeson detailed how the influence of Australia’s deterrence-based asylum policies was spreading across Europe and the UK, with serious consequences for both human rights and the rule of law.

In The Conversation, Kaldor Centre affiliate Dr Natalie Hodgson published a series of articles explaining the delays to the UK’s Rwanda plan while the Safety of Rwanda Bill was being debated by parliament and the obstacles that could still prevent flights to Rwanda after it was passed.

Dr Hodgson also provided evidence to the Public Accounts Committee inquiry on Asylum Accommodation and the UK-Rwanda Partnership. The evidence highlighted difficulties in accurately estimating the cost of offshore processing and identified a number of areas where costs could exceed budgeted expectations.

In September 2022, Madeline Gleeson and Dr Natalie Hodgson convened a high-level expert knowledge exchange to provide insights to UK stakeholders about the Australian experience of offshore processing. The event, entitled ‘Offshore Processing and Asylum Policy – Lessons from Australia’, included briefings from Amnesty International, the Australian Human Rights Commission, Médecins Sans Frontières and Dr Natalie Hodgson about the humanitarian, medical, legal and policy risks associated with offshore processing and strategies to advocate for asylum policies which do not violate international law.

As the UK pressed forward with its efforts to implement offshore processing, Madeline Gleeson engaged with various media outlets – including Channel 4 News UK, Agence France Press, The New European and VOA News – to highlight legal and other concerns with the policy.

In September 2020, media reports claimed that the UK Home Secretary Priti Patel was considering the possibility of adopting an Australian-style model of 'offshore processing' of asylum seekers. In November, Kaldor Centre Senior Research Fellow Madeline Gleeson and affiliate Professor Natalie Klein appeared before the UK House of Commons Home Affairs Committee to give evidence on this and related matters to the Committee’s inquiry into Channel crossings, migration and asylum-seeking routes through the EU. Their intervention prompted the Scottish National Party to demand absolute assurances that the UK government would never consider following the Australian model. Their evidence was also cited in subsequent submissions to UK parliamentary committees.