Mahmood threatens full Eritrea entry ban over migrant returns

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has threatened to ban all Eritreans from entering the United Kingdom unless the east African government accepts more returns of small-boat migrants and foreign national offenders.

From Thursday, Eritrean diplomats will be barred from travelling more than 60 kilometres outside London without permission, while fast-track visas for VIPs are being stopped. The Home Office said the diplomat curbs mirror restrictions already placed on British officials in Asmara. Mahmood stated that Eritrea has had every chance to accept the return of criminals and those with no right to be in the UK, and unlike other countries it has refused. She added she would not hesitate to impose further measures on other countries refusing to co-operate.

The government accused Eritrean authorities of abruptly withdrawing co-operation earlier this year. Eritreans were the most common nationality among small-boats arrivals in the 12 months to June, accounting for 18 per cent of the total according to House of Commons Library figures. The Eritrean embassy in London has been contacted for comment.

Dr Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that targeting Eritrea would have little impact. She noted roughly 7,000 asylum applications from Eritreans in the last year of data, about 8 per cent of the total, and said most are not removable because 84 per cent succeed at initial decision, with more winning on appeal. About 1,400 were initially refused, a figure that falls after appeals.

Many young Eritreans leave the one-party state to avoid military conscription that can last for decades. Eritrea has never held an election since independence from Ethiopia in 1993 and has no independent media. Critics of President Isaias Afwerki have been arrested and jailed for years, often without trial. Ministers have previously used visa-ban threats to pressure other countries into taking back failed claimants and offenders.

Original source: BBC Politics