UK eyes Kosovo for processing asylum seekers arriving by small boats

According to The Times, the UK will ask Kosovo to accept asylum seekers arriving in the country on small boats.

Ministers and officials have shortlisted Kosovo, which Serbia does not recognize as independent, among nine countries identified as potential overseas centers for sending asylum seekers who have exhausted all appeal routes in the UK.

Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani also stated that her country was “open” to a potential agreement with the UK regarding the acceptance of rejected asylum seekers.

Kosovo has entered the list of countries London wants to discuss the issue with. These countries include Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and several outside Europe.

No formal talks have started with any country yet, but it is understood the British government wants to make progress by the West Balkan leaders’ summit in London in the autumn, where illegal immigration will be at the top of the agenda.

The government had hoped Albania would also be open to hosting one of the return centers, but Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama rejected this last week.

Senior government sources indicated that Kosovo was a “reasonable” country in which to establish a return center, as it is situated on one of the primary routes used by “illegal immigrants” heading to the EU.

According to the Foreign Office, approximately 22,000 “illegal immigrants” entered the EU via the West Balkan route last year.

Evidence that migrants have passed through a country designated to host a return center is viewed as a significant factor in streamlining their deportation process. The UK would then be able to argue that these migrants had the opportunity to seek asylum in a “safe” country but chose not to.

According to Frontex, the EU’s border agency, over 3,000 migrants entered the EU via the West Balkans in the first four months of the year, with 804 of these entries recorded in April. The majority of these migrants originated from Afghanistan, Turkey, and Syria.

Keir Starmer is facing mounting pressure over his perceived inability to address the increasing number of migrants arriving in small boats. To date, 13,573 migrants have made the crossing this way, a figure 37% higher than during the corresponding period last year.

Kosovo’s President Osmani reiterated last week that her country remains open to the idea of hosting one of the UK’s proposed return centers.

Osmani had said, “There has been no formal discussion with the UK on this matter. It has not been brought up so far. We are open to discussing this issue, but I cannot say more as I do not know the details. I cannot respond to a request that has not yet been made.”

Several European countries, including Italy, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, are considering establishing offshore centers for illegal immigrants.

Any such agreement would necessitate the UK providing payment for each asylum seeker who cannot be successfully relocated or processed through these centers.

Kosovo has previously demonstrated its willingness to enter into international agreements to accept individuals not welcomed by other European nations. In 2021, for instance, it signed a €200 million deal with Denmark to house 300 foreign prisoners. These inmates are intended to serve the remainder of their sentences in Kosovo pending repatriation to their home countries, though this particular agreement has yet to be implemented.

Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy visited Kosovo last month, where he signed an agreement for the UK to potentially provide technology aimed at preventing the country from being exploited by organized crime groups for smuggling goods and migrants into the UK.

In March, the EU announced its approval for member states to establish return centers, and Keir Starmer is reportedly willing to cooperate with other European nations on this front. Currently, the Netherlands is in negotiations with the Ugandan government to open such a facility.

During a visit to Albania earlier this month, the UK Prime Minister confirmed that the government is actively pursuing the concept of establishing return centers, stating, “I see these as a really important innovation.”

Last month, The Times revealed that the concept of return centers has received endorsement from the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR. This development was described by government officials as a “game-changer.”

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has discussed with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi the possibility of the UK compensating Balkan countries for accepting asylum seekers whose claims have been rejected by the UK.

The UNHCR’s backing for these centers is considered crucial for their viability, particularly since the agency’s intervention in the High Court case against the Conservative government’s Rwanda plan contributed to that plan being ruled illegal.

The Labour Party’s plans will be different from the Conservative government’s Rwanda deportation plan, which is designed to send illegal immigrants to the African country on one-way flights within days of their arrival in the UK without hearing their asylum claims.

Sources aligned with the Labour Party have dismissed the possibility of establishing a return center in Rwanda, as the party does not deem Rwanda a safe country. Furthermore, sources within the Labour Party have emphasized that any proposed return center plan must satisfy Keir Starmer’s criteria of being “cost-effective, workable, and legal.”