News Detail

Politicians across European have promoted external processing in safe third countries for more than 20 years. Finally, the idea may face the reality check if the British government moves ahead with the controversial returns to Rwanda. If that happened, to critical questions would arise: firstly, will British courts and the ECtHR in Strasbourg accept the claim of the British government that the local asylum system works effectively in accordance with European standards; secondly, will it be sufficient to return a limited number of asylum applicants from the UK to Rwanda each month to ‘stop the boats’. It is far from certain that such deterrence effect will occur in practice, considering that the UK – unlike Australia – will only transfer a small percentage of the overall number of boat arrivals. Professor Thym explains that the contents and the consequences of the new legislation in interviews with Legal Tribune Online („Jetzt kommt der Praxistest“), WELT TV (‚Wenn das gelingt, wird das auch sehr viel breiter in Europa gefordert werden‘), and the SWISS SRF (‘Auslagerung von Asylverfahren: Kein unübliches Prozedere’), as well as an expert opinions in the SUEDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG and BILD. You may also consult the blogpost on the previous British court case on Legal Tribune Online (‘Externe Asylverfahren sind kein Zaubermittel’) – all in German. On the EU law background, see his monograph EUROPEAN MIGRATION LAW, pp. 381–86.