Collective Expulsion: The Case Against Britain's Mass Deportation Charter Flights

The UK's Home Office has used specially chartered flights to deport rejected refugees and migrants en masse for 12 years now. Charter flights are becoming the standard method of conducting enforced deportations to a growing list of destination countries. There is now at least one flight a week to 'popular destinations', such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria, which are often closely linked to the UK's most controversial foreign policy adventures.

This report, examines the deceptions underpinning the programme and debunks them using previously unpublished data covering the first 10 years of the programme. The sources range from Freedom of Information requests, statistical analysis of official figures, court cases, to government and media reports, in addition to case studies based on testimonies from migrants deported on these flights or organisations that worked with them.

Having debunked the myths, the report's authors, Phil Miller and Shiar Youssef, then attempt to unravel the 'ulterior motives' behind the UK's deportation charter flights, bringing to light little-known statements by government officials, secretive meetings and agreements and dodgy political deals. The motives examined range from a targets culture introduced by Labour and maintained by the current, Conservatives-led coalition government, to political agendas revolving around the UK's foreign policy and disciplining migrant diaspora communities.

Published by: Corporate Watch Co-operative Ltd, September 2013

Authors: Phil Miller, Stop Deportation, Shiar Youssef, Corporate Watch

Pages: 46