In recent years, western nations have been sending asylum seekers who arrive at their borders to other countries. This is a practice known as offshoring. The UK has become the recent poster country of this practice.
The UK, whose plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda was later scrapped after domestic and international opposition, has continually manufactured a perceived asylum threat. This led to slogans by the UK government such as “send the boats back” and “stop the boats”.
The European Union (EU) has struck several controversial deals with African and Middle Eastern countries to stop asylum seekers from reaching European borders. Since 2017, the EU has been funding Libya to stop migrant arrivals in Europe. It struck similar deals with Tunisia in 2023 and Mauritania in March 2024 to curb migrant flows. These agreements are helped along by the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, which is the union’s strategy to outsource migration management to other nations.
