New refugee route set up

The scheme addresses illegal entry

Refugees escaping war torn Liberia could be among the first to be admitted to Britain under a new legal route into the country, the Home Office has confirmed.

The government has agreed to accept 500 refugees from west Africa under a scheme run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

And around 50 Liberians who fled to Sierra Leone to escape fighting in the country 13 years ago are currently being interviewed and may make up the first batch of refugees coming to the UK under the scheme.

Those accepted are expected to arrive in Britain in October, paving the way for more refugees to use this resettlement scheme as an official route.

The aim is to prevent refugees using illegal people traffickers.

As the resettlement programme develops we will consider other locations where the UNHCR is in operation Home Office spokesman

Under normal asylum rules, refugees must claim asylum in the first country they reach after fleeing their own land.

But the Home Office says the Liberians are feared to be at risk, despite British backing for the government in Sierra Leone.

A Home Office spokesman told BBC News Online the UK had started interviews to select the first people to come to the UK under the scheme.

"It is a legal route for refugees to reach safe protection without having to resort to illegal traffickers," he said.

"We are committed as a signatory to the 1951 convention (on refugees) that we will recognise and work with organisations like the UNHCR through their offices in that part of Africa to accept a small number of refugees."

The US and northern European countries like Norway and Denmark were among other nations likely to take part in UNHCR resettlement schemes, he said.

Integration help

Immigration minister Beverley Hughes told the Guardian newspaper: "This is the first time the UK has been involved in the UNHCR resettlement programme - an internationally recognised route to help refugees reach protection without being driven into the hands of the people traffickers.

"It is in this context that we have begun interviews to select the first refugees to bring to the UK later this year."

Peacekeepers have arrived in Liberia in an effort to end the country's current round of fighting.

It is a tacit understanding by the government that with all the border controls, the one effect has been actually to increase the amount of (people) smuggling Keith Best Immigration Advisory Service

But the refugees being interviewed left Liberia during an earlier civil war in the troubled country.

The Home Office says efforts will be made to make sure those selected under the scheme get help once they arrive in the UK to integrate in British society.

They will be provided with temporary housing, counselling and essential help.

Conservative asylum spokesman Humfrey Malins welcomed the settlement scheme as a sensible way of helping victims of the Liberian crisis.

"However, every effort must be made to resettle the refugees properly, and to give them the necessary language and other skills," he said.

"The government must also put pressure on other European countries to ensure they take their fair share of Liberian refugees."

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Simon Hughes said: "This is a common sense decision from the Home Office.

"The government's policy of raising the barriers ever higher has played into the hands of the criminal gangs."

Mr Hughes argued the move, and the Liberian crisis, showed Tory plans to introduce asylum quotas were implausible.

Integration appeal

Keith Best, from the Immigration Advisory Service, told BBC Radio 4's World At One it was sensible to create a legal route for people with links to the UK.

He hoped the government would so the same for other trouble spots with British links and so create a more orderly asylum system.

"It is a tacit understanding by the government that unfortunately with all the border controls and everything that it's implemented, the one effect of that has been actually to increase the amount of (people) smuggling."