UK wins tough action on immigration

Human rights groups fear asylum seekers will suffer

The government is to send a team of 10 experts to the Balkans as part of an EU-wide plan to crack down on illegal immigration.

European home affairs ministers, meeting in Brussels on Thursday, backed a UK plan to send a 40-strong taskforce to Bosnia and Croatia as part of efforts to stop human trafficking.

The UK and a number of others will help train and help operate better immigration controls in the western Balkans

Jack Straw

The UK is contributing the largest number of people to the taskforce, which will be responsible for training local immigration staff in how to spot forged passports and visas.

Home Secretary Jack Straw welcomed the move and said the experts would be deployed as soon as possible.

The decision follows Mr Straw's call last month for an EU-wide policy to tackle illegal immigration.

Tougher penalties

But his calls for tougher penalties for those convicted of trafficking humans failed to be approved by ministers from each of the 15 EU states.

Ministers also discussed an EU report which suggested that up to 200,000 Chinese migrants are in hiding in Yugoslavia waiting to be smuggled into the EU.

The four-page assessment of the build-up along the so-called "Balkan route" warns: "A sophisticated and far-reaching network of traffickers from the Middle East and Asia is now targeting Europe.

"Traffickers are exploiting the troubled and fractious states of former Yugoslavia with their porous borders and deficient immigration laws and agreements."

The decision to send a taskforce to the Balkans follows concern, in the UK and Italy in particular, that the area is the source of much illegal immigration.

Jack Straw had urged the crackdown

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Straw said: "The UK and a number of others will help train and help operate better immigration controls in the western Balkans."

However, he said differences in judicial systems meant it was difficult for ministers to agree on prison sentences for those convicted of human trafficking.

Britain has the toughest maximum sentence of 10 years, while other EU countries impose terms of up to four years.

But a different message has come from Antonio Vitorino, the European commissioner in charge of immigration policy.

He said: "Immigration is nowadays the main factor in demographic growth in the Union and has undoubtedly a role to play in its economic and social future. We can no longer ignore this fact."

Policy criticised

The UK government's proposals to crack down on illegal immigration have been criticised in some quarters.

Amnesty International condemned ministers for failing to support a "humanitarian exemption" to stop prosecutions in cases where genuine refugees are helped.

The Brussels meeting is part of plans to establish a common asylum policy across the EU by 2004.