As the government seeks to increase the number and frequency of deportations, it is increasingly relying on specially chartered flights that deport as many as 80 people at a time. In 2009, there were 64 such flights, deporting a total of 1,973 people to Afghanistan, DR Congo, Iraq, Nigeria and other countries. According to official figures, the UK Border Agency (UKBA) spent £8,227,553 on deportation charter flights in the financial year 2008-9, almost double the amount spent in the previous years since charter flights started to be used for mass deportations in 2001. Over the last couple of years, the EU border agency Frontex has also been playing a more active role in organising join European flights, which serves to both save member states money and, by putting deportations in the hands of an EU body, pushes accountability to another level away from national governments and immigration authorities.

"The Government started using charter flights in 2001. It was a response to the fact that some of those being deported realised that if they made a big enough fuss at the airport - if they took off their clothes, for instance, or started biting and spitting - they could delay the process. We found that pilots would then refuse to take the person on the grounds that other passengers would object. So although we still use scheduled flights, we use special flights for individuals who are difficult to remove and might cause trouble." - David Wood, head of Criminality and Detention, UKBA

Mass deportation flights cause human tragedies

As with all deportations, people's lives are torn apart as they are split from their families and communities and their right to freedom of movement is denied. On top of this, the vast majority of specially chartered, mass deportation flights have been to countries devastated by wars and armed conflicts. Hundreds of people have been forcibly deported in recent months to Iraq and Afghanistan, from where huge numbers of refugees continue to flee. Hundreds more have been deported to DR Congo, Nigeria and Jamaica, where armed conflicts, civil wars or repressive regimes continue to drive people to leave. There have also been mass deportation flights from the UK to Cameroon and Sri Lanka, where thousands of Tamils have recently been killed by government forces. Many of these conflicts are caused and maintained by Western capitalist and imperial interests.

After being forcibly deported to these countries, people have been kidnapped, imprisoned, tortured and killed. Many have had to change their identities or move again to avoid persecution.

"Six security guards handcuffed and dragged me onto the plane in front of my husband and two children, and then they forced them on the plane too. They just left us all at the airport in Lagos and we didn't know where to go. My children are very young; I can't just stay on the street. My little baby is ill. He was booked to see a doctor in the UK, but then they just came and sent us back in the morning without any warning. We had no right to appeal, no warning, nothing. I didn't even have a solicitor. It's not fair." - Juliet, deported to Nigeria in April 2009

Mass deportation flights limit refugees' legal rights

Refugees' access to adequate legal representation was further limited in 2005 with the introduction of the 'New Asylum Model' and its 'Fast Track' system for deciding asylum cases. Claims are often decided within days, regardless of their complexity and intricacy. With charter flights, the process is further speeded up and more conditions are applied to accessing legal representation. The UK Border Agency states that:

"charter flights may be subject to ‘different arrangements’ where it is considered appropriate because of the complexities, practicalities and costs of arranging an operation."

One of these "different arrangements" is the stipulation that "removal will not necessarily be deferred in the event that a Judicial Review is lodged," meaning the Home Office can disregard any last-minute claims submitted by unrepresented refugees who do not have access to a solicitor to apply for an injunction.

Another is that, in some cases, such as Iraq and DR Congo, deportees and their representatives are not even told the date or time of the flight, or where it is leaving from. Often, legal representatives are not at all informed that their clients are scheduled to be removed. On the day of the flight, deportees are woken up early in the morning and forced to switch off their phones so they are unable to contact their solicitors or MPs to lodge further representations. The emphasis in all these "different arrangements" is on filling the flight rather than ensuring that the appropriate legal avenues have been exhausted.

"They arrested me and detained me and gave me a deportation ticket without a flight date on it. Throughout that time I was only told I'd be deported sometime in the next three weeks. In the end we were deported after ten days. My solicitor wasn't that helpful anyway but because I couldn't tell him the exact day of the departure he did not take the time to submit the fresh claim my case deserved after new evidence of my persecution in Iraq had surfaced. We were woken up at 7am on the day of the flight, were told we were leaving and were made to switch out phones off. So I couldn't tell my solicitor or even my MP. I was not treated fairly." - Goran, deported to Iraqi Kurdistan in February 2009

Mass deportation flights allow more abuse of deportees

The lack of accountability in deportation operations is exacerbated by the absence of other passengers on mass deportation flights. There is mounting evidence that people deported on commercial flights have been subjected to widespread and systemic abuse at the hands of private 'escorts' or security guards contracted by the Home Office to carry out the deportations (see, for example, Medical Justice's report Outsourcing Abuse). Charter flight deportees are even more vulnerable to this as there are no other passengers to see what happens to them. Standard practice, confirmed by people who have been deported, is for each deportee to be handcuffed and forced onto the plane under the threat of violence from the security guards restraining them. Any disobedience or attempt to resist has been met with force to 'restrain' the deportees, as exemplified by what happened on a mass deportation flight to Iraqi Kurdistan in September 2008, when the deportees were violently attacked on the plane after protesting against their deportation:

"They’d woken us up early, switched our phones off and handcuffed us. None of us wanted to go back – we were terrified. We tried to get up from our seats before the flight left. All these security guards came on straight away, shouting at us and beating us with their hands and batons. They hit me then rammed my head against a window." Fazzel Abdul, deported to Iraqi Kurdistan on 18th September, 2008

Mass deportation flights are profitable business

To operate a mass deportation flight, the Home Office contracts a range of private companies. Airlines that are known to have been used include Hamburg International, Czech Airlines, Titan Airways, BMI and others. Bus companies to drive deportees from detention centres to airports have included WH Tours and Woodcock Coaches. Security companies used to 'escort' the deportees include Group 4 Securicor (G4S) and Serco.

There is, however, little information available regarding the cost of mass deportation flights, nor are details of the departure airport disclosed. While accepting that these details would "provide transparency", the Home Office consistently refuses to release them, even in response to Freedom of Information Act requests:

"providing detailed information on the carrier and charter flight costs including escorts would prejudice those companies contracted to the Home Office …. it may also prejudice potential passengers against travelling with the airline and thus affect the airline’s revenue."

The role of Frontex

In past joint European mass deportation flight, for example to Nigeria, an EU country would charter a flight that would stop at various EU airports and pick up deportees. Frontex (officially known as the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union) has recently assumed extra powers to charter mass deportation flights on behalf of European governments, buy equipment and explore satellite technology to monitor the 'EU borders'. The Frontex Regulation does not apply to, or bind, the UK and Ireland as they are not part of the Schengen agreement. However, both countries have representatives on the Frontex Management Board and frequently take part in Frontex joint operations. In addition, the UK makes an annual financial contribution to Frontex (up to one million euros) and provides equipment, such as new detection technology.

In 2007, Frontex organised 12 joint deportation flights to various African and Eastern European countries. In 2008, the number was up to 15 flights. In 2009, it more than doubled, to 32. 17 of these were to Nigeria, of which the UK took part in four and organised two (one jointly with Ireland). The first joint flight fully operated by Frontex and funded directly by the EU was to Nigeria on 3rd February 2010.

Resistance

Mass deportations are a new and urgent challenge to all those struggling for the right to freedom of movement for all. They allow the government to increase the rate of deportations of people who have fallen foul of its increasingly cynical immigration policy. But resistance against them is also building. Many deportees have tried to stop or escape from these flights, some even self-harming in desperation. Outside, more and more protests and actions are being organised in the UK, Europe and the destination countries. More are needed!

The Stop Deportation Network
stopdeportation[at]riseup.net