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(Bangkok) – The Malaysian government should reverse plans that would permit the forced return of refugees to Myanmar , where they face persecution and other rights abuses, Human Rights Watch said today. On July 23, 2026, Malaysia’s deputy foreign minister informed parliament that 5,000 Myanmar nationals in immigration detention would be sent back to Myanmar. Malaysia has long lacked a legal framework for determining refugee status and all irregular entry and stay in the country is a criminal offense. Malaysian authorities strictly enforce immigration laws and do not distinguish among refugees, asylum seekers, trafficking victims, and undocumented migrants in conducting raids. On July 30, the home minister said that preparations were already underway to identify individuals who could be sent back through a new process to issue a Refugee Registration Document (Dokuman Pendaftaran Pelarian, or DPP), Malaysia’s new system for assessing asylum claims and registering refugees. As of early July, Malaysian authorities had processed 128 Rohingya held in immigration detention through the DPP system, according to the home minister. The minister did not explain what would happen to Rohingya who had not been granted refugee status. Since 2019, the Malaysian government has denied UNHCR access to immigration detention centers, preventing the agency from reviewing asylum claims or assisting detainees who are registered refugees. Since the February 2021 military coup in Myanmar, Malaysia has summarily deported thousands of asylum seekers to Myanmar without assessing their asylum claims or other protection needs and in violation of a Malaysian court order . In late May, an online petition calling for the removal of Rohingya refugees, accompanied by a disinformation campaign, caused an escalation in hate speech and vigilante violence targeting Rohingya.
Migrants await asylum in Ceuta amid hunger and thirst Migrants rushed to receive water and beverages in Ceuta, Spain, where many have spent days on a beach holding signs seeking asylum. Hungry and thirsty, they remain in the tiny Spanish territory as authorities struggle to manage thousands after a mass border rush.
Ruling quashes Home Office policy to refuse asylum seekers’ right to have trafficking claims reconsidered after initial rejection A high court judge has ordered the Home Office to bring an alleged victim of trafficking forcibly removed to France under the “one in one out” scheme back to the UK. It is the first ruling of its kind and could lead to more people affected by the “one in one out” policy being brought back to the UK. The judge, Mr Justice Sheldon, has quashed a Home Office policy change to refuse asylum seekers the right to have their trafficking claims reconsidered after an initial rejection. “I have quashed it so that it is as if it never happened,” he said. The “one in one out” policy forcibly removes some people who cross the Channel in small boats in exchange for bringing a similar number from northern France legally to the UK. Asylum seekers returned to France now have a right to have trafficking cases that were initially rejected reconsidered. Others have fled France after being threatened with removal to their home country or to another EU country where they were previously fingerprinted on their journey seeking asylum. He is an asylum seeker from Sudan, a survivor of torture, and one of five people who challenged the home secretary’s policy change. A second asylum seeker sent to France by the Home Office, who was also involved in the legal challenge, will have his trafficking case reconsidered in France, and depending on the outcome he too may be brought back to the UK. The high court has granted the Home Office and the asylum seekers permission to appeal on various points in the judgment. We are delighted that the court has rightly recognised that his removal to France was unlawful and that he must therefore be brought back to the UK. “This is a highly significant decision; for our client, for other victims of trafficking who may have been unlawfully removed to France and for ensuring that the rule of law is upheld.” Elizabeth Cole, a solicitor at Duncan Lewis, also welcomed the decision.
Some in Dover say their town is being exploited by content creators and politicians, but others claim there is a genuine problem I f you believe rightwing influencers and politicians, Dover and the wider Kent coast has been the site of an “invasion” for years now. And, for an online audience of millions, they and their camera crews have been the vanguard in the nation’s defence. Indeed, if you believe all you see on the algorithms of amateur Channel watchers, the shadow home secretary, Chris Philp , braved a hail of French gunfire as he took to the water in a fishing boat this week; an attempt by the French authorities, he suggested, to deter him in his mission of highlighting the small boats crisis. The inconvenient truth behind Philp’s attempt to self-police our borders is that nothing of the sort happened. The French government said he simply passed by a routine training exercise that involved firing live rounds. Are the rightwing figures who regularly visit the town to create social media content exploiting it for their own careers, or are they seeking solutions to a genuine problem? “They’re using Dover a bit,” said one resident, Alison Drake. “People making all these videos and that is not really doing much, is it?” Some said that creating tension where there was none before was all part of the plan. “What they’re trying to do is play on fear with all of these stunts,” said Razia Shariff, who runs the Kent Refugee Action Network (Kran), a charity that provides education for refugee and asylum-seeking young people. Armstrong is avowedly anti-immigration and said the “country is being devalued” by it. They know it’s happening.” Few people have had more opportunity to solve the small boats crisis than Philp who, as immigration minister in the early 2020s, oversaw a sharp increase in crossings. One, she said, had arrived in the UK as a child refugee and now worked as a nurse in local hospitals. “Others have set up their own businesses against all the odds. Standing on the Dover seafront in 2024, he described the site as the “frontline of the great national debate on immigration”.
