Pays a London company to prevent Afghans from joining the UK

According to The Independent, the British government is financing a Hong Kong – based company called Seafare to convince deportation candidates not to go on the road.

About 700,000 pounds sterling (835,000 euros). According to the expressions day by day The Independent From On Sunday, it was paid by the British Home Office to Seifar, a Hong Kong – based company to prevent Afghan immigrants from entering the UK. As the Taliban stood on the threshold of power and the country plunged into an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, Siefer led a communications campaign in the country in 2020 with the support of the British government. Ambition? To give up Afghans who want to go to Great Britain.

“We’ll get you back”, Can the photo showing the group of immigrants be read in white capital letters? There are plenty of pictures like this on Seifer’s social media. Offered as a non-profit organization, this company has been around since 2014. Taking the footage of international NGOs, it looks like a refugee aid organization, at first glance.

Bright future

On his website, Which promises to support vulnerable immigrants and gives them a brighter future. But behind its communications, Seefar is an opaque company, particularly funded by governments such as the United Kingdom. Qualifies himself as an expert in “displaced behavior change”. The company has relied on surveys conducted in the UK to convince potential candidates not to join Great Britain. Various reports have been published on its website.

If the British government had not officially linked itself to the communications campaign in Afghanistan, it would have funded it, even if it denied any direct link. The UK Ministry of Public Expenditure records list 12 separate payments and grants made to Seefar between 2016 and 2018, with a maximum of £ 120,000 each. But without mentioning the details of these orders.

This cipher campaign is not the UK’s only migration policy move. Found a branch of rejected sites in many languages, especially the “immigration program”, A site that seeks to combat illegal immigration by supporting legal alternatives … but without providing information on the asylum application procedure, was revealed. The Independent Last July. The Interior Ministry has spent 20,000 20,000 (, 23,800) to promote these sites on social networks such as Facebook or Instagram. These communication campaigns are said to have targeted 16 million people.

“Avoid Dangers”

Officially, Great Britain justifies this policy by choice “To avoid the dangers of expatriate routes”. But unofficially, it is to prevent immigration. However, the island is far from the most populous Afghan refugee population in Europe: by 2020, 3,227 of them will have sought refuge there. Afghanistan is once again under the yoke of the Taliban The British government has promised to repatriate 20,000 refugees by August 2021. Finally, only 5,000 people are allowed to roam the area at this time.

Since 2016, the United Kingdom, like many European countries, has tightened its immigration policy. A dynamic that was emphasized last year with the reform of the asylum system. Led Home Minister Prithi Patel, The new bill proposes to create an immigration status of “Type II”, For illegal immigrants on British soil. And London does not seem ready to do without Seifer’s services.