A l'entrée en Grande-Bretagne, les visiteurs en provenance de 5 pays 
africains (Djibouti, Erythrée, Ethiopie, Tanzanie et Ouganda), ainsi 
que ceux en possession de papiers de réfugiés délivrés par d'autres 
pays devront donner leurs empreintes digitales.
Tout ça bien sûr pour combattre la fraude et le terrorisme...

Home Office Press Releases
<http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/n_story.asp?item_id=776>

INCREASED USE OF BIOMETRICS TO TACKLE ASYLUM ABUSE

Reference: 024/2004 - Date: 21 Jan 2004 11:27

Visitors to the UK from five east African countries and those 
travelling on refugee documents issued by other countries will have 
to provide fingerprint data before they enter the UK, the Home Office 
announced today.

This move is part of a Government action plan to tackle unfounded 
asylum claims from Somali nationals and fraudulent claims by 
individuals claiming to be Somalis. It also represents the next step 
in the Government's phased roll-out of biometric technology to tackle 
immigration abuse. High-tech biometrics can help identify people who 
have entered the country legitimately then destroy their travel 
documents to claim asylum in a false identity, or make it more 
difficult to remove them if their asylum claim is refused.

 From March:

* those applying for visas to come to the UK from Djibouti, Eritrea, 
Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda will be required to provide a record of 
their fingerprints when applying for a visa. Evidence shows that a 
significant proportion of asylum seekers who claim to be from Somalia 
are in fact from other east African countries - a recent pilot 
language analysis exercise suggested that the number may be over 10 
per cent of all 'Somali' claimants.

* individuals seeking to enter the UK using '1951 Convention travel 
documents' will have their fingerprints recorded and their documents 
photocopied. Intelligence suggests that asylum claims are being made 
in the UK - often in false names - by those who already have refugee 
status in other countries.

Home Office Minister, Beverley Hughes, stated:

"The progressive roll-out of biometric technology is a powerful tool 
in tackling abuse of our asylum and immigration system. It will make 
it more and more difficult for people to hide their identity by 
destroying their documents after they have legally entered the UK.

"The move complements the Government's radical programme of reform to 
tackle abuse of the asylum system. Legislation currently before 
Parliament will tackle the final parts of the system in need of 
reform.

"We know that a significant proportion of asylum seekers claiming to 
be Somali are actually from neighbouring east African countries. 
Together with the roll-out of specialist language analysis, recording 
the fingerprints of visa applicants from this region is part of a 
concerted Government strategy to cut fraudulent asylum applications 
from this region.

"We also believe that individuals are exploiting international 
refugee travel documents to claim asylum in the UK under a false 
identity. Ensuring we have a secure way of recording someone's 
identity will close help this loophole.

"Dealing with those who are abusing the system is vital to build 
public trust and confidence in our immigration and asylum policies, 
so we can welcome those who have a legal right to be here."

The east African biometric visa initiative follows a successful pilot 
to record the fingerprints of those applying for visas from Sri 
Lanka. Since the initial six month project started in July 2003, it 
has led to the identification of seven undocumented asylum applicants 
who destroyed their passports after entering the UK, and a further 
two people have been prosecuted. As a result of this success, the 
project in Sri Lanka will be extended.

Biometric technology is already used successfully to combat abuse of 
the asylum system. All asylum seekers in the UK are fingerprinted and 
issued with a high-tech ID card containing a biometric chip. Asylum 
seekers' fingerprints are now also recorded on "Eurodac", the EU-wide 
database, designed to combat asylum shopping.

The Government also announced today that it had signed an arrangement 
with the Sri Lankan Government, under which there will be a faster 
and more efficient system for issuing travel documents to Sri Lankan 
citizens who do not have the right to enter or remain in the UK. The 
arrangment will help return up to 100 people a month, and is the 
result of the co-operation from the Sri Lankan government on illegal 
immigration, which has contributed to a significant reduction in 
unfounded asylum claims from that country.

The Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc) Bill which 
is currently before Parliament, seeks to help tackle organised 
immigration criminals, ensure that criminals do not gain from 
dishonesty and introduces a new speed and finality to the appeals and 
removals process. The Bill also contains enabling powers to introduce 
tagging or tracking to maintain better contact with those subject to 
immigration control.

Notes to Editors:

1. The Government's strategy to increase the use of biometrics to 
tackle immigration abuse was set out in August 2003 (Home Office 
press notice 228/2003).

2. The biometric visa trial in Sri Lanka was announced in July 03 
(Home Office press notice 196/2003).

3. The legislation to facilitate greater use of physical data 
(biometrics) is included in section 126 of the Nationality, 
Immigration and Asylum Act 2002.
A Statutory Instrument allowing for the collection of fingerprints 
from these visa applicants and holders of 1951 Convention Travel 
Documents will be laid in the House of Commons today, 21 January 
2004. The regulations are expected to come into force at the end of 
February. Visa applicants of all nationalities will be required to 
give fingerprints when submitting applications from March 2004 in 
Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Asmara (Eritrea), Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), 
Djibouti and Kampala (Uganda). We also propose to extend this to 
Nairobi (Kenya) in due course, regulations will be laid to allow this 
at a later date.

4. The most recent latest quarterly asylum statistics showed a 60 per 
cent increase in asylum applications from individuals claiming to be 
Somali, despite no significant change in the circumstances in the 
country. The Government believes that some of these claims have been 
made by people from other east African countries or from Somalis who 
have already been granted asylum elsewhere in Europe.

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