WHERE on earth is Eswatini? It is one of the smallest countries in Africa, a landlocked kingdom ringed by South Africa and Mozambique. It is now the new home for five criminals (from Vietnam, Laos, Cuba, Jamaica and Yemen), deported recently from prisons in the US.

Why Eswatini? Perhaps, the reason lies in its national motto: `We are a fortress / We are a mystery / We hide ourselves away.

Deportation to a third country is not a new practice. In the 19th century, the British sent their criminals to Australia.

Between 1788 and 1868, 162,000 convicts were transported there. Recently, one visitor entering Australia was asked whether he had any convictions. He replied wittily: `Why? Is conviction still a prerequisite to enter Australia?` Normally, convicts and undesirables used to be deported to their home country.

Today, they can be sent anywhere.

Countries in the Global North have begun exporting their human detritus, like unwanted waste, to poorer ones in the Global South.

For example, Denmark, to ease overcrowding in its jails, has signed a 10-year deal with Kosovo worth millions, leasing 300 cells in a refurbished prison. Belgium is considering a similar deal with Kosovo.

The Netherlands may send up to 500 foreign inmates to Estonia from next year.

Austria wants to follow suit. Sweden is studying the export of both Swedish and foreign prisoners.

In March this year, President Donald Trump deported more than 200 Venezuelans held in the US to a mega prison in El Salvador, some 2,500 kilometres away from their home.

In Britain, housing a prisoner is costly over £50,000 a year. Its prison population is 87,000, ie, 97 per cent of jail capacity. The true threat is not from this captive audience but from asylum seekers. The last Conservative government misspent a fortune £700 million in a scheme to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda. These included payments to Rwanda`s government of £290 million, the wasted cost of chartered flights that never took off, the detention of hundreds of asylum seekers in British hotels, and the salaries of 1,000 civil servants who formulated this harebrained scheme.

The present Labour Government has admitted that no asylum seekers were ever deported to Rwanda. The four illegal immigrants who did opt for Rwanda agreed after receiving a sweetener each of £3,000.

Today`s Britain is suffering from a replay of Dunkirk, in reverse. Asylum seekers are crossing the Channel in anything that floats. Despite the efforts of the British andFrench governments, the number of boat people has increased by 50pc over last year. In 2025, more than 21,000 have crossed with impunity.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have announced a `one in, one out` deal one person would be admitted in the UK and in exchange another who arrived irregularly would be returned to France. A second part ofthe dealis the interception of overcrowded dinghies up to 300 metres out to sea. In one recent incident, the French gendarmerie punctured a dinghy. Undeterred, its crew picked up yet more passengers along the French coast and landed them in Britain. That same day, another 10 boats unloaded 573 asylum seekers.

One must marvel at the ingenuity of these boat people. They have the resources to dodge all hurdles. They manage to foil passport controls at every European border. And they still have enough left over to buy a seat on a leaking dinghy.

Ironically, it is often the least developedcountries that bear the burden of migrants. Pakistan at one time hosted over 4m Afghans.

Many have been repatriated since, although more than a million remain.

Iran has been moreruthless. Within the fortnight of June 24 to July 9 2025, more than 500,000 Afghans were evicted and left Iran for home.

Meanwhile, Afghans who collaborated with British troops during the Afghan war find themselves the victims of friendly fire, after the data of nearly 19,000 helpful Afghans were revealed in an accidentalbreach.

Under a covert resettlement scheme, 4,500 Afghans and their family members have been moved to the UK. Another 2,400 are expected. The total cost will exceed £850m. The British regard this as the price for their help. The Taliban view it as the equivalent of 30 silver pieces for betrayal.

Pakistan`s prison population today is over 100,000, overcrowded into jails which have a notional capacity of 65,000. Every inmate here and everywhere whether in Kot Lakhpat, Adiala, El Salvador, Kosovo or Eswatini lives out these words of Oscar Wilde`s: `All that we know who lie in goal/ Is that the wall is strong;/ And that each day is like a year,/ A year whose days are long.`• The wnter is an author.

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