Migration: Britain may be breaking international law with asylum laws

Status: 08:54 am| Reading Time: 3 minutes

DThe United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has criticized the proposed British asylum law as violating international law. “This is against the UK’s obligations under the International Refugee Convention,” UNHCR’s UK representative Vicky Tennant told the broadcaster on Sunday. Sky News. “We are very concerned that this will set a global precedent and (…) effectively destroy the right to seek asylum in the UK for almost all refugees.” Tennant insisted that attention be paid to the asylum system so that there are applications. Can be processed quickly.

The Asylum Act is being debated again on Monday in Parliament in London. It provides for up to one month’s detention of all people who enter Britain without permission, regardless of their background. They are then deported to their home country or – if it is too dangerous – to Rwanda or another country. The right to seek asylum should be taken away from them.

Under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Great Britain signed a controversial deal with Rwanda in East Africa to send asylum seekers there. This should discourage people from crossing the English Channel.

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For years, London has tried to prevent illegal and often dangerous entry across the English Channel. The growing number of unwanted people crossing the English Channel into the country is a particular thorn in the side of the conservative British government. He has declared that he will “take back control of his own borders” after Brexit, and is now under pressure from the right wing of the Tory party.

After leaving the EU, Great Britain no longer has any renegotiation agreements with EU countries. Critics accuse the government of exaggerating the problem to please conservative voters. For example, significantly fewer asylum applications are made in Great Britain than in Germany.

Implementation of the agreement with Rwanda has so far failed. A flight with migrants to the East African country scheduled for June 2022 was canceled at short notice after a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights. In December, London’s High Court ruled that deportations to Rwanda were legal – but the plan is still subject to appeals.

Deportation over protests

So the British government has already announced its intention to deport unwanted migrants to Rwanda and other countries, even though the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has banned it at short notice. The Telegraph newspaper reported that a provision allowing for the circumvention of prohibitions under Article 39 of the ECtHR has been built into the recently introduced legislation.

The conservative government is currently negotiating with the court in Strasbourg to try to raise the bar on the application. Through “Rule 39,” judges blocked the first deportation flight to Rwanda in East Africa in 2022.

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