Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks after announcing the Illegal Migration Bill during a press conference at the Downing Street briefing room in central London on March 7, 2023. The UK government unveiled controversial plans on Tuesday to stop migrants crossing the Channel illegally on small boats, admitting it was stretching international law amid protests from rights campaigners. , photo credit: AFP
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday pledged to deport illegal migrants within weeks as part of a controversial new plan to stop people crossing the Channel illegally on small boats.
Mr Sunak was speaking after his Conservative government unveiled its proposals, which he admitted were stretching international law amid an outcry from rights campaigners.
Last year more than 45,000 migrants reached the coast of South East England on small boats – a 60% annual increase on a dangerous route that has grown in popularity every year since 2018.
Under the draft law, which will be retroactive from Tuesday, anyone who arrives in the UK illegally will not be able to claim asylum, Mr Sunak told a news conference.
“If you come here illegally, you can’t claim asylum. You can’t benefit from our modern slavery protections. You can’t make false claims of human rights and you can’t stay,” he said.
“We will detain people who come here illegally and then remove them within weeks, either in their own country if it is safe to do so. Or in a safe third country like Rwanda. And once you are removed , then you will be banned.” From re-entering our country in America and Australia. ,
Mr Sunak earlier on Tuesday pledged to “take back control of our borders once and for all” in The Sun newspaper, repeating a popular pledge from campaigners like him who have pushed for Britain’s Brexit divorce from the European Union (EU). was supported.
Under the draft law, Interior Minister Suella Braverman would be given a new legal duty to deport all migrants who enter illegally, such as across the Channel, trampling on their other rights in UK and European human rights law.
“The current situation is neither ethical nor sustainable. It cannot continue,” Mr Sunak said.
“And it’s devastatingly unfair to the people who need our help most but can’t get it because our asylum system is being overwhelmed by people who are traveling illegally across the Channel.” are,” he said.
Right-wing Ms Braverman told parliament she “believes the bill is consistent with international obligations” – despite admitting in an overnight Daily Telegraph article that it “pushes the boundaries of international law”.
Rights groups and opposition parties say the plan is unworkable and that vulnerable refugees have been unfairly made scapegoats.
Christina Marriott, executive director of strategy for the British Red Cross, said Britain would be breaching international asylum conventions.
“We wonder if you are fleeing persecution or war. If you are fleeing Afghanistan or Syria and fearing for your life, how would you be able to claim asylum in the UK?” he told Sky News.
Steve Valdez-Symonds of Amnesty International said it was “ministers trying to remove human rights protections for groups of people whom they have chosen as scapegoats for their failures”.
“These proposals will cause irreparable harm to people fleeing persecution and conflict,” he said in a statement.
UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, said the plan would amount to an asylum ban, and urged a “more humane” solution instead.
So far this year, around 3,000 have arrived by boat, often ending up in expensive hotels at taxpayer expense, and the backlog of asylum claims now exceeds 160,000.
The new plan would relocate illegal immigrants to temporarily disused military barracks and limit the annual number of refugees who settle through safe and legal routes.
The government, which is trailing in opinion polls, has been trying for years to get a grip on the issue.
It had hoped the threat of a one-way ticket to Rwanda, where migrants would remain if accepted for asylum, would prevent cross-Channel travel.
But the plan, announced last year by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, was blocked at the last minute by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which is separate from the European Union.
This was then upheld by the UK High Court, but was bogged down in appeals. There are no flights to Rwanda yet.
On Tuesday, reports said the government could withdraw from the ECHR if the Strasbourg-based court again intervened in its latest law, after Braverman delivered his “opaque” ruling on Rwanda.
Mr Sunak said illegal migration was a “shared challenge” with European allies and countries on the continent were considering new laws and measures to tackle it.
A recent agreement with the French has resulted in increased patrolling of the beaches and has seen “significant and improved co-operation and collaboration between our teams”, he said.