Ahmet Gurhan Kartal
11 June 2023•Update: 11 June 2023
LONDON
A new bill set to remove "irregular" migrants who entered Britain "breaches a number of the UK's international human rights obligations and risks breaching others," according to a joint parliamentary committee report.
The report released on Sunday by the Joint Committee on Human Rights said Home Secretary Suella Braverman "herself has been unable to certify that the Bill is compatible with Convention rights," referring to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), adopted by the Council of Europe in 1950.
"We therefore urge the Government to consider our conclusions and recommendations in order to address the human rights incompatibilities within this Bill," the group of lawmakers and peers said in the report, suggesting as many as 40 amendments to the new legislation, dubbed the Illegal Migration Bill.
The report said the UK government is "rightly concerned about the loss of life in the Channel," but the bill "would deny the vast majority of refugees access to the UK's asylum system," adding that in many cases, there were no means to enter Britain via safe and legal routes.
It also argued that the bill would permit the unlimited detention of migrants, including of pregnant women and children who are "normally subject to special protections," and it renders them "liable to removal from the UK, either to their country of origin or to a 'safe third state' with which they may have no connection, without any individualised assessments of risk being undertaken."
"It also restricts their access to the courts and their ability to remain in the UK while they challenge removal on human rights grounds."
The committee said they were "particularly concerned by the Bill's implications for children, who are affected by every aspect" of it.
The UK government has a "clear legal responsibility to protect the best interests of children" under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), it added.
"The Home Office has stated that the provisions in the Bill relating to children are intended to deter children from making dangerous journeys to the UK and dissuade adults from inciting them to make such journeys.
"However, it is clear that such aims cannot negate or override the UK's duty to protect the rights of all children in the UK."
The government introduced the Illegal Migration Bill to the House of Commons in March, saying it would deter "illegal" entry, while preventing people smuggling and further deaths in the Channel.
The bill, if passed, will allow the Home Office to ignore interim measures issued by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and introduce a yearly entry cap for settlement via safe and legal routes. It will also allow the government to remove anyone who arrives in the country in "illegal" forms to be sent to "safe" third countries, such as Rwanda, until their asylum applications are processed.
The controversial bill, which is currently in the House of Lords, has been under fire by human rights groups and refugee support organizations.
