Braverman wrote the foreword to the report by the right-wing Center for Policy Studies which says that “if necessary” Britain should change its human rights laws and withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights to deal with Channel crossings with small boats. The report, written by Theresa May’s former adviser Nick Timothy, recommended that all asylum seekers who enter the UK “illegally” be detained indefinitely and that ministers should legislate to make it impossible to claim asylum in United Kingdom after traveling from a safe country. . However, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) disputed the report’s description of asylum seekers as “illegal” – a term also used by Braverman and the Home Office in official documents. “There is no such thing as an ‘illegal asylum seeker.’ Detaining asylum seekers indefinitely, based solely on how they arrived, would penalize people in need of help and protection and would be a clear breach of the UK’s obligations under the 1951 refugee convention,” the UNHCR said in a statement. of the UN for Refugees. “A blanket ban on claiming asylum in the UK for those arriving by small boats would also breach the refugee convention if it resulted in refugees having no means of determining their status and putting them at risk of forced return to their countries. “Access to asylum should never depend on mode of arrival or nationality. The only way to determine whether people are refugees is through a fair and effective determination of their claims.” Braverman welcomed the report and in a foreword pledged to do “whatever it takes” to tackle the migration crisis in the English Channel. He said the number of people making the dangerous crossing was “totally unacceptable and unsustainable” and that ministers would “fully address the issue of small boats”. “We have had enough of the persistent abuse of human rights laws to prevent the removal of those who have no right to be in the UK. This has to end. Saying this is not xenophobic or anti-immigration. It is the reality recognized and felt by the vast majority of the British public. To pretend otherwise is to insult them,” he wrote. Timothy said tackling the issue would require a “completely different approach” from the government, tackling a series of interconnected public problems. “If we want to stop the crossings, we will need to take immediate and bold action,” he said. “It’s not something that can be fixed through incremental, incremental change.” In a new intervention, a former home secretary said the government’s tough “rhetoric” to tackle illegal migrant crossings was not working. Conservative MP Kit Malthouse told BBC Radio 4’s The Westminster Hour on Sunday night: “I’m slightly concerned that the sort of rhetoric of ‘let’s be tough, let’s get tougher and tougher’ is just not getting us anywhere and that in fact it will rather listen to smart solutions than difficult ones”. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said at the weekend that a ban on people from countries considered safe such as Albania from seeking asylum was among the measures being considered. He said the government was also looking to tighten the rules on student visas, particularly in relation to bringing family members while they study in the UK. Braverman has repeatedly blamed asylum seekers entering the UK “illegally” for the current backlog of cases in the UK. In November, he said: “The asylum system has been broken by an unprecedented wave of illegal immigration.” The Home Office did not respond when asked if Braverman insisted on describing asylum seekers as “illegal”. Instead, a spokesman said: “The global migration crisis is putting an unprecedented strain on our asylum system. We need to disrupt the business model of human traffickers and it is right that all options are considered. We welcome the policy debate on this complex issue.”
