UNHCR

• UN has warned that a British draught law aimed at stopping migrants entering illegally on small boats.
• The UN refugee agency expressed “deep concern” about plans.
• UNHCR said it had presented London with solid, actionable proposals for fast, fair and efficient case processing.

The UN has warned that a British draught law aimed at stopping migrants entering illegally on small boats will amount to an asylum ban, and has called for “more humane” solutions instead.

The UN refugee agency expressed “deep concern” about plans to give the British interior minister a new legal duty to deport all illegal migrants, such as those crossing the Channel from France in inflatable boats.

“The legislation, if passed, would amount to an asylum ban – extinguishing the right to seek refugee protection in the United Kingdom for those who arrive irregularly, no matter how genuine and compelling their claim may be, and with no consideration of their individual circumstances,” UNHCR said in a statement.

The bill would deny asylum seekers in need of protection and would “even deny them the opportunity to put forward their case. This would be a clear breach of the Refugee Convention”.

“Most people fleeing war and persecution are simply unable to access the required passports and visas. There are no safe and ‘legal’ routes available to them,” UNHCR said.

“Denying them access to asylum on this basis undermines the very purpose for which the Refugee Convention was established.”

According to UNHCR, based on the most recent data from the British Interior Ministry, the vast majority of those arriving in Britain in small boats across the Channel would be accepted as refugees if their claims were assessed.

“Branding refugees as undeserving based on the mode of arrival distorts these fundamental facts,” it said.

UNHCR said it had presented London with solid, actionable proposals for fast, fair and efficient case processing and would work with Britain to expand safe, regular pathways for refugees to reach the UK, but said these were limited and “can never substitute for access to asylum”.

The Geneva-based agency urged the British government and all parliamentarians “to reconsider the bill and instead pursue more humane and practical policy solutions”.

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