The UK government wants to prevent migrants who have crossed the English Channel from applying for asylum in the UK, Home Secretary Suella Braverman said on Tuesday (October 4th). An announcement immediately denounced by refugee associations as a violation of international conventions.
“If you enter the UK illegally from a safe country, you should be promptly returned to your home country or relocated to Rwanda, where your asylum claim will be considered”said the ultra-conservative minister, given a standing ovation at the Conservative Party congress in Birmingham (central England).
London has made the issue of immigration a priority since Brexit and says it wants to reduce the number of migrants the country takes in. Suella Braverman claimed that there was “too many asylum seekers abusing the system” and which do not serve “the needs of the economy”.
More than 33,500 people have made the dangerous crossing of the English Channel since the beginning of the year, one of the busiest sea routes in the world. This figure has been steadily increasing since 2018 despite the promises of successive Conservative governments.
A “barbaric, misleading and useless” project
M’s announcementsme Braverman have been denounced in unison by organizations defending the rights of migrants, who believe that they are a distraction, at a time when the British, the majority in favor of welcoming migrants according to the polls, are worried about tackling the cost of living crisis.
According to UK Home Office figures, 94% of the approximately 50,000 migrants who arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel on makeshift boats between January 2018 and June 2022 have applied for asylum; and 86% of those who have since had their application considered have been granted asylum.
Care4Calais founder Clare Mosley slammed a project “barbaric, misleading and useless” and denounced the ” fake “ government rhetoric on the subject. The Refugee Council claimed the announcements went against the UN Refugee Convention, which states that a migrant cannot be penalized in their asylum claim because of the way they entered the country where he is applying.
As part of its fight against immigration, the government announced in the spring that it would deport certain asylum seekers to Rwanda. This policy has so far been blocked by the European Court of Human Rights, which Suella Braverman regretted, calling on the United Kingdom to “take back control” in front of “a foreign court that endangers our sovereignty”.
The Minister also denounced what she described as” abuse “ migrants pretending to be victims “modern slavery” – remarks there also qualified as lies by the NGOs.
Elsewhere, in another part of her ministerial portfolio, she attacked environmental protesters from the groups Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion who regularly block traffic in protest against the government’s climate policy:
“The police must have all the powers necessary to stop these protesters who are using guerrilla techniques and creating chaos. »