Charities say the plan would undermine the UN refugee convention
Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s plans to ban migrants who cross the Channel from claiming asylum in Britain would put the UK at odds with the UN refugee convention, charities say.
The convention was signed by Sir Winston Churchill following the second world war to ensure people fleeing war, torture and persecution were never again refused protection because of the way they arrive in a country.
Steve Crawshaw, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Freedom from Torture said Braverman’s proposals would “fundamentally undermine international rules laid down after the Holocaust.”
The plan would be an “affront to human decency” and shows “this government is incapable of proposing sensible and humane solutions to the asylum system in this country.”
In her first major speech to the Conservative Party conference on Tuesday, Braverman will announce plans to ban anyone who crosses the Channel from claiming asylum in Britain.
The Home Secretary will promise to allow “the kind of immigration that grows our economy” but “end abuse of the rules”.
The announcement is expected to go further than Priti Patel’s Nationality and Borders act which made asylum claims from those travelling through France “inadmissible”, but did allow for some exceptions.
Freedom from Torture said it was time “for people across the UK to stand united against this government’s reactionary agenda and demand that everyone, no matter where they come from, are treated with dignity, compassion and respect.”
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