Stopping the Boats: On the U.K.’s new ‘Illegal Migration Law’

March 10, 2023

Context:

The UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, has come down strongly on the U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plan to pass a new “Illegal Migration Law” that effectively stops the granting of asylum to migrants who reach the U.K. illegally.

Stop the Boats:

The government is worried about the numbers of those attempting to travel to the U.K. and applying for asylum while on British soil, at considerable cost to the exchequer.
Illegal migrants also face a lifetime ban on citizenship and re-entry to the U.K.
According to the UNHCR, the law would contravene international laws, including the 1951 Refugee Convention that Britain is a signatory to.
Many of the estimated 45,000 who came to the U.K. on “small boats” last year would have been economic refugees rather than political asylum seekers, and it is problematic that the British government does not make a distinction between the two.
The Bill makes exceptions for those arriving directly from the countries they are fleeing, but those would be a small proportion given the short distances “small boats” could travel.
The plan to transport asylum seekers to a third country, apart from sounding neo-colonial, will also come at considerable cost, one that the hapless migrants are unlikely to be able to afford.
While western countries have long quoted international law and convention to India on its plan to forcibly deport Rohingya refugees to Myanmar, or to discriminate on the basis of religion in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, they must also introspect on their message to the world by enacting such laws themselves.

Way Forward:

By rejecting asylum seekers and illegal immigrants, nearly all of whom are coming to their shores by braving unsafe routes in search of a better life, they also belittle the real contributions immigrants have made to their societies.

News Source: The Hindu