The UK government once again is violating Human rights. How can the UK government be so cruel to asylum seekers? According to Reuters, Britain has set out details of a new migration law. The new law bars the entry of asylum seekers who arrive in small boats across the English Channel. Some charities say the law could be impractical and criminalize the efforts of many genuine refugees.
This article reviews the statistics, maltreatment and damage to asylum seekers in Britain. Moreover, we will discuss the violation of asylum seekers’ human rights. Finally, we will explain the deterioration of the new law to the UK’s international status and the dignity of the British people.
Statistics on the rate of asylum seekers arriving on English shores
According to ABC News, asylum seekers on English shores reached 45,000 last year. In 2018, about 300 people made the crossing. The UK and Europe have seen an enormous increase in asylum seekers in recent years. The UK saw a 400 per cent increase in migrants crossing the English Channel between 2020 and 2022.
Similarly, the Hindustan Times says more than 45,000 people reached Britain by boat in 2022. This figure was up from 28,000 in 2021 and 8,500 in 2020, the AP news agency reported. WIO News similarly says that last year, England recorded the arrival of more than 45,000 migrants on small boats.
Maltreatment of migrants
As ABC News says, the UK government has introduced sweeping new laws for migrants. According to the new law, asylum seekers crossing the channel would be detained and deported. The new law bars entry of asylum seekers coming to the UK by boats across the English Channel. It prevents them from claiming asylum, turning them around or deporting them to a third country. Migrants who arrive by boat also face a permanent ban on re-entry to the UK.
The government would detain the illegal migrants for 28 days “without bail or judicial review” before deportation. However, the UK government is to reveal plans for detention centres’ locations and third-party countries that would accept them. Â
According to the Hindustan Times, “We will detain those who come here illegally.” Then we will “remove them in weeks, either to their own country if it is safe. Or to a Safe Third Country like Rwanda. Once you are removed, you cannot ever re-enter our country,” Sunak says.Â
Whom will the new law affect?Â
As Indian Express says, another vital point in the bill is that the government will apply it retrospectively. It means the law could be made effective from a date in the past. Therefore, it would affect the migrants who have already arrived in Britain.
According to ABC News, Home Secretary Suella Braverman says deterrence is essential to reducing the number of asylum seekers crossing the English channel. The new bill will be debated in parliament and may not pass for some months. However, they will backdate it to apply to anyone who reached Britain from the moment Ms Braverman announced the plan.Â
According to Sky News, Mr Sunak says the law would affect everyone arriving in Britain illegally from Tuesday.
Huge damage to individuals
According to WIO News, Mr Sunak says, “If you come here illegally, you can’t claim asylum. You can’t benefit from our modern slavery protections. You can’t make spurious human rights claims, and you can’t stay.”
The Hindustan Times says that opposition parties and rights groups have criticized the new law. They say that the plan is not workable and unfairly victimizes vulnerable refugees.
Similarly, ABC News says charities and opposition parties have criticized the law. They have questioned whether the plan would be more effective than previous attempts to prevent illegal migration.
Maria Brul from the advocacy group Detention Action says Australia’s similar hard-line approach to asylum seekers showed a substantial human cost. Ms Brul told ABC that indiscriminately detaining people has enormous human costs for mental health. He added that it badly impacts individuals’ well-being and causes enormous damage to them.
Human-rights legal challengesÂ
As Indian Express says, there has been criticism from human rights activists and legal experts. However, Rishi Sunak has sought to frame the bill as an action to stop traffickers from taking advantage of immigrants.
According to The Hindustan Times, the UK government is ready for human-rights legal challenges to the new law. The Guardian says Suella Braverman admitted that the bill was “more than 50%” likely to break human rights laws.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has intervened. The UNHCR says the bill gives the UK government the right to criminalize, detain and deport asylum seekers. The UNHCR adds that it is “profoundly concerned” about these issues. In addition, the UNHCR says that the bill is a “clear breach of the refugee convention.”
Similarly, Sky News says the government has admitted that the bill might not match international human rights laws.
 The effect of the bill would be to deny protection to many asylum seekers
The new bill is against international law. As the Guardian says, “the effect of the bill would be to deny protection to many asylum seekers. It would even deny them the chance to put forward their case. “This would be a clear breach of the refugee convention,” says a former Conservative minister Simon Clarke. Mr Clarke adds that this would undermine a longstanding humanitarian tradition of which British people are rightly proud. The UK must leave the European convention on human rights (ECHR) if the new bill does not work.
For the UK government, the goal justifies the means! According to CBC, “In the face of today’s global migration crisis, yesterday’s laws are simply not fit for purpose,” Suella Braverman says.
The UK government has taken the UK out of European Union. Now it is thinking of taking the UK out of the European convention on human rights. People must stand against the wrong policies the UK government has followed and is continuing to follow now. Such bad policies and decisions would damage the dignity and fame of the UK.
