'Behaving like Russia': Critics slam UK for 'inhumane' refugee bill

The UK government has said that it was ready for human-rights legal challenges to a tough new law intended to stop refugees and migrants from reaching the country in small boats across the English Channel.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said on Tuesday the government had "pushed the boundaries of international law" with a bill that will bar asylum claims by anyone who reaches the UK by unauthorised means, and will compel the government to detain and then deport them "to their home country or a safe third country." They would be banned from ever re-entering the country.

"If you enter Britain illegally, you will be detained and swiftly removed," Braverman told lawmakers in the House of Commons as she introduced the government's "Illegal Migration Bill."

In October last year, Braverman, who is of Indian origin herself, said Britain has too many "low-skilled" migrant workers and a high number of international students in an interview with The Sun newspaper.

Critics said the plan is unethical and unworkable, since people fleeing war and persecution can't be sent home, and is likely to be the latest in a series of unfulfilled immigration pledges by successive UK governments.

"There is nothing fair, humane or even practical in this plan, and it's frankly chilling to see ministers trying to remove human rights protections for groups of people whom they've chosen to scapegoat for their own failures," said Steve Valdez-Symonds of Amnesty International.

The United Nations' refugee agency urged British lawmakers to reconsider the plan, saying it would be a "clear breach of the Refugee Convention" and amount to an "asylum ban."

READ MORE: Britain to present new legislation to curb migrant boat arrivals

'Stop the Boats'

The government says the new law, once approved by Parliament, will deter refugees and hobble smuggling gangs who send desperate people on hazardous journeys across one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the law would "take back control" of UK borders — a central pledge of the successful but divisive campaign to take Britain out of the European Union.

"The current situation is neither moral nor sustainable," he said at a news conference, standing at a lectern emblazoned "Stop the Boats."

The bill calls for people arriving by boat to be detained for 28 days and then deported, with exceptions only for children, those medically unfit to fly and people at risk of serious harm, and with limited grounds for appeal.

Refugees and migrants who are victims of human trafficking would be barred from using Britain's modern slavery laws to prevent deportation.

Braverman acknowledged that the "robust and novel" legislation is likely to face legal challenges.

She said she was "confident" it is compatible with Britain's international obligations under refugee and human rights conventions — but acknowledged in a letter to Conservative lawmakers that there is a greater than 50 percent chance that it isn't.

READ MORE: UK mulls banning deportation appeals from Channel migrants

READ MORE: France, UK sign new deal to block migrant Channel crossings

'It is a con'

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council charity, said the British government was "in effect behaving like those countries that show disregard to international human rights conventions, the likes of Myanmar, Russia, Belarus."

Britain receives fewer asylum-seekers than some European nations such as Italy, Germany or France, but thousands of migrants from around the world travel to northern France each year in hopes of reaching the UK, drawn by family ties, the English language or the perceived ease of getting a job.

More than 45,000 people arrived in Britain by boat in 2022, up from 28,000 in 2021 and 8,500 in 2020.

Most went on to claim asylum, but a backlog of more than 160,000 cases has led to many languishing in overcrowded processing centres or hotels, without the right to work.

The UK government says that once its new law is in place it will establish more legal paths to asylum, adding to those set up for people from Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Ukraine, but it hasn't said how many people will be accepted, or when the programme will start.

Labour Party immigration spokesperson Yvette Cooper accused the government of "ramping up the rhetoric on refugees" without solving the "deeply damaging chaos" in Britain's asylum system.

"This bill isn't a solution," she said. "It is a con that risks making the chaos even worse."

READ MORE: 'Enough is enough': UK PM Rishi Sunak vows crackdown on illegal immigration