UN rights chief slams UK plan to ban asylum claims by Channel migrants

The United Nations refugee agency has criticised a British draft law that would outlaw asylum claims by anyone arriving in the country illegally. The UNHCR has warned that such legislation could violate international law.

Migrants board a boat on the beach at Gravelines, northern France, in an attempt to cross the English Channel. AFP - SAMEER AL-DOUMY

The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said it was "profoundly concerned" by plans that would give the British interior minister a legal duty to deport all migrants entering illegally, such as those crossing the Channel from France in inflatable boats.

And Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, added that he is "deeply concerned at this legislation".

Britain's Conservative government intends to outlaw asylum claims by all illegal arrivals and transfer them elsewhere, possibly to Rwanda, in a bid to stop thousands of migrants from crossing the Channel on small boats.

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But, said Turk, the draft law "would allow the UK authorities to detain and remove all those who enter the UK using small boats to cross the Channel, ban their future re-entry to the UK and prohibit them from applying for UK citizenship."

Volker Turk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. REUTERS - LEONARDO FERNANDEZ VILORIA

"Such a wholesale ban preventing people from seeking asylum and other forms of international protection in the UK would be at variance with the UK's obligations under international human rights and refugee law," he warned.

Turk said the legislation also raised a number of rights concerns, for example by violating the right of each migrant to an individual assessment. The law may also infringe international bans on the arbitrary detention of immigrants.

London's legislation could also breach rules on collective expulsions and returning individuals to countries where they could face torture, cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment, he said.

"All people compelled to leave their country of origin to seek safety and dignity abroad are entitled to the full respect of their human rights, regardless of their migration status or mode of arrival," he said.

(with wires)