U.K.’s illegal migration Bill on its way to becoming law

Subject : International Relations

Section: Msc

Concept :

In a victory for the Rishi Sunak government, the U.K. House of Lords passed the Illegal Migration Bill.
The bill will become law after it obtains royal assent.
The law will make it the Home Secretary’s duty to remove illegal migrants from the U.K. and significantly change existing protections for asylum seekers.
By decreasing access to routes to asylum, the Bill seeks to deter illegal migration to the country – especially via small boats crossing the English Channel.

What measures does the Bill propose?

The Bill, when passed into law by the U.K. Parliament, will:
require that the Home Secretary detain and remove those arriving in the U.K. illegally, either to Rwanda or another “safe” third country;
would deny migrants the right to bail or judicial review for the first 28 days of their immigration detention;
block such migrants from returning to the U.K. or seeking British citizenship going forward.
The Bill would also seek to set a cap on the number of refugees who will be permitted to settle in the U.K. through “safe and legal routes”.
This, at the moment, only applies to people from Afghanistan and Ukraine, or British National status holders in Hong Kong.
The new Bill would also permit the government to detain children for up to eight days, and that too only if they applied for bail.

Criticisms against the bill

Incompatible with international law
Recently, the U.K.’s Home Secretary admitted that there was a more than 50% chance that the new bill is incompatible with international law.
This is more evident in the concept of non-refoulement – that refugees should not be returned to a country where they face threats to life and liberty.
This concept is encapsulated in the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees as well as the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
K. is a signatory of both the conventions.
Criticised by UNHCR
The proposed plan to deport to origin or remove asylum seekers arriving in the U.K. by boat to a third country has been sharply criticised by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.
Extinguishes the right to seek refugee protection in the UK
If adopted, the new bill would deny the right to seek refugee protection to people arriving irregularly in the UK, such as those risking their lives to cross the English Channel in small boats.
The effect of this Bill (in this form) would be to deny a fair hearing and to deny protection to many genuine refugees in need of safety and asylum.

English Channel

The English Channel, also known simply as “the Channel,” is a body of water that separates southern England from northern France.
It is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean and is part of the western extent of the North Sea.
The Channel is one of the busiest shipping areas in the world and has significant historical, cultural, and economic importance.
It is approximately 560 kilometers long and varies in width from about 240 kilometers (widest point) to just 34 kilometers (narrowest point), which is the Strait of Dover.

Strait of Dover:

It connects the English Channel to the North Sea and separates England from mainland Europe.