The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, has called on British MPs and Lords to “prevent” the passage of the Illegal Immigration Bill, in a letter published on Monday 27 March, but sent to the House of Commons and the House of Lords on 24 March.
She is concerned that the provisions of this text are “incompatible with the UK’s international obligations”, “create clear and direct tension with well-established and fundamental human rights standards” and exacerbate “the already significant regression in the protection of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants [in the UK] in the last few years”.
At issue are: the denial of asylum opportunities to people arriving through non-legal channels, the failure to ensure that appeals are considered in accordance with the standards of the European Convention on Human Rights, the lack of protection against modern slavery, and the extension of detention powers.
The Commissioner also points out that the bill risks reversing the progress made in limiting the detention of children.
In conclusion, it stresses the importance of legal and safe migration routes and calls for a framework that would allow asylum applications to be made from France.
Link to the Commissioner’s letter: https://aeur.eu/f/62a (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)