The UN Committee on Human Rights has recently voiced its concerns regarding two contentious pieces of UK legislation; namely, the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill and certain provisions of the Illegal Migration Act 2023. The Committee strongly urged the UK to withdraw these legal blockades, identifying a potential for discrimination against migrants and asylum seekers that could be in breach of the UN Conventions on the treatment of refugees.
In their report produced from sessions held between March 4 and 28, 2024, the Committee highlighted multiple areas of the UK’s migration legislation that pose human rights concerns. The UK’s “Memorandum of understanding between the UK and Rwanda” and the attempts to transport asylum seekers to third countries were heavily criticized. The UK was urged to withdraw or repeal the bill if it were to become law.
The principle of non-refoulment, which prevents migrants or asylum seekers from being forced back to a country where they are likely to face persecution, was underlined by the Committee. Calling for the UK to uphold this principle “in both law and practice,” the Committee raised major objections to the Illegal Migration Act 2023, which was described as an “asylum ban”. The Act denies asylum to anyone who arrives in the UK illegally, even if they have not faced persecution in the country they first passed through.
In addition, the Committee aired concerns over the potential impact on victims of human trafficking. They cited the removal of certain protections under the Illegal Migration Act as a driving factor for these concerns, as it has made victim identification increasingly difficult and has potentially impacted their access to justice.
The criticism from the UN Committee comes in the wake of the UK government’s increasingly strict approach towards migration, a policy agenda encapsulated by the phrase “stop the boats”. Criticism of these policies has been voiced by a variety of sources, most recently in the form of a UK parliamentary report.
In response to a Supreme Court ruling that deemed the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda as a violation of international human right laws, the UK introduced the Safety of Rwanda Bill. With the House of Lords having completed its consideration of amendments on March 20, the bill is set to be discussed in the House of Commons on April 15. If approved for Royal Assent, it will then become law.
The full report from the UN Committee on Human Rights can be accessed here.