Rishi Sunak's plan for small boats 'will lock up people fleeing war'

Refugee family arriving in UK. Image: Care4Calais

Source: Care4Calais/JRS/TUC

Tomorrow the Government is expected to launch its most draconian anti-refugee legalisation yet, as Rishi Sunak bids to make the UK off-limits to any refugees other than those his government hand picks.

It is anticipated that under the new laws, people arriving small boats will:

- Have their asylum claims made automatically 'inadmissible'
- Be subject to mass detention
- Be removed to a third country as soon as practicable
- Be permanently banned from returning to the UK
- Be unable to use family rights laws to stop deportation

Care4Calais point out: "This raises immediate practical issues. Firstly, mass detention may well be unlawful. If it is possible under the new law - where would thousands of people be held? And how much would this cost?"

"If people are to be deported, then where does the Government intend to send them? It's clearly not Rwanda (the Government has now said there will be no Rwanda fights before 2024) and there are no agreements in place with other countries, despite the Government's many attempts to make them. To comply with international law, any agreement would have to be with be 'safe' country. The critical question that needs to be asked is, what exactly is the Government trying to achieve?

"If its aim is to stop small boats and people smugglers, there is a far more effective option readily available. The UK could give safe passage to refugees in Calais who have a viable asylum claim, transfer them to the UK safely, and process their claims on arrival here.

"As 90 per cent of those who cross on small boats do so to claim asylum (and the vast majority have it granted) this would immediately remove 90 per cent of people smugglers' profits. It would of course have the added benefit of saving lives. It would not drive up numbers, as these applicants are coming anyway. Logic suggests, then, that the Government's goal is not to stop the people smugglers. So what IS its intention?

"It appears that the Government's real aim is to stop anyone claiming asylum in the UK, other than people whom they hand pick. This explains their favour for the limited number of 'safe and legal routes' that they determine. But this is not how asylum is supposed to work.

"The UN Refugee Convention bases asylum on an assessment of an individual's need, and presupposes that asylum should be open to anyone who needs it. Does our Government disagree with that principle? Does it really want to take us out of the Refugee Convention altogether? If they truly believe this is a defensible moral position, then they should show their conviction and say so publicly.

"But they don't. Instead they proclaim that innocent refugees are 'illegal', criminalising those who are unable to defend themselves, and instilling fear and division in our society.

"If Rishi Sunak's government showed half as much leadership, promoting tolerance, instead of fear and division, our country could look the future with confidence and certainty, instead of name-calling and fighting among ourselves. Sunak is hoping to implement the new legislation by September. It is likely that the new laws will apply to all arrivals via Calais, and not just small boats. It seems a crude, cruel and impractical plan that will cause untold suffering and pain with little improvement. Such as prospect, however, has never stopped them before."

Sarah Teather, Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service UK said: "This proposed bill is the latest measure aiming to punish refugees for the realities of being forcibly displaced. Refugees travel however they can and there are vanishingly few formal routes for them. To deny sanctuary to people who need it based on their mode of arrival is grotesquely cruel and cravenly dishonest. Furthermore, these proposals are unworkable and are not a rational response to those seeking asylum on our shores. A more productive approach would be to create safe, accessible routes whilst embedding a culture of protection in our asylum system.

"As the former coalition Children and Families Minister I'm particularly appalled by the reported plans to begin wholesale detention of children. Once upon a time the Conservative Party recognised that this policy inflicted longterm damage on young lives and vowed to stop the practice. If this commitment is abandoned now for headlines, it will mark a dark day indeed."

LINKS

Care4Calais: https://care4calais.org/safepassage/

Trade union leaders message: https://care4calais.org/news/trade-unions-issue-joint-statement-in-support-of-refugees/

Jesuit Refugee Services: https://jrs.net/en/home/

Watch the Refugee Council 2022 film: www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2f4SFrGypw