The British government has rejected a series of proposals to reduce the smuggling of asylum seekers in the years leading up to the deal with Rwanda, reveals The Independent.
On Monday, Priti Patel accused critics of failing to “offer their own solutions” after protests over plans to send migrants arriving in small boats to Central African countries to have their claims dealt with.
A joint letter with Rwanda’s foreign minister said their goal was to “disrupt the business model of organized crime gangs and prevent migrants from putting their lives at risk.”
“Illegal migration is a global problem and we are working together to create a viable plan to address one of the most complex challenges facing the world today,” it added.
“We are taking bold and innovative steps, and it is surprising that those institutions that criticize the plans are failing to come up with their own solutions.
But numerous changes aimed at reducing the demand for smugglers promising transport to the UK have been rejected after the current government came to power in 2019.
These include laws proposed by the House of Lords and official recommendations from a parliamentary committee, a border surveillance authority and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
All of them have repeatedly called for the extension of safe and legal routes to the United Kingdom or for changes in the system, which means that it is not necessary to seek asylum on British soil.
Several refugee advocacy groups have already expressed concern that the agreement with Rwanda will not achieve the government’s stated goals and could create more business for human smugglers as asylum seekers try to leave the country and travel to the UK again.
Sile Reynolds, head of advocacy at Freedom From Torture, said: “The government says the proposal will break up smuggling networks and end the Channel deaths, but it will not actually do either. Deaths in the English Channel are not inevitable – they are the result of decades of tighter border controls that have left asylum seekers with no choice but to take their lives into their own hands. This proposal simply raises the stakes, increasing the price that smugglers will charge, making protection routes longer and more deadly, and feeding international trafficking networks with more desperate people.
“If this government really wanted to stop people dying in the English Channel, they would increase search and rescue operations so that people could be brought safely to the United Kingdom to seek protection. They will also work with our European neighbors to ensure that all asylum seekers who travel irregularly across Europe have safe and dignified access to protection. There are other solutions. “
The interior minister issued a rare “ministerial instruction” to enforce the plans after Interior Ministry Permanent Secretary Matthew Rycroft warned that there was no evidence that “the policy will have enough deterrent effect” to justify the huge costs.
These are the proposed solutions previously rejected by the government:
April 2022
The House of Lords has proposed amendments to the Nationality and Borders Act to increase the number of refugees resettled directly outside Europe and to expand family reunification schemes to allow asylum seekers to join relatives more easily in the UK. .
The government objected to the two amendments, and lawmakers rejected them on March 22nd. Peers submitted updated amendments on April 5, but the government is expected to reject them again.
Supporting the changes, the Lord Bishop of Durham said: “The main premise of the bill is that people seeking safety in the UK should arrive in safe and legal ways, not through irregular travel.
“My concern with this amendment is that there are not enough safe routes from the countries of origin of most asylum seekers arriving in the United Kingdom.
Theresa May confronts Priti Patel over Rwanda’s asylum policy
Lord Dubbs, who backed an earlier law allowing unaccompanied refugee children in Europe to reunite with their families in Britain, said increasing official travel would “reduce the dangerous journeys young people make to join their families.” “.
He added: “If we believe that traffickers should not have opportunities, it is certainly the right thing to do to ensure a safe and legal route.”
The government rejected the lords’ call for a minimum resettlement target of 10,000 refugees a year, and the interior minister said he also “could not accept” a requirement to set any target.
In the House of Commons, Conservative MP Damien Green said resettlement schemes “should be accessible to a significant number of people”, but are currently “limited” to geographical areas.
He said current schemes for Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan are not open to a large number of asylum seekers crossing the canal from countries including Iraq, Iran and Yemen.
Ministers also rejected a separate amendment that would allow unaccompanied minors with parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, siblings or partners in the UK to be allowed into the country to seek asylum.
Interior Minister Tom Parsglow told the House of Commons that the government did not consider the more generous approach to family reunification “fair” and suggested it would “encourage often dangerous trips to Europe facilitated by smugglers and traffickers”.
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