London has made the question of immigration a priority from Brexit and says it wants to reduce the number of migrants that the country is taking care of.
Le Monde with AFP
The British government wants to prevent migrants who have gone through the Channel from applying for asylum in the United Kingdom, said Interior Minister Suella Braverman, on Tuesday, October 4. An announcement immediately denounced by refugee associations as a violation of international conventions.
“If you illegally enter the United Kingdom from a safe country, you must quickly be sent back to your country of origin or relocated to Rwanda, where your asylum application will be considered,” said Minister Ultra-conservative, ovationed during the conservative party congress, in Birmingham (Center for England).
London has made the question of immigration a priority from Brexit and says he wants to reduce the number of migrants that the country is taking care of. Suella Braverman said that there were “too many asylum seekers who abuse the system” and who do not serve “the needs of the economy”.
More than 33,500 people have carried out the dangerous crossing of the Channel since the start of the year, one of the busiest maritime tracks in the world. This figure continues to increase since 2018 despite the promises of successive conservative governments.
a “barbaric, false and useless” project “
The announcements of M me braverman were denounced in unison by the organizations of defense of the rights of migrants, who believe that they are distraction, when the British, mainly Favorable for the reception of migrants according to the polls, are first concerned with the cost of living crisis.
According to figures from the British Ministry of the Interior, 94 % of around 50,000 migrants arrived in the United Kingdom after crossing the Channel on makeshift boats between January 2018 and June 2022 asked for asylum; and 86 % of those who have since seen their request considered asylum.
The founder of Care4Calais, Clare Mosley, criticized a project “barbaric, false and useless” and denounced the “false” rhetoric of the government on the subject. The Council refugee affirmed that these announcements were going against the United Nations Convention on Refugees, which provides that a migrant cannot be penalized in his asylum request because of the way he entered into the country where he requests.
As part of its fight against immigration, the government had announced in the spring that it would deport to Rwanda certain asylum seekers. This policy has so far been blocked by the European Court of Human Rights, which Sueella Braverman said, calling on the United Kingdom to “regain control” in the face of “a foreign court that endangers our sovereignty “.
The Minister also denounced what she described as “abuse” of migrants posing as victims of “modern slavery” – words also qualified as falsely by NGOs.
Furthermore, in another component of her ministerial portfolio, she attacked environmental demonstrators of Just Stop Oil groups and Rebellion extinction which regularly block traffic to protest against the government’s climate policy:
“The police must have all the powers necessary to stop these demonstrators who use guerrilla techniques and trigger chaos.”