More than 33,500 people have made the dangerous Channel crossing since the beginning of the year. This figure has been steadily increasing since 2018, despite the promises of successive Conservative governments.
The British government wants to prevent migrants who have crossed the Channel from applying for asylum in the United Kingdom, Interior Minister Suella Braverman said on Tuesday October 4, an announcement immediately denounced by refugee associations as a violation of international conventions.
“If you enter the UK illegally from a safe country, you must be promptly returned to your home country or relocated to Rwanda, where your asylum claim will be considered“, declared the ultra-conservative minister, ovationnée during the congress of the conservative party in Birmingham (center of England).
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London has made the issue of immigration a priority since Brexit and says it wants to reduce the number of migrants the country takes in. Suella Braverman claimed that there was “too many asylum seekers abusing the system“and which do not serve”the needs of the economy“. More than 33,500 people have made the dangerous crossing of the English Channel since the beginning of the year, one of the busiest sea routes in the world. This figure has been steadily increasing since 2018 despite the promises of successive Conservative governments.
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Suella Braverman’s announcements have been denounced in unison by organizations defending the rights of migrants, who believe that they are a distraction, at a time when the British, the majority in favor of welcoming migrants according to the polls, worry first about the crisis in the cost of living.
Practice blocked by the ECHR
Care4Calais founder Clare Mosley criticized a project “barbaric, deceitful and useless» and denounced the «fakegovernment rhetoric on the subject. The Refugee Council has pointed out that the announcements go against the United Nations Convention on Refugees, which states that a migrant cannot be penalized in his asylum application because of the way he has entered the country where he is applying.
As part of its fight against immigration, the government announced in the spring that it would deport certain asylum seekers to Rwanda. This policy has so far been blocked by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which Suella Braverman regretted, calling on the United Kingdom to “regain control” in front of “a foreign court that endangers our sovereignty“. The Minister also denounced what she described as “abuse“of migrants pretending to be victims”of modern slavery– remarks there also qualified as lies by the NGOs.
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In another part of her ministerial portfolio, she attacked environmental protesters from the groups Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion who regularly block traffic in protest against the government’s climate policy. “The police must have all the necessary powers to stop these demonstrators who are using guerrilla techniques and triggering chaos“, she estimated.
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