radiofree.asia

Category: Immigration and asylum

  • Defence spending in UK to be put ‘on war footing’, Rishi Sunak says – as it happened

    Prime minister announces increase to UK defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030 in speech about security. This live blog is closed

    Rishi Sunak has said that the deaths of five people who were crossing the Channel in the early hours of this morning underlines the need to stop the boats.

    Speaking to reporters on his plane to Poland, he argued that there was an “element of compassion” in his Rwanda policy because it is intended to stop people smuggling. He said:

    There are reports of sadly yet more tragic deaths in the Channel this morning. I think that is just a reminder of why our plan is so important because there’s a certain element of compassion about everything that we’re doing.

    We want to prevent people making these very dangerous crossings. If you look at what’s happening, criminal gangs are exploiting vulnerable people. They are packing more and more people into these unseaworthy dinghies.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Council of Europe human rights watchdog condemns UK’s Rwanda bill

    Commissioner expresses grave concern after Rishi Sunak’s asylum policy passes parliamentary stages

    The Council of Europe’s human rights watchdog has condemned Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda scheme, saying it raises “major issues about the human rights of asylum seekers and the rule of law”.

    The body’s human rights commissioner, Michael O’Flaherty, said the bill, expected to be signed into law on Tuesday after passing its parliamentary stages on Monday night, was a grave concern and should not be used to remove asylum seekers or infringe on judges’ independence.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Rwanda bill clears parliament after peers abandon final battle over safety amendment – as it happened

    Bill could become law this week as end of parliamentary ping-pong in sight

    Q: Do you think you will be able to implement this without leaving the European convention of human rights?

    Sunak says he thinks he can implement this without leaving the ECHR.

    If it ever comes to a choice between our national security, securing our borders, and membership of a foreign court, I’m, of course, always going to prioritise our national security.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • MPs vote to give smoking ban bill second reading – as it happened

    Rishi Sunak’s authority suffers blow as several Conservatives vote against bill, which clears first Commons hurdle with 383 votes to 67

    At 12.30pm a transport minister will respond to an urgent question in the Commons tabled by Labour on job losses in the rail industry. That means the debate on the smoking ban will will not start until about 1.15pm.

    Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, is one of the Britons speaking at the National Conservatism conference in Brussels starting today. The conference, which features hardline rightwingers from around the world committed to the NatCons’ ‘faith, flag and family’ brand of conservatism, is going ahead despite two venues refusing to host them at relatively short notice.

    The current UK government doesn’t have the political will to take on the ECHR and hasn’t laid the ground work for doing so.

    And so it’s no surprise that recent noises in this direction are easily dismissed as inauthentic.

    Any attempt to include a plan for ECHR withdrawal in a losing Conservative election manifesto risks setting the cause back a generation.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Senior Tories fear Johnson and Truss will sabotage Sunak’s election campaign

    Concerns that vicious circle of party ill-discipline is undermining the PM’s ability to restore order

    Senior Tories fear Rishi Sunak is facing a vicious circle of party ill-discipline, amid concerns that attacks from Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Suella Braverman will signal his inability to restore authority in the months before the general election.

    A rebellion this week over his plans to ban smoking is set to be the latest flashpoint, with libertarian MPs, including Truss, preparing to criticise the proposal as a nanny-state measure that is unconservative.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • When Rishi Sunak speaks, the nation shrugs. There’s no coming back from that | Rafael Behr

    Flirting with leaving the European court of human rights has failed to move the dial for the PM, and has highlighted his deficiencies

    Rishi Sunak is not a deep-cover agent of the Labour party, but politics might not look very different if the prime minister were on a secret mission to make life easier for Keir Starmer.

    To achieve this feat, special operative Sunak would occupy positions expected of a Conservative leader, but in a way that minimised public enthusiasm and maximised division in his own party.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • People helping asylum seekers in Europe face rising violence, report warns

    Aid workers being held at gunpoint and having communications monitored, Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner says

    People and groups who assist asylum seekers are reporting a disturbing trend of escalating intimidation, with aid workers facing direct threats including being held at gunpoint and having their phone communications monitored by government authorities, according to a report from the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights.

    Dunja Mijatović has warned of increasing harassment and in some cases criminalisation of people and groups who assist refugees, especially in Hungary, Greece, Lithuania, Italy, Croatia and Poland.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Tories’ Rwanda safety bill is an abuse of the rule of law | Letter

    No amount of tinkering with the government’s proposal for deporting asylum seekers can make it compatible with human rights, says Sacha Deshmukh of Amnesty International UK

    The joint committee on human rights was right to be so strident in its assessment that the government’s Rwanda bill is fundamentally incompatible with human rights (UK’s Rwanda bill ‘incompatible with human rights obligations’, 12 February). No tinkering with this bill can make it fit basic tenets of the UN refugee convention, Human Rights Act and European convention on human rights, and judicial independence.

    This government is attempting to declare Rwanda safe as a matter of law simply because it says so – an abuse of law that one would expect from an authoritarian regime. Human rights are not fair-weather concepts for a government to simply abandon at its convenience, and if our government pursues that course, then others will feel more licensed to do the same, threatening the entire global system of rights and protections and making us all significantly less safe.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Council of Europe calls on UK not to process asylum claims in Rwanda

    People may be exposed to abuses such as torture and degrading treatment in Rwanda, says watchdog

    Europe’s leading anti-torture watchdog has called on the government to process asylum claims in the UK rather than sending people to Rwanda because of the risk they may be exposed to human rights abuses there.

    In a report published on Thursday, the Council of Europe’s committee for the prevention of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment raises a litany of concerns after an 11-day visit to the UK in March and April last year.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Rwanda flights: Britain reminded of obligation to obey ECHR orders

    Court chief’s warning comes as government faces claims Rwandan homes for asylum seekers have been sold

    The UK would break international law if it ignored emergency orders from the European court of human rights to stop asylum seekers being flown to Rwanda, the head of the court has said.

    Síofra O’Leary, the ECHR president, told a press conference there was a “clear obligation” for member states to take account of rule 39 orders, interim injunctions issued by the Strasbourg-based court.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Home Office U-turns on policy to restrict help for trafficking victims

    Rights groups hail change to Braverman policy that denied support to people with criminal convictions

    The Home Office has performed a U-turn on a policy to deprive some modern slavery victims of protection from traffickers.

    Human rights campaigners and lawyers representing trafficking victims have welcomed the government’s change of heart, which they say reinstates vital protections to vulnerable people.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • The human cost of blocking injunctions on Rwanda | Letters

    Dr Alice Donald and Prof Philip Leach on cases where ‘pyjama injunctions’ have ensured British prisoners of war were not executed. Plus letters from Michael Meadowcroft, Jol Miskin and John Weightman

    In a story about the Rwanda bill, you refer to Rishi Sunak toughening up his rhetoric on “pyjama injunctions” (Sunak faces Tory meltdown as deputy chairs back Rwanda bill rebellionReport, 15 January), meaning interim measures issued by the European court of human rights in exceptional circumstances. We should be careful about buying into this characterisation, as it trivialises the court’s urgent and legally binding injunctions, which are issued – sometimes out of hours – to avert an imminent risk of irreparable harm, such as death or torture.

    Both the Illegal Migration Act 2023 and the safety of Rwanda (asylum and immigration) bill give ministers discretion to disregard interim measures in cases relating to the removal of a person from the UK. Rightwing Tory MPs would like to go further and block interim measures entirely.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Exiled Rwandan who survived murder attempt condemns UK deportation plan

    Opposition politician Frank Ntwali says country is unsafe and Sunak’s pursuance of policy ‘quite bizarre’

    A Rwandan opposition politician who narrowly survived an assassination attempt has condemned the UK’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Kigali.

    Frank Ntwali, the chair of the exiled Rwanda National Congress (RNC) movement, said the country was unsafe and that Rishi Sunak’s persistence with the policy was “quite bizarre”.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Rwanda bill: legislation passes third reading as rightwing rebellion recedes – UK politics live

    The third reading of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) bill passed by 320 votes to 276, a majority of 44

    Rishi Sunak starts with the usual spiel about his engagements, and how he has got meetings with colleagues.

    Rishi Sunak is taking PMQs in 10 minutes.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith resign over Rwanda bill – as it happened

    Jane Stevenson joins Conservative party’s deputy chairs in resigning on a bruising night for Rishi Sunak

    More than 60 Tory MPs have signed at least one of the various rebel amendments to the Rwanda bill tabled by hardliners. But very few of them have said publicly that, if the amendments are not passed, they will definitely vote against the bill at third reading. Suella Braverman and Miriam Cates are among the diehards in this category. But Simon Clarke, in his ConservativeHome, only says, that, if the bill is not changed, he will not vote for the bill at third reading, implying he would abstain.

    In an interview with Sky News, Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister who has tabled the rebel amendments attracting most support, said he was “prepared” to vote against the bill at third reading. He said:

    I am prepared to vote against the bill … because this bill doesn’t work, and I do believe that a better bill is possible.

    So the government has a choice. It can either accept my amendments … or it can bring back a new and improved bill, and it could do that within a matter of days because we know the shape of that bill.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Bibby Stockholm barge must be closed immediately | Letter

    The barge is no place to accommodate people who have fled violence, persecution and torture, say campaigners and MPs

    Following the suspected suicide of a person seeking asylum on the Bibby Stockholm on Tuesday, we are calling for the immediate closure of the barge (Growing despair of asylum seekers on Bibby Stockholm over living conditions, 13 December).

    For those on board, the Bibby Stockholm feels like a prison. It is cramped, restrictive and segregated. The barge is no place to accommodate people who have fled violence, persecution and torture, many of whom are traumatised and isolated. They are unable to get the help and specialist support they need. Their mental health has deteriorated and some have felt suicidal.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Asylum seekers housed at ex-RAF base tried to kill themselves, finds study

    Report calls for immediate closure of Wethersfield as conditions causing irreparable harm to residents

    Asylum seekers housed in the UK’s largest mass accommodation site have attempted to kill themselves and set themselves on fire because of conditions “no different from Libya”, according to a report.

    The controversial Wethersfield site, on a remote military airbase near Braintree in Essex, is in the constituency of the home secretary, James Cleverly, who said earlier this year in a social media post that the site was not “appropriate”.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • We must not let politics trample on refugees’ human rights | Letters

    Rev Dr Noel Anthony Davies says Rishi Sunak’s government seems all too willing to breach the principles of the UN’s human rights declaration. Plus letters from Clive Stafford Smith, Jim King and Michael McLoughlin

    As a retired Christian minister, I very much welcome the powerful and challenging article by Prof Philippe Sands (From Gaza to Ukraine, what would the pioneers of human rights think of our world today?, 13 December). In the service that I led in our uniting church in Swansea last Sunday – international Human Rights Day – I shared some of the key articles of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights with the congregation. A number commented afterwards on how powerful and challenging its affirmations are.

    We were therefore shocked to see that the UK government is prepared to turn its back on the declaration that has been the foundation of our common humanity and our shared sense of justice and freedom for all over the last 75 years merely to serve party political ends, and to implement an immigration policy that is clearly in contravention of the declaration. It is also a denial of what we, as Christians, would regard as a universal recognition, founded in the teaching of Jesus, of the dignity, freedom and equality of all people, irrespective of race, religion, sexuality, national identity or political conviction.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer clash over homelessness and the UK economy at PMQs – as it happened

    The prime minister faced PMQs for the final time before the Christmas recess

    Rishi Sunak is about to take PMQs. It will be the last of 2023.

    Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • MPs back Rwanda bill in boost to Rishi Sunak despite rebellion by rightwing MPs – as it happened

    Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda bill passes its first Commons vote but only after rebellion by a collection of rightwing Tory MPs

    Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, a former lord chief justice of England and Wales, has said the government should not try to ignore the jurisdiction of the European court of human rights. In an interview for a podcast called the Judges, he said:

    If you have subjected yourself to a court, and it was our voluntary decision to do so, then you have to take the rough with the smooth and if they’ve decided [the court] have this jurisdiction then you ought to follow it.

    You can’t expect others to respect the law if you say you won’t respect the law of someone else.

    You ought to actually be able, within a set period of time, say a fortnight, to investigate, decide, give him one right of appeal – why you should have more than one right of appeal I simply don’t understand – and remove them.” But, he concedes, it costs money.

    Britain is a practical nation – always has been. People can’t afford Christmas. If they call an ambulance this winter – they don’t know if it will come. 6,000 crimes go unpunished – every day. Common sense is rolling your sleeves up and solving these problems practically, not indulging in some kind of political performance art.

    This goes for stopping the boats as well. It’s not about wave machines, or armoured jet skis, or schemes like Rwanda you know will never work.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Tories warn Rishi Sunak that his Rwanda plan ‘will never be law’

    As Tuesday’s crucial vote looms, MPs from both wings of the party say PM has tied his future to a bill that cannot succeed

    • Read more: The UK’s deal with Rwanda must stay within the rule of law

    Senior Tories from across the party are warning that Rishi Sunak’s emergency Rwanda plan will never become law in its current form, ahead of the most critical vote of his premiership.

    Liberal Tories confirmed last night that, despite their desire to back the PM against the right, “serious concerns” remain about the plan and more reassurances will be required. Meanwhile, a self-styled “star chamber” of legal figures examining the proposals for the Tory right is understood to have found problems that are “extremely difficult to resolve”.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Tory right deliver legal rebuke to Sunak’s Rwanda plan

    ERG lawyers conclude plans will not forestall court challenges, echoing concerns of goverment’s own legal team

    Rishi Sunak has been dealt a fresh blow over his Rwanda legislation as a legal assessment for the Tory right has concluded that the prime minister’s plans are not fit for purpose.

    Bill Cash, who chairs the “star chamber” of lawyers for the European Research Group, wrote in the Daily Telegraph that “at present” the legislation is not “sufficiently watertight to meet the government’s policy objectives” such as circumventing individual legal challenges by people seeking to remain in the UK.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Sunak’s bill aims to block UK human rights law to save Rwanda scheme

    Emergency legislation stops short of leaving European convention on human rights and will infuriate Tory hard right

    Rishi Sunak aims to block UK human rights laws in an effort to revive the government’s faltering plans to send people seeking asylum to Rwanda.

    An emergency bill published on Wednesday will assert that ministers have the power to ignore judgments that come from Strasbourg while stopping short of leaving or “disapplying” the European convention on human rights.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Tories face ‘electoral oblivion’ unless Rwanda flights go ahead, says Braverman

    Former home secretary urges PM to block all human rights laws used to halt deportation flights

    The Conservative party faces “electoral oblivion in a matter of months” unless ministers block all human rights laws used to halt deportation flights to Rwanda, Suella Braverman has told MPs.

    In a personal statement to the Commons, the former home secretary urged Rishi Sunak to build at pace “nightingale” detention centres and stop all legal challenges using domestic and international laws.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Rishi Sunak accused of giving Rwanda millions ‘for nothing in return’

    PMQs clash comes as Suella Braverman expected to heavily criticise government’s immigration plans

    Rishi Sunak’s government has been accused by Keir Starmer of giving Rwanda “hundreds of millions of pounds for nothing in return” following the signing of a deportation treaty.

    In a clash at prime minister’s questions, the Labour leader mocked the treaty, signed on Tuesday, saying the Rwandan government of President Paul Kagame had seen the prime minister coming “a mile off”.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • EU migration package risks racial profiling and discrimination, NGOs say

    Seventeen groups issue statement sounding alarm at migration laws agreed by most EU members

    The EU risks opening the door to increased discrimination and racial profiling in what is being described as a “potentially irreversible attack” on the international system offering asylum and refugee protection, human rights organisations have said.

    Seventeen NGOs have together sounded the alarm before what is expected to be one of the final meetings on the text of a package of controversial new migration laws already agreed by most EU leaders.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Tory MPs lobby to change legislation as splits emerge over Rwanda policy

    Centrist Tories want PM to stick by UK’s human rights obligations while those on the right want new bill to override them

    Tory MPs are at loggerheads as competing factions engage in last-minute lobbying efforts to try to change Rishi Sunak’s flagship Rwanda legislation before it is published in the coming days.

    The prime minister is due to announce a new bill as soon as this week, which Downing Street says will deal with concerns raised last month by the supreme court over the government’s scheme to send asylum seekers to east Africa. It follows the signing of a new treaty with Rwanda on Tuesday by the home secretary, James Cleverly, in Kigali.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • UK has high rate of teenagers missing meals due to poverty, OECD says – as it happpened

    This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our UK political coverage here

    The UK has suffered a sharp decline in its performance in the latest round of influential international academic tests, wiping out recent progress, as the widespread disruption caused by Covid continued to take its toll on education, the Guardian reports.

    Yesterday, when he was being interviewed at the Resolution Foundation conference, Keir Starmer was asked by Zanny Minton Beddoes, the editor of the Economist, if he could say in what way his policies were different from the Conservatives’. Starmer was able to provide a half-decent answer, but he did not entirely dispel her suggestion that in many areas the policy overlap is getting more and more pronounced.

    Today’s announcement is an admission of years of Tory failure on both the immigration system and the economy, as net migration has trebled to a record high under the Tories since they promised to reduce it at the last election.

    Labour has said repeatedly that net migration should come down and called for action to scrap the unfair 20% wage discount, raise salary thresholds based on economic evidence, bring in new training requirements linked to the immigration system, as well as a proper workforce plan for social care. Immigration is important but the system needs to be controlled and managed. But whilst the Conservatives have finally been forced to abandon the unfair wage discount that they introduced, they are still completely failing to introduce more substantial reforms that link immigration to training and fair pay requirements in the UK, meaning many sectors will continue to see rising numbers of work visas because of skills shortages.

    What that means is, if you’ve got a shortage occupation, not just health and social care workers – that might be also engineers, might also include now bricklayers – employers will still be able to recruit at less than the threshold. And yet the government is still doing nothing to tackle those skills.

    We think the Migration Advisory Committee should look at this very swiftly before it is introduced, particularly at the impact this is going to have on British citizens who fall in love across borders.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Sunak’s Rwanda asylum plan: three options after supreme court rejection

    UK prime minister is preparing a response aimed at overcoming barriers to his key immigration policy

    After the UK’s highest court last month rejected the government’s plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, Rishi Sunak is preparing a response aimed at overcoming the barriers to his key immigration policy.

    The supreme court ruling undermines one of the prime minister’s key pledges to “stop the boats” making illegal crossings across the Channel. He has been facing increasing pressure from the right of the Conservative party who want him to in effect ditch the UK’s human rights framework.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Rwandan courts will not protect refugees’ rights, say daughters of genocide hero

    Family of Paul Rusesabagina, who campaigned to have him freed from jail, say country’s justice system is a ‘tool to oppress people’

    The Rwandan legal system is incapable of protecting refugees sent from the UK, according to the daughters of Paul Rusesabagina, the man who inspired the Oscar-nominated movie Hotel Rwanda.

    Carine and Anaïse Kanimba campaigned for more than two years to secure the release of their father, who was freed from a Kigali jail after three years of incarceration earlier this year, and they have detailed first-hand knowledge of the true nature of the Rwandan legal system.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.