In immigration crackdown vs. remaining in ECHR, Sunak chooses former
3 Min Read
The UK Prime Minister's proposed legislation will make it illegal for anyone who enters the UK to seek asylum.
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Migrants move a boat into the water as they embark on the beach of Gravelines, near Dunkirk. (AFP)
The Times reported citing official sources that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has stated his willingness to withdraw the United Kingdom from the European Convention on Human Rights if the continental court that interprets the treaty interferes with his legislative crackdown on illegal immigration.
The Prime Minister's proposed legislation will make it illegal for anyone who enters the UK to seek asylum.
According to The Times' sources, the proposal would be announced "within weeks" and will establish a process to deport new immigrants in "days or weeks" to their native country, if deemed "safe", or to Rwanda, with whom the UK inked a controversial hosting arrangement last year. Previously, the deportation procedure took "months or years," Sunak said last week after announcing the proposal.
“This bill will go as far as possible within international law,” an insider source said, as quoted by The Times, adding, “We are pushing the boundaries of what is legally possible, while staying within the ECHR. And we are confident that when it is tested in the courts, we will win.”
Sunak, though, "would be willing to review whether being a member of the ECHR is in the UK's long-term interests" if the new law passes muster domestically but "is still being held up in Strasbourg," according to the source.
It is worth noting that the European Court of Human Rights is an international court that rules on potential violations of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Human Rights Act of 1998 made the Convention into legislation in the United Kingdom.
The upcoming legislation will also establish new immigrant detention centers and repeal some anti-trafficking safeguards allegedly used by 80% of illegal immigrants to claim asylum by falsely presenting themselves as victims, particularly the Modern Slavery Act of 2015, which made it difficult for the UK to deport individuals who claimed to be trafficked, as per the report.
With 65,000 illegal immigrants projected to enter the UK this year, the issue is one of voters' top three concerns. Over the last two years, the number of migrants illegally crossing the English Channel in small boats has doubled. However, some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) contend that the new legislation's treatment of asylum seekers violates their human rights, while others argue that turning away all illegal immigrants would be "massively unfeasible".
A flashback
The London High Court ruled in December that Britain's proposal to deport migrants to Rwanda is legal, upholding Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's high-stakes political vow to address the record number of migrants arriving in small boats.
The plan, which was unveiled in April, calls for sending thousands of migrants who land in Britain from a distance of more than 4,000 miles (6,400 km) to Rwanda.
The topic of immigration has frequently dominated British political debacle over the past ten years and is anticipated to come up frequently during the 2024 presidential campaign.
One of Sunak's first policy declarations included a plan to crack down on illegal immigration and declared his desire to resume flights to Rwanda against objections from MPs from all major political parties, the UN, not to mention King Charles.
