Labour government Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has launched a sweeping attack on the rights of asylum seekers in Britain.
The Labour government’s Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, launched a sweeping attack on the rights of asylum seekers in the UK. This was arguably implementing the most severe curtailment of asylum protections since World War II.
Asylum seekers whose claims were accepted were granted five years of protection until now. This is a limit imposed by Tony Blair’s government. Starting in March, adults and accompanying children claiming asylum are due to receive only 30 months. After this, their cases would be reviewed. Deportation will be enforced if the situation in the countries of origin is deemed ‘safe’ at the time of review.
This change may be designed to throw vulnerable people into permanent insecurity and to provide repeated opportunities for their removal, which raises concerns about the UK’s commitment to refugee rights and the principles outlined in Article 34 of the Refugee Convention. Mark Evans, the president of the Law Society of England and Wales, noted that the changes stand in tension with Article 34 of the Refugee Convention. Under this convention, the UK has agreed to facilitate refugee assimilation and naturalization as far as possible.
Mahmood coupled this announcement with a pilot scheme offering 150 families, whose claims had been rejected, up to USD 53,200 (£40,000) to agree to voluntary deportation. This gave them 7 days to respond. Mahmood argued that the annual cost of keeping a family of three in an asylum hostel, which amounted to USD 210,140 (£158,000), was significantly higher than USD 53,200 (£40,000).
Failure to accept the offer may result in enforced removal. According to the Guardian, a new Home Office consultation document, ‘Family Returns’: Reforming Asylum Support and Enforcing Family Returns,’ indicates that children may be handcuffed during deportation ‘to overcome non-compliance.’
Mahmood has also doubled the normal waiting period for settled status in the UK from 5 to 10 years. This change is expected to be extended even further for many migrants. These changes apply retrospectively to thousands of migrants presently in the system.
