THE United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has condemned the Tory government for illegally ‘extinguishing the right to seek refugee protection in the UK’.
The UNHC responded to Tory Home Secretary Braverman’s Illegal Immigrant Bill by declaring that that to deport refugees without hearing their asylum claims amounts to a ‘clear breach of the refugee convention.’
The UNHCR said it is ‘profoundly concerned’ by the plan, which gives the UK the right to criminalise, detain and deport asylum seekers, saying it is a ‘clear breach of the refugee convention.’
It said such legislation would ‘amount to an asylum ban… no matter how genuine and compelling” individual cases may be.
‘The effect of the bill would be to deny protection to many asylum seekers in need of safety and protection, and even deny them the opportunity to put forward their case,’ the agency added.
‘This would be a clear breach of the Refugee Convention and would undermine a long-standing, humanitarian tradition of which the British people are rightly proud.
‘We urge the government, and all MPs and peers, to reconsider the bill and instead pursue more humane and practical policy solutions.’
The British Red Cross said that by implementing the deportation plan, the British government would be in breach of international asylum conventions.
Meanwhile, Match of the Day host Gary Lineker has issued a defiant response after being rebuked for speaking out in support of asylum seekers on Tuesday.
A number of Tory MPs have called for him to be sacked from the BBC and the bosses there have declared that they intend to ‘talk to him’ about the matter.
Lineker responded defiantly that he will continue to tweet on the subject.
Writing on Twitter on Tuesday, the ex-footballer said the language in which the Tories had set out their anti-asylum seeker plans was ‘not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s’.
Responding to a video message setting out the policy by Braverman, Lineker tweeted: ‘Good heavens, this is beyond awful.’
Told by another Twitter user that he was ‘out of order’, he added: ‘We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries.
‘This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s, and I’m out of order?’