In an unusual intervention before the Commons report stage of the legislation on Tuesday, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said the illegal migration bill would remove protections for victims of trafficking and restrict rights to asylum, The Guardian reported.
It would also allow for the detention of pregnant women and children and fail to consider the impact on torture survivors and disabled people, the EHRC said.
The government has laid down nine new clauses and 136 amendments to the bill to be discussed by MPs on Tuesday, a move that has been called undemocratic, before the last day of scrutiny in the Commons.
The EHRC said, “The EHRC remains seriously concerned that the bill risks placing the UK in breach of its international legal obligations to protect human rights, and exposing people to serious harm. Provisions providing for the detention of children and pregnant women, and removing protections for victims of trafficking and modern slavery, are particularly worrying.
“Effective, rights-compliant action is needed to ensure more lives are not lost on dangerous Channel crossings. We welcome the government’s commitment to increase safe, regular routes to the UK for those in need of asylum, and recommend these are brought forward alongside the bill,” it added.
The bill, which would change the law to make it clear people arriving in the UK illegally will not be able to remain in the country, has prompted criticism from opponents who have dismissed it as an unworkable gimmick.
Hard-right Tory MPs have said the legislation does not go far enough, with some calling for ministers to take the UK out of the European convention on human rights to enable tighter border controls.
Others on the liberal wing of the party want to the government to commit to establishing safe routes through which asylum seekers can come to Britain.
Home Office figures released on Monday show that the backlog of asylum cases across the UK is now 138,052, driven by a “legacy backlog” of more than 80,000.
This means the Home Office will have to process 7,000 cases a month to meet Rishi Sunak’s commitment to clear the legacy backlog by the end of this year.
The figures also show the government is continuing to struggle to hold on to full-time asylum decision makers, There were 1,281 full-time decision makers working to clear the backlog by the end of March, down from 1,333 on January 1, but an increase from 777 a year earlier.
Afghans are the biggest national cohort crossing the Channel in small boats this year, with 909 arriving in the UK between January and March, the statistics show. There were 700 Indians (18% of the total) and 29 Albanians. More than half of those crossing came from Afghanistan, Iran, Eritrea, Sudan or Syria, all of which had initial grant rates for asylum of at least 80% last year.
Meanwhile, an appeal hearing into whether two high court judges were right to dismiss legal challenges against ministers’ plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda began on Monday. A group of individuals from countries including Iran, Iraq and Syria are aiming to overturn rulings made in December.
The Home Office has been approached for a comment.