For many years, countries, in particular Australia and the United States, have been exporting their cruel and unlawful policies to one another.
These policies include the militarization of borders, criminalization of migration, and removal of people to third countries known to be unsafe and to pose a risk of chain refoulement for asylum seekers – that is, returning them to a place where they would be at risk of persecution or other serious harms.
These individuals were already unable to receive effective protection in countries they travelled through.
The United Kingdom introduced the Illegal Migration Bill into parliament on March 7 that would prevent anyone who arrives to the UK irregularly and has travelled through other countries first from being able to claim asylum or access modern slavery or trafficking protections in the UK.
If the bill is passed, people will be automatically detained, including families with children and unaccompanied children, for at least 28 days with no right of appeal, pending removal to their home country if it is a safe country of origin or to a “safe third country” listed in the bill.
Those removed from the UK will be banned from returning or gaining British citizenship, except in very limited circumstances.
The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, on March 7 described the bill as an “asylum ban,” extinguishing the right to seek protection in the UK for those arriving irregularly, regardless of how genuine and compelling their claim may be.