The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, has defended before the House of Commons the immigration reform proposed by his government, assuring that stopping the flow of small boats in the English Channel is a »priority» for British citizens and that it does not imply any violation of international law.
»Stopping my boats is not only my priority, it is also the priority of the people,» said Sunak, a day after his Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, announced a controversial initiative that will speed up deportations of irregular arrivals and prevent them from applying for citizenship in the future.
This plan also envisages deportations to »safe third countries», for example Rwanda, with which the UK authorities reached an agreement to take charge of migrants rejected on British soil.
The leader of the Labour Party, Keir Starmer, has reproached Sunak for trying to patch up a system that is »broken» and criticized the delays that already exist today in resolving asylum requests.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has warned in a statement that the measure put on the table by the UK government »would be a clear violation of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees», and has called for »more humane and practical political solutions» to the possible challenges.
The United Nations fears punishment for those in real need of international protection. Most people fleeing war and persecution simply cannot access the required passports and visas. There are no safe and ‘legal’ routes for them,»’ the agency has lamented.
The executive’s main objective is to stem the flow of migrants across the English Channel, to which more than 45,000 arrivals were attributed in 2022. At least 44 people died in this area last year, while this year at least 13 have already perished, according to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
