The Act creates a duty to detain and remove to Rwanda or another country deemed safe by the government persons arriving in the UK by an unauthorised route such as by a small boat, regardless of whether they claim asylum.
The coalition includes Liberty, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, the Law Centres Network, the Public Law Project, SMK Law Solicitors and Rights of Women.
Their statement calls the legislation a ‘senselessly cruel Act’ which ‘will have a devastating impact on people’s lives. It turns our country’s back on people seeking safety, blocking them from protection, support, and justice at a time they need it most’.
They warn the Act ‘risks breaching multiple international human rights treaties including the Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights while shielding the government from accountability.
‘The UK government has admitted that it cannot confirm if the Act is compatible with the UK’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. The Act will force people into situations that threaten their lives—whether by placing children in detention or sending people off to countries where their lives might be at grave risk’.
The statement continues: ‘In stripping the most basic rights from people seeking safety and a better life, the Act dismantles human rights protections for all of us.’
The Act passed this week following a round of ping-pong between the two Houses of Parliament, after peers withdrew or were defeated on amendments intended to install 72-hour limits on the detention of children, modern slavery protections and exemptions for trafficking victims, and to ensure compliance with international human rights treaties. Peers also withdrew amendments preventing the removal of LGBT people to certain countries, and imposing a duty on the home secretary to create safe and legal routes to the UK for refugees.
Concessions granted by the government included that unaccompanied children will be granted bail after eight days in detention, and that pregnant women cannot be detained for more than 72 hours without ministerial authorisation.
The Bibby Stockholm, a barge that can house up to 500 asylum seekers, docked at Portland, Dorset on the morning after the legislation passed.
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