The UK is discussing a law that would allow UK authorities to send refugees and migrants to detention centers across borders when assessing asylum.
Home Minister Priti Patel, who has been promoting the National and Boundaries Act, is responsible for the new immigration system through points that have made access to the country harder, and it justified the plan in response to an increase in asylum seekers – due to Brexit, who have begun to cross the English Channel illegally.
After leaving the EU, the UK was unable to send asylum seekers to other European countries.
Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has confirmed that it is unaware of the UK’s claims in this regard. “Cooperation is needed in this global crisis,” the agency’s English branch tweeted. “The UK should look for solutions through cooperation, rather than shifting this responsibility to less affluent countries.”
It should be noted that this measure was already implemented by Australia, which encouraged the project, by Denmark in June.
As expected, the project is gathering little consensus and has been the target of criticism from refugee and human rights groups, despite the government’s insistence that these mechanisms are legal and necessary to prevent further displacement.
In September last year, Patel approached authorities about the possibility of sending asylum seekers to remote islands in the South Atlantic, such as St. Helena, and is considering building similar centers on Gibraltar Island and Ascension Island. On the island of Man., In the Irish Sea.
According to the Times, the minister is in talks with the Danish government over the possibility of sharing facilities in Rwanda, as the law is yet to be ratified. The English Ministry of the Interior immediately denied the information, however, declined to comment on plans to send immigrants abroad.
Denmark has one of the most restricted migration policies in Europe.
The process is somewhat complicated, asylum seekers have to submit their application directly at the country’s border and then they are taken to an asylum center outside Europe, while they wait until the application is processed by the host country, AFP explains. If the application is approved, the person obtains refugee status and can live in the host country, which is not the case in Denmark, and if this does not happen, the immigrant will be forced to leave the host country.
These migration policies have been the target of harsh criticism from the international community and the country’s opposition.