DOZENS of charities have written to Boris Johnson calling for him to urgently rethink new immigration plans, described as the “biggest threat to refugee rights in the UK for decades”.
The Scottish Refugee council, Poverty Alliance and the Church fo Scotland are among the 67 signatories of the letter, sent today to Downing Street,
They argue that the Home Office’s plans for immigration system reform pose a “fundamental threat” to people’s right to seek asylum in the UK and could contravene UN conventions on refugees.
Their letter also argues that the Government’s ‘New Plan for Immigration’ runs contrary to Scotland’s own plans.
It states: “We are concerned that the New Plan does not take account of this huge commitment in Scotland to support integration and community cohesion and the desire to play a role as a responsible global citizen with regard to refugee protection.
“The New Plan runs counter to Scotland’s internationally recognised New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy which strives to ensure equal support to people across Scotland regardless of how refugees arrived in the country.”
It states that Priti Patel is risking creating a “two-tier” system for people with her new proposals, announced in March.
The plans for immigration would see people penalised for travelling to the UK via routes deemed illegal, having travelled through a safe country in which they “could and should have claimed asylum” first.
The Scottish organisations argue that the proposals are “premised on a wilful ignorance of the context in which refugee flight occurs.”
Sabir Zazai, Chief Executive, Scottish Refugee Council said: “These proposals are a direct threat to the very principle of providing asylum, and put plainly, are the biggest threat to refugee rights in the UK that we have seen for decades.
“The plans fundamentally misunderstand the life or death nature of seeking asylum, and have been drafted without any input from people with experience of the asylum system.
“The fact is that for the vast majority of people seeking protection, doing so through an organised and official route is simply impossible. There is no illegal route to seek asylum, and the UK Government is perfectly aware of this.”
He added that plans to use temporary detention centres to house asylum seekers was a “serious concern” and said the UK Government’s plans “intrude on the devolved competence” of the Scottish Government and Scottish anti-trafficking legislation.
A UK Government spokesperson said: “We have a responsibility to put the New Plan for Immigration into action so that we can fix the broken asylum system, helping people based on need, not the ability to pay people smugglers.
“The consultation has been open for over a month and thousands of stakeholders and members of the public from across the UK have shared their views. We will consider all responses carefully before bringing forward legislation.
“We recognise the importance of successfully integrating those resettled in the UK and the New Plan sets out a number of measures to support this, including immediate indefinite leave to remain for those that arrive through safe and legal routes.”
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