Illegal Migration Bill – Joint Civil Society Briefing for the House of Lords Second Reading

International Obligations and Reputation

The Illegal Migration Bill is a flagrant breach of the UK’s international obligations, including the right to seek and enjoy asylum; the obligation of non-refoulement; protection from torture and modern slavery; the right to liberty, including of children whose immigration detention is prohibited and other vulnerable groups; and the right to an effective remedy. It also penalizes refugees based on their mode of arrival, creating a discriminatory two-tiered asylum system.

The UK is abrogating its international responsibilities and obligations towards refugees, individuals seeking asylum, and trafficking and slavery survivors. It is seeking to entirely shift its asylum responsibilities onto other countries, against the object and purpose of the 1951 Refugee Convention and its commitments to global responsibility sharing. The UK ending access to asylum, reneging on its obligations, and refusing to share responsibility, threatens the international protection regime and sets a very dangerous precedent.

The first page of the Bill states that the Government cannot guarantee its compatibility with the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In practice, the Bill would put the UK on a direct collision course with the Council of Europe, including enabling Ministers and UK courts to ignore interim measures issued by the ECtHR, which may ultimately lead to the UK leaving the Council of Europe (something the UK government has not ruled out). This undermines the whole European convention system and international rules-based order more broadly, potentially encouraging other serial violators of the ECHR to also disregard their obligations and ignore decisions of the Court, resulting in serious, irreparable human rights harms beyond the UK.

The European Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson has told the UK Government that the Bill violates international law,[1] while the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović urged UK parliamentarians to prevent legislation being passed that is incompatible with the UK’s international obligations.[2]

If the UK were to withdraw from the ECHR, the EU could terminate the law enforcement and judicial cooperation in criminal matters part of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), according to Article 692 of the agreement. The TCA also allows the EU to suspend or terminate the agreement as a whole if there is a ‘serious and substantial failure’ by the UK to respect human rights and the human rights treaties to which both are parties, which ‘has international repercussions’.[3]

The International Obligations & Reputation section of this Briefing is endorsed by: Human Rights Watch, Anti Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit (ATLEU); Refugee Action; Liberty; and the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA). Please note that contributing organizations have only approved the content of the specific section(s) of this Briefing which they have endorsed and should not be taken as endorsing any other parts of the Briefing.