Latest updates: Rishi Sunak refuses to say if he will withdraw UK from deal as MP proposes bill to remove asylum seekers
Last night UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, strongly condemned the asylum policy unveiled by Rishi Sunak. In a statement, its assistant high commissioner for protection, Gillian Triggs, said:
The announced proposal to first detain, and then either return asylum-seekers to their home countries, or transfer them to a third country would amount to a denial of access to the UK asylum system for those who arrive irregularly.
That approach would close down access to asylum in the UK for all but a few. This would likely result in refugees having no means to establish their status and place them at risk of forced return to unsafe countries, in breach of the Refugee Convention. It would also undermine the global refugee system at large and would be a violation of international refugee law.
