No one would risk their lives making dangerous journeys and crossing treacherous seas if they had another choice. But right now, there is no way to claim asylum in the UK until you set foot here.

If the Government was serious about protecting the lives of people seeking safety, it would build a fair and effective asylum system, with multiple accessible routes to safety so everyone who needs it can access refugee protection. 

1. Protecting the right to seek asylum

Refugees are refugees because they need protection, no matter how they travel to reach safety. Nothing should stand in the way of the right to claim asylum within the UK and receive a fair hearing.

Under the Refugee Convention we each have the right to claim asylum in any country we feel we will be able to find safety, and to get a fair hearing from that country, regardless of how we travel there. There is no such thing as an ‘illegal’ asylum seeker because there is no visa or ‘queue’ to seek asylum. There are also no rules around staying in the first ‘safe’ country, despite what this Government tells us. 

But the Nationality & Borders Act and the Illegal Migration Act extinguish the principle of refugee protection in the UK, and for the first time will grant protection based on someone's mode of travel, instead of their need.

These extraordinarily dangerous pieces of legislation will have a devastating impact on people seeking safety in this country. The IMA allows the Government to automatically dismiss asylum claims for people who didn't arrive directly to the UK. Which for the vast majority of people seeking safety, is simply not possible, due to the inability to claim asylum from overseas and the lack of safe routes here. It also lets the Government detain and deport them to situations where their lives might be at risk. The Rwanda plan - if functioning - would see refugees deported 4,000 miles away with no chance to even make their case here. 

The UK must recommit to protecting the universal right to seek asylum. The Government must repeal the Nationality & Borders Act and the Illegal Migration Act, and abandon abhorrent policies like the Rwanda scheme. Instead of pursuing these dangerous plans, we must start fairly and efficiently processing applications from people who are seeking safety here and providing safe housing and sustainable support for them as they rebuild their lives as part of our communities.

2. Resettlement schemes

Resettlement schemes, like the "Homes for Ukraine" project or the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, are one strand of an effective refugee protection system. For those who are selected for the schemes, they can be life-changing, providing a visa that allows refugees to travel safely into the UK. 

However, the UK has a poor record with delivering these schemes. In the year ending March 2023, only 96 people have been newly resettled as part of the Government’s schemes, while over 8,000 Afghans have had to resort to crossing the Channel. Around 12,000 Afghan nationals are still stuck in hotel accommodation - in other words, homeless - stranded in a dysfunctional scheme that opened in August 2021. 

The Government has also shut down two UK schemes in recent years, despite hailing these as the "solution" to the growing numbers of refugees globally. The Syrian refugee resettlement scheme closed in 2020, having welcomed 20,000 people from a conflict that displaced 13 million. And the Government even closed down the Dubs scheme, a lifeline for unaccompanied children who reached refugee camps in Europe, to join family in the UK.

Despite their importance, these schemes are not a substitute for a fair, effective asylum system. These resettlement projects see the Government re-inventing the wheel with a new scheme for each crisis; announcing bespoke visa routes as bombs struck Aleppo, as Kabul fell to the Taliban, and as Putin’s forces shell cities across Ukraine. They risk turning refugee protection into a divisive, racist popularity contest - simultaneously offering a supposedly "warm welcome" to Ukrainians while threatening those who cross the Channel (mostly black and brown people) with deportation to Rwanda.

For resettlement schemes to work, they must be non-discriminatory and extended to everyone who needs a route to safety.

3. Travel documents

Resettlement schemes do not work for all people seeking refuge. We saw with the fall of Kabul and the destruction of Kharkiv - there is no 'queue' to join, people simply pack a bag and run for safety, often leaving important documents behind, with no time to sort out a visa or even a proper travel plan. People will always need refugee protection based on their individual circumstances too, such as their sexuality or religion. 

But instead of cooperating to create a system that works for people fleeing terror and violence, many countries, including the UK, frustrate this process. Over the years, the UK has closed off almost all safe routes to enter the UK, and made it increasingly expensive. The Government then criminalise people for not having the right papers, rather than understanding this is the reality for many people running for their lives.

As if that's not enough, the Government are starting to criminalise people who facilitate someone’s journey to safety. Airlines and ferry operators face huge Government fines if they bring an asylum seeker to a country like the UK.

As a result, people are left with incredibly dangerous options, like crossing the Channel in a dinghy or the back of a lorry. No one should be left with these dangerous routes - that is why many organisations, including JCWI, are calling for the creation of new travel documents, which would allow people seeking refuge to enter the UK from Northern France safely, in order to make an asylum claim once they arrive. 

In order to protect all those who seek safety here, including people who may not be able to access a travel document, the UK must still commit to accepting and considering asylum claims in line with its international obligation.

A safe, accessible and effective asylum system is possible

If the Government was serious about protecting the lives of vulnerable people, it would create, or re-open, safe routes for people to travel to the UK to claim asylum here. And it would give a fair hearing to anyone who applies for asylum, regardless of how they travel to the UK, just as the Refugee Convention established.

There is a growing movement for this fairer approach. We fought back against the first planned deportation to Rwanda and we won. But we need to stand together in solidarity with those whose lives are being put at risk as a distraction from the Government's failings.

We believe this is a future worth fighting for. Are you with us?

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