Home Secretary Suella Braverman is facing criticism after she said the international asylum system was no longer fit for purpose. In a speech earlier, Mrs Braverman said fearing discrimination for being gay or a woman should not be enough to qualify for refugee protection. But the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) rejected her calls for the rules to be “tightened”. It said the 1951 Refugee Convention “remains a life-saving instrument”. The convention forms the basis of the UNHCR’s work and provides an agreed definition of a refugee and minimum standards for their treatment. In a statement following Mrs. Braverman’s speech, the UNHCR said: “The need is not for reform or more restrictive interpretation but for stronger and more consistent application of the convention and its underlying principle of responsibility-sharing.”
The agency added: “Where individuals are at risk of persecution on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity, it is crucial that they are able to seek safety and protection.” It argued an “appropriate response” to the growing numbers seeking asylum in the UK and the backlog of claims would be speeding up decision-making processes. Charities also criticised the home secretary’s comments, with ActionAid UK describing them as “a direct affront to gender equality and human rights”. The Refugee Convention was drawn up following World War Two, and has at its centre the principle that refugees should not be returned to countries where they face threats to their life or freedom. However, addressing a US think tank on Tuesday, Mrs Braverman said “we now live in a completely different time” from when the convention was signed.
She told an audience at the right-wing American Enterprise Institute in Washington DC that developing case law had seen a move away from helping those fleeing persecution “in favour of something more akin to a definition of ‘discrimination'”. The home secretary acknowledged there were “vast swathes of the world where it is extremely difficult to be gay, or to be a woman”. “Where individuals are being persecuted, it is right that we offer sanctuary,” she said. “But we will not be able to sustain an asylum system if in effect, simply being gay, or a woman, and fearful of discrimination in your country of origin is sufficient to qualify for protection.”
There are 64 countries that have laws that criminalise homosexuality, nearly half of which are in Africa. Given that much of the world is signed up to the existing convention it is unlikely Ms Braverman will manage to drive through reforms. But her comments highlight the government’s determination to take a tough approach on migration as it seeks to stop people crossing the Channel to the UK in small boats. Sacha Deshmukh, chief executive of human rights charity Amnesty International UK, said: “The Refugee Convention is a cornerstone of the international legal system and we need to call out this assault on the convention for what it is: a display of cynicism and xenophobia.” Labour said Mrs Braverman was “grandstanding” and using gay people and women as “scapegoats”. There has also been a backlash from some in Mrs Braverman’s own party.
Andrew Boff, a long-serving Conservative member on the London Assembly and patron of the LGBT+ Tories, accused her of “dog whistles” and “victim-blaming” to distract from “the appalling backlog of asylum claims”. One Tory MP, who did not want to be named, told the BBC they thought the speech was “awful” and that unless the prime minister “gets rid” of Mrs Braverman there was a danger it “reflects poorly on him”. Downing Street said it had signed off the home secretary’s speech. Other Conservatives were more supportive, with Tim Loughton, a Conservative member of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, saying Mrs Braverman “had a point”. “The UK cannot be the refugee camp for the entire world and that’s why we need to look at exactly how these international agreements can work in the 2020s,” he told the BBC.
What is the Refugee Convention?
- The convention was drawn up in 1951 and came into force three years later, during an era where millions were displaced across Europe after World War Two
- It was originally drafted to focus specifically on Europe’s post-war refugees – but a 1967 amendment removed the geographic and time limits included in the original text and made the convention universal
- The convention provides an agreed definition of a refugee, establishes basic minimum standards for their treatment, and says that refugees should not be penalised for breaching immigration rules while fleeing
- Its core principle is “non-refoulement” – which means refugees should not be returned or expelled from a country against their will if they fear for their life or freedom
- Almost 150 countries have signed up to the Convention
Mrs Braverman also used her speech to attack “a misguided dogma of multiculturalism”. “Multiculturalism makes no demands of the incomer to integrate,” she said adding: “It has failed because it allowed people to come to our society and live parallel lives in it. “And, in extreme cases, they could pursue lives aimed at undermining the stability and threatening the security of society.” The home secretary said her parents – who migrated to the UK from Mauritius and Kenya – “both signed up to British values wholeheartedly”. Mrs Braverman’s decision to visit Washington and make such a punchy speech will inevitably be seen through the lens of her own leadership ambitions. She ran unsuccessfully for the Conservative leadership last summer and is a likely candidate to stand again should Rishi Sunak lose the next general election.
