What is the current policy regarding boat refugees heading to the UK?<\/strong><\/p>\nSaltmarsh: \u201cThe current situation is that once refugees reach UK waters by boat, the most part they will be rescued, picked-up or accompanied by either the border force or the coast guards. Then they will be transferred to the main land and, assuming that they want to claim asylum, they will be entered to the UK and taken into the asylum process and procedures on the main land.\u201d<\/p>\n
What would the effects of the Nationality and Borders Bill <\/em>be? <\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cThis new legislation will be very punitive for asylum seekers. It will actually create, or opposed to create a two-tiered system for asylum seekers. On the one hand, refugees who arrive via resettlements or rise direct into the UK. They will have a good degree of protection and stability in the country, and integration support as well. Those who arrive on the other hand irregularly or spontaneously, which includes those coming over the channel, will under the legislation be viable to criminal prosecution and could potentially be sent to third countries and be given minimal or no support in the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0If you are asking third countries to take asylum seekers who have come to your country, that is in fact shifting the burden onto them. – Matthew Saltmarsh<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cAt UNHCR we think that approach is wrong on several levels. We think it is against the refugee convention and that it is dodging with the responsibility of global refugee management and support needs responsibility sharing rather than burden shifting. If you are asking third countries to take asylum seekers who have come to your country, that is in fact shifting the burden onto them\u201d, Saltmarsh adds.<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2021\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2021-09-21-at-15.19.19.jpeg” panorama=”on” align=”center” lightbox=”on” captionsrc=”custom” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n[aesop_image img=”https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2021\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2021-09-25-at-18.18.38-1.jpeg” panorama=”on” align=”center” lightbox=”on” captionsrc=”custom” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n
Is it possible that the UK will actually conduct this kind of policy?<\/strong><\/p>\nSaltmarsh is unsure, but hesitant: \u201cThe government has a large majority in the House of Commons. It is not entirely clear exactly how the legislation will look at the end of that process\u201d, he explains. \u201cThere is scrutiny of the legislation, there will be amendments to the legislation and we don\u2019t know exactly how it will look at the end of this but does like the bill will, in some way, be passed in parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n
What is the relation between the effects of Brexit and current changing policies?<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cWhen the UK was part of the EU, the majority of asylum seeker cases were handled with a dual agreement and were part of the Dublin Agreement, a structure and framework that allowed for two-way transfers of asylum seekers between European countries and the UK. Following the end of a transition agreement, the UK was no longer part of the Dublin Agreement, and hence that the Channel limited, though it may have been removed. So the position now is that the UK doesn\u2019t have any of those kind of structures that will allow exchange of asylum seekers.\u201d A clear result of Brexit, the situation is not yet, according to Salthmarsh. \u201cStill\u201d, he says, \u201cthere may have been some impacts in the groups of refugees and asylum seekers, caused by the Brexit agreements.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Concerns have risen at UN’s refugee organization UNHCR after news revealing UK\u2019s new refugee approach. The Nationality and Borders bill, currently discussed in Parliament, states a new pushback policy of refugees who are trying to reach the UK trough the Channel. Are these the first effects of Brexit on border policy? UNHCR Officer Matthew Saltmarsh […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":360,"featured_media":2979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cbj","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Pushing back: UNHCR unhappy about UK's new refugee approach - International Journalism<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n