UK Home Secretary Priti Patel has been warned that the recently introduced policy of prosecuting asylum seekers who steer boats across the English Channel may be unlawful, reported the Independent.
“This new practice appears of dubious legality, and is morally repugnant. Where on Earth is the public interest in prosecuting the victims of organised crime gangs? This is clearly all about the home secretary’s horrendous political posturing rather than any sensible analysis of law, policy, or fairness,” Stuart McDonald, the Scottish National Party’s shadow immigration minister, was quoted as saying by the outlet.
Push to ‘Criminalise’ Crossings
The Home Office has been pushing to criminalise crossings, in a step away from the previous policy, where only people smugglers bringing migrants to the UK for profit, such as lorry drivers and members of organised crime networks, were prosecuted.
After record numbers of migrants made the perilous journey across the English Channel in small boats this year, with more than 8,000 reaching the UK as compared with 1,835 in 2019, according to data analysed by the PA news agency, Priti Patel vowed to make the route “unviable”.
Firstly, the UK and France signed a €31.4 mln (£28.2 mln) agreement seeking to stem the tide of migrants illegally crossing the English Channel, planning to increase police presence and use drones to survey the route.
The Home Secretary has today signed a significant new agreement with France to help prevent migrants leaving French beaches and coming to the UK on small boats via the Channel. pic.twitter.com/fY1P7NL2jZ
— Andy Carter MP (@MrAndy_Carter) November 28, 2020
Drone footage of small boats is now being analysed by the Home Office’s immigration enforcement unit to single out migrants to be prosecuted for steering them.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) issued the new guidance to lawyers in November, reported the Independent.
The document claimed the offence of assisting unlawful immigration could be applied to asylum seekers who steer boats since they were perceived as having “facilitated” the journey.
To date eight migrants have been jailed for piloting dinghies, with Priti Patel repeatedly branding them “people smugglers”, despite a judge ruling that they were “not acting as part of a trafficking gang“. The offence has a maximum penalty of 14 years’ imprisonment.
Legality Doubts
The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) has sent letters to the home secretary and director of public prosecutions, Max Hill QC, expressing “considerable doubts as to the legality of this new policy” and calling for charges to be suspended.
The legal group cited findings that show migrants who steer boats are not part of criminal gangs and may be coerced and threatened.
Legal policy director Chai Patel was cited as saying the current policy may be in violation of the Refugee Convention, which states that nations must “not impose penalties, on account of their illegal entry or presence, on refugees”.
According to him, the Home Office’s descriptions of asylum seekers that are being jailed for steering boats as “people smugglers” seems to contradict the UN Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants. The latter defines human smuggling as requiring “a financial or other material benefit”.
In the letters, Mr. Patel slammed the Home Office’s policy as “irrational”.
“It does not have a deterrent effect on boat crossings. It is also contrary to law and policy designed to protect victims of trafficking, modern slavery and human trafficking because it targets victims for prosecution, and in doing so criminalises them before their claims for protection can be heard, and impedes their ability to make such claims.”
He added that people make these journeys “because they feel they have no alternative”.
Campaigners have been railing against the policy, saying authorities were criminalising asylum seekers for “trying to save lives” by steering the boats during dangerous journeys.
#UK should halt inhumane treatment of sea migrants
— Euro-Med Monitor (@EuroMedHR) November 18, 2020
MORE: https://t.co/iKCHw9AwE5 pic.twitter.com/2L6Oczsgys
Nick Thomas-Symonds, Labour’s shadow home secretary, had earlier urged the CPS to make the internal guidance public to allow proper scrutiny, and suggesting the revised government approach to Channel crossings “lacked compassion and competence”.
In response to raised doubts on the issue before parliament’s Home Affairs Committee, the immigration minister Chris Philp said the government would “not apologise” for jailing people who steer dinghies across the Channel.
“If somebody is facilitating these crossings, they are not a victim; they are a perpetrator. They are enabling these crossings to happen and they are putting people in physical danger,” said Philp.
