As opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine grows globally, the emergency stage of a refugee crisis is happening in the Ukraine now, similar to that experienced in Afghanistan after the withdrawal.
The humanitarian crises in Afghanistan and Ukraine have brought into stark relief the uneven and unfair nature of the UK borders bill. This bill looks set to breach the 1951 UN Convention on Human Rights at a time when refugee rights sorely need protecting.
James Bulman of the UNHCR pointed to the fact that international law is dependent on UK compliance with it to bolster international respect for these laws, as they are not enshrined and require a lot of good will from participating countries.
Breaching them and not complying with them erodes international law globally.
It could be argued that wealthy nations such as Britain have an even greater responsibility to protect and uphold these laws.
Most refugees flee to bordering countries, so the overwhelming amount of pressure is felt there. This is why both the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and UNHCR work internationally, among other relief agencies.
The UNHCR is calling for an increase in speed of the asylum system at this time and into the future and the avoidance of detention, processing claims in the community.
The only real distinction of a refugee is under Article 1 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the move by the government and certain media outlets to class refugees as migrants if they have not accepted asylum on their first state of arrival should to James Bulman’s mind be discouraged.
Although he agrees in his role for the UNHCR that law regarding people trafficking is valuable, he does not believe that this new borders bill will achieve this and will disrupt an underlying humanitarian principle in the process.
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