PLANS bring in the Navy to send back asylum seekers attempting to reach the UK are "simply unnecessary", according to a leading asylum rights organisation.
The Home Secretary introduced the Nationality and Borders Bill in response to record numbers attempting to cross the English Channel - which has seen lives lost making the perilous journey.
The Navy will be called in to prevent boats carrying migrants from reaching Britain.
The Scottish Refugee Council (SRC) has hit out at the bill, which has been labelled ‘inhumane’ by members of the opposition in Westminster.
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Gary Christie, the SRC’s head of policy, communications and communities, demanded the government “urgently” needed to take action to prevent more deaths in the Channel and suggested the plans go against international human rights law.
He said: “The UN Refugee Convention is very clear – refugees cannot be penalised for entering the country illegally to claim asylum.
“Johnson’s plans are simply unnecessary. If the UK Government truly wanted to stop people making perilous journeys, they would create more safe routes for people seeking sanctuary to reach the UK.
“But Priti Patel’s Nationality & Borders Bill, the anti-refugee bill, doesn’t include plans for any such routes.
“We urgently need this government to take action to prevent tragedies in the Channel and commit to resettling 10,000 people from across the world in the UK each year.”
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The bill also includes proposals to send asylum seekers abroad while their claims are processed.
It has also been criticised for a provision that would allow the government to strip Britons of their citizenship without warning.
In the Commons earlier today, Stuart C McDonald, the SNP’s shadow home secretary, said: “Her atrocious anti-refugee bill will see Afghans, Syrians and Uighurs arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned for up to four years.”
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