Suella Braverman makes controversial speech arguing global asylum system has become unsustainable
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has issued a notable press release underlining the continued relevance and importance of the 1951 Refugee Convention following a controversial speech delivered by the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington DC today.
In her speech, Braverman argued that the Refugee Convention, and the way it has come to be interpreted through the courts, is no longer fit for the modern age and is in need of serious reform. The full text of the speech is available here on Conservative Home.
The UNCHR said in response that the Refugee Convention remains as relevant today as when it was adopted.
UNHCR stressed: "The Refugee Convention is the cornerstone of the international refugee protection regime and remains a life-saving instrument that ensures millions of people fleeing conflict and persecution each year can access safety and protection across borders. There are 35.3 million refugees worldwide, with 70 per cent remaining in countries neighbouring their own and 76 per cent hosted in low- and middle-income countries."
UNHCR added that the Convention provides an indispensable framework for addressing challenges presented by the irregular movement of refugees, based on international cooperation.
The Home Secretary had said in her speech that the global asylum framework, rooted in the Refugee Convention, has become unsustainable, as too many people now qualify for asylum. She said there has been an interpretive shift of the Convention in the courts away from the need for refugees to demonstrate a well-founded fear of "persecution" in favour of a "credible" or "plausible fear" of something more akin to a definition of "discrimination".
"[W]e 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," the Home Secretary stated.
Braverman described the asylum system as "a promissory note that the West cannot fulfil" which is "incentivising millions of people to try their luck".
Calling for reform, Braverman said there was a need to embed the following principles in the global asylum framework:
- Deterring 'illegal migration' must be an aim.
- Countries must have a say in what volume of refugees they are capable of resettling each year.
- Support and protection should, to the fullest extent possible, be rendered in neighbouring safe countries where it is most efficient to deliver and able to reach those that most need it.
- The only route to resettlement should be via safe and legal pathways.
- People must claim asylum in the first safe country they reach.
- The definition of who qualifies for protection must be tightened.
- Policies of externalisation, such as the UK's partnership with Rwanda, must be recognised as appropriate.
UNHCR responded by saying that the need is not for reform of the Refugee Convention, or more restrictive interpretation, but for stronger and more consistent application of the Convention and its underlying principle of responsibility-sharing.
"An appropriate response to the increase in arrivals and to the UK's current asylum backlog would include strengthening and expediting decision-making procedures. This would accelerate the integration of those found to be refugees and facilitate the swift return of those who have no legal basis to stay. UNHCR has presented the UK Government with concrete and actionable proposals in this regard and continues to support constructive, ongoing efforts to clear the current asylum backlog," UNHCR noted.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees (APPG Refugees) called the Home Secretary's speech "chilling".
Anne McLaughlin MP and Lord Alf Dubs, co-chairs of APPG Refugees, said: "In her speech in the US, the Home Secretary could have outlined what the Government was doing to introduce safe routes. She could have tackled the many pressing issues affecting refugees here including the asylum backlog and the use of hotels. Instead, she has shown the world her chilling vision of a UK turning its back on vulnerable women and LGBT people. The Government are failing to provide safe routes, worse still they are failing to uphold the Refugee Convention we helped to draft."
Labour's Yvette Cooper said the speech was "deeply divisive, damaging political game playing" which was unworthy of the office of Home Secretary. Cooper also accused the Home Secretary of targeting and scapegoating LGBT people.
Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK's Chief Executive, said in a statement that Braverman's speech was a "display of cynicism and xenophobia".
"Instead of making inflammatory speeches decrying the rights of people fleeing persecution and tyranny, Suella Braverman should focus on creating a functioning UK asylum system that tackles the massive backlog her policies have created, so as to be able to meet the limited refugee responsibilities that fall to the UK," Deshmukh commented.
Rainbow Migration was "appalled to hear that the Home Secretary is questioning the legitimacy of LGBTQI+ people claiming asylum in the UK" and noted that the Government’s own statistics suggest that only 2% of all asylum claims in 2022 included sexual orientation as a reason for needing protection.
Garden Court barrister Colin Yeo said Braverman's position in seeking reform of the Refugee Convention was a "fantasy" and she was simply "regurgitating more failed ideas from the past" rather than proposing any bold new ideas.
Doughty Street's Adam Wagner noted: "The paper tiger which Braverman seeks to build is that protection against persecution has become protection against discrimination. Anyone who has practised in asylum law will tell you that is wrong."