{"id":309194,"date":"2025-12-10T16:49:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T16:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/309194\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T16:49:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T16:49:06","slug":"uk-joins-call-for-europes-human-rights-laws-to-be-constrained-immigration-and-asylum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/309194\/","title":{"rendered":"UK joins call for Europe\u2019s human rights laws to be \u2018constrained\u2019 | Immigration and asylum"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK has joined some of Europe\u2019s hardline governments in calling for human rights laws to be \u201cconstrained\u201d to allow Rwanda-style migration deals with third countries and more foreign criminals to be deported.<\/p>\n

Twenty-seven of the 46 Council of Europe<\/a> members including the UK, Hungary and Italy have signed an unofficial statement that also urges a new framework for the European convention of human rights, which will narrow the definition of \u201cinhuman and degrading treatment\u201d.<\/p>\n

The statement follows a meeting of the council in Strasbourg on Wednesday as part of a push to change the way the laws apply in migration cases.<\/p>\n

The UK\u2019s deputy prime minister, David Lammy, attended the meeting and was expected to argue that the rules must not stop countries tackling the problem of illegal migration.<\/p>\n

France, Spain and Germany are among those countries that have declined to sign the statement, instead putting their names to a separate, official declaration backed by all 46 governments.<\/p>\n

The two separate statements are signs of deep divisions across Europe over how to tackle irregular migration, and whether to continue to guarantee rights for refugees and economic migrants.<\/p>\n

The letter signed by 27 countries said that article 3 of the convention, which bans \u201cinhuman or degrading treatment\u201d should be \u201cconstrained to the most serious issues in a manner which does not prevent states parties from taking proportionate decisions on the expulsion of foreign criminals \u2026 including in cases raising issues concerning healthcare and prison conditions\u201d.<\/p>\n

It also argues that article 8 of the convention should be \u201cadjusted\u201d in relation to criminals so that more weight is put on the nature and seriousness of the offence committed and less on a criminal\u2019s ties with the host country.<\/p>\n

In a hint towards European deals with third countries that are willing to house rejected asylum seekers, the statement says: \u201cA state party should not be prevented from entering into cooperation with third countries regarding asylum and return procedures, once the human rights of irregular migrants are preserved.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rest of the 27 signatories are: Denmark, Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden and Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The separate, formal declaration signed by all member states does not outline any problems with particular articles of the convention.<\/p>\n

The chief of the body that oversees the European convention on human rights (ECHR) said ministers had taken an \u201cimportant first step forward together\u201d to agree a political declaration on migration and the ECHR, and support a new recommendation to deter smuggling of migrants \u201cwith full respect for human rights\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Council of Europe secretary general, Alain Berset, told reporters: \u201cAll 46 member states have reaffirmed their deep and abiding commitment to both the European convention on human rights and the European court of human rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not rhetoric. This is a political decision of the highest order. But ministers have also expressed their concerns regarding the unprecedented challenges posed by migration and the serious questions governments face in maintaining societies that deliver for citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s poll ratings have plummeted since the general election, with the rise of Nigel Farage\u2019s Reform UK partly caused by concerns about the impact of immigration \u2013 both authorised and through small boat crossings of the Channel.<\/p>\n

Labour, unlike the Conservatives and Reform UK, is committed to remaining within the ECHR, which was drawn up in the aftermath of the second world war.<\/p>\n

In a Guardian column<\/a>, the British prime mnister and his Danish counterpart, Mette Frederiksen, acknowledged the \u201ccurrent asylum framework was created for another era\u201d, adding: \u201cIn a world with mass mobility, yesterday\u2019s answers do not work. We will always protect those fleeing war and terror \u2013 but the world has changed and asylum systems must change with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flights to Rwanda were stopped in 2022 following legal interventions on behalf of rejected asylum seekers using human rights laws.<\/p>\n

Labour said it would not revive the Tories\u2019 Rwanda deal, which planned to deport people seeking refuge to east Africa, but Starmer has indicated that he would be open to new deals to process asylum seekers after sending them to third countries.<\/p>\n

Ministers insisted the government would not water down legal protections for torture survivors, saying they were trying to ensure that article 3 was \u201cclear and constrained\u201d to focus on the most serious cases.<\/p>\n

Human rights campaigners have called for the government to roll back from watering down human rights protections.<\/p>\n

Natasha Tsangarides, associate director of advocacy at Freedom from Torture, said: \u201cEvery day, we see people who were tortured in countries like Afghanistan and Iran just for standing up for freedoms we cherish in Britain. Chipping away at these vital protections risks a global domino effect, giving the green light to repressive regimes to justify their own abuses.\u201d \u201d<\/p>\n

Enver Solomon, the CEO of the Refugee Council, said: \u201cThe government has a choice to make: we can build a fair and compassionate asylum system that determines who qualifies for protection and who does not. Or we can water down laws that protect us all and risk chaos: desperate people would still arrive on our shores, but be driven underground and left vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK has joined some of Europe\u2019s hardline governments in calling for human rights laws to be \u201cconstrained\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-309194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}