Written evidence: Human Rights of Asylum Seekers in the UK - Dr Ermioni Xanthopoulou and Dr Mohammad Nayyeri

Dr Ermioni Xanthopoulou and Dr Mohammad Nayyeri submitted a written evidence responding to the following questions: Is it compatible with the UK’s human rights obligations to deny asylum to those who do not use what the Government calls “safe and legal routes”?  Is the policy of relocating asylum seekers to third countries consistent with the UK’s human rights obligations?

Their major finfings are:

• The UK has explicit obligations under international law towards refugees arriving inthe UK, and the limited resettlement programmes do not remove or exhaust thoseobligations.
• The narrow understanding of safe and legal routes that only recognises settlementschemes, while treating other asylum seekers as ‘illegal’ and denying them access toasylum, is incompatible with the UK’s human rights obligations.
• The relocation of asylum seekers to third countries is not consistent with severalhuman rights and refugee laws that the UK is bound to respect.
• The current law raises serious legality issues with regard to its retroactive applicationand its compatibility with the principle of non-refoulement, prohibition of torture orinhumane or degrading treatment, prohibition on collective expulsions, right toasylum, prohibition of penalisation.
• It is proposed that the current relocation agreement is revised.

Read the written evidence by Dr Ermioni Xanthopoulou and Dr Mohammad Nayyeri