London: Amnesty International UK has written to the House of Lords urging its members to reject a bill on illegal immigration which it slammed as “racist and xenophobic.”
The letter was sent ahead of the second reading of the bill on Wednesday.
The organization’s UK chief executive officer, Sacha Deshmukh, said that if passed the bill would do substantial harm to refugees and victims of human trafficking while also depriving British residents of their right to British citizenship.
He added that it would also create a dangerous precedent internationally and harm the rights of refugees worldwide.
Deshmukh said: “Despite its numerous failings, the schemes for Ukrainian refugees show that the government is prepared to respond to some international emergencies but not others.
“If the door can be opened for many Ukrainians, why is it being shut to Sudanese and other refugees?”
He noted that the bill was a “blatant breach” of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights, both of which the UK was instrumental in developing.
Amnesty has called on the government to abandon the Immigration bill and instead focus on developing a constructive and human rights-respecting immigration system that was “prepared to respond” to all international situations. Reuters
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