UK panel asks govt to scrap plan to turn back migrant boats

A U.K. parliamentary committee on Dec. 1 criticized government plans to deter migrants and refugees from trying to reach Britain in small boats, saying the measures would endanger lives without stopping dangerous journeys across the English Channel like the one that killed 27 people last week.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has proposed legislation that would give authorities patrolling the Channel the power to turn away boats carrying migrants. The Nationality and Borders Bill would also make it more difficult for people who enter the country illegally to claim asylum and allow asylum-seekers to be screened abroad.

But the Joint Committee on Human Rights, a cross-party panel that includes members from both houses of Parliament, said Wednesday that "a policy of pushbacks" would probably conflict with international human rights law and maritime law.

"Pushbacks are known to endanger lives at sea," the committee said in a report. "This is even more so when dealing with people on small, unseaworthy vessels, in a busy shipping lane, often with rough waters, without appropriate lifesaving equipment, as is the case for migrants in small boats in the Channel."

An overcrowded inflatable boat sank on Nov. 24 in the waters between Britain and France, killing 27 people. A survivor of the deadliest migration accident ever recorded on the treacherous crossing said the passengers made emergency calls to both British and French authorities, but both sides told them to call the other.

More than 25,000 people have reached Britain on small boats this year, up from 8,500 in 2020 and just 300 in 2018, heaping pressure on Johnson and his Conservative government to intervene.

Johnson says the Nationality and Borders Bill now making its way...