Britain’s Home Secretary Suella Braverman warned uncontrolled migration poses an “existential challenge” to Western nations and called for the rewriting of the United Nations 1951 convention which has influenced global asylum policy for the last seven decades.
- She called for a global overhaul of the approach towards immigration.
United Nations Refugee convention 1951
- The United Nations 1951 convention enshrines the principle that states that have signed up to the agreement must protect civilians fleeing conflict or persecution.
- It is a legal foundation for the protection of refugees worldwide ratified by Britain and about 150 other countries.
- India is not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol and does not have a national refugee protection framework.
- The convention was drawn up in 1951 and came into force three years later, during an era where millions were displaced across Europe after World War Two.
- It was originally drafted to focus specifically on Europe’s post-war refugees – but a 1967 amendment (protocol) removed the geographic and time limits included in the original text and made the convention universal.
- The convention provides an agreed definition of a refugee, establishes basic minimum standards for their treatment, and says that refugees should not be penalised for breaching immigration rules while fleeing.
- Its core principle is “non-refoulement” – which means refugees should not be returned or expelled from a country against their will if they fear for their life or freedom.
- It also defines a refugee’s obligations to host countries and specifies certain categories of people, such as war criminals, who do not qualify for refugee status.
